Former hard coal mine shaft at Schwalbach, sunk as the Ostschacht in 1867 and renamed Ney-Schacht after the Saarland-born Marshal Michel Ney, with a circa 1924 Fachwerk headframe and listed 1927 electric winding engine surviving as denkmalgeschützte monum
The Ney-Schacht at Schwalbach is the oldest of the surviving shaft installations associated with what eventually became the Bergwerk Saar. Originally sunk in 1867 as a Wetterschacht for the Grube Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm under Prussian administration, the shaft was developed after 1920 under French administration into a full Förderschacht and renamed in honour of Marshal Michel Ney, the Saarlouis-born Napoleonic commander. The shaft attained a final depth of 651 metres.
The circa 1924 Fachwerk-Strebengerüst with rounded crane attachment is typical of Saarland headframe construction of that period; it was reinforced in 1939, 1958, and 1972. The Fördermaschinenhaus, an impressive neoclassical brick building, contains a 1927 electric winding machine by Forges et Ateliers de Constructions Électriques de Jeumont-Nord. A tempel-artige Kompressorenhalle dating from 1911/12 houses compressor machinery including a 1923 Kolbenkompressor by Ehrhardt & Sehmer and AEG Turbokompressoren of 1937.
These structures are listed and serve as a surviving ensemble of the Saar mining heritage.
The history of the Ney-Schacht begins with the Ostschacht, sunk in 1867 by the Prussian Bergverwaltung as a Wetterschacht and general auxiliary shaft for the Grube Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm at its Schwalbach surface complex. The coal mine at Schwalbach had roots back to 1730, when local people extracted coal at outcropping seams; the Prussian state took control in 1815 and systematically developed the mine, sinking the first seigerer Tagesschacht in the Prussian Saar in 1826. By 1867 the complex had expanded to include the Ostschacht, the fourth shaft of the operation, as a Wetterschacht.
Under French administration from 1920 the Grube Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm was renamed Grube Griesborn. The Ostschacht, which had served as a Wetterschacht since 1867, was developed after 1920 into a full Förderschacht — the University of Saarland Memotransfront source states the conversion occurred 'ca. 1924' — and renamed the Ney-Schacht in honour of Marshal Michel Ney (1769–1815), who was born in Saarlouis. In 1925 the Grube Griesborn was divided, and the Duhamelschacht complex became the independent Grube Duhamel. As part of the Grube Griesborn thereafter, the Ney-Schacht continued under French and then from 1935 German administration. The Grube Griesborn and Grube Duhamel were merged in 1957 as the Grube Ensdorf; the Ney-Schacht became part of the Grube Ensdorf. In the 1970s it operated at 651 metres depth alongside the Duhamelschacht (868 m), Schacht Elm (281 m), and Schacht Dilsburg (632 m).
The surviving surface structures at the Ney-Schacht include the steel Fachwerk-Strebengerüst of approximately 1924, characterised by a gerundeter Kranaufbau, which was reinforced in 1939, 1958, and 1972. The associated Fördermaschinenhaus is a neoklassizistisches brick building with a prominent central Risalit. It contains the listed 1927 electric winding machine by Forges et Ateliers de Constructions Électriques de Jeumont-Nord (France), rated at 600 kW, with a 4-metre Treibscheibe diameter and 1.2-metre cylinder diameter. The tempel-artige Kompressorenhalle, built in 1911/12, houses technically significant machinery including a 1923 Kolbenkompressor by Ehrhardt & Sehmer, Saarbrücken, and AEG Turbokompressoren of 1937. A water tower and the well-preserved Wasserturm complete the ensemble. These structures are listed as denkmalgeschützte Ensemble.
In the final period of the Bergwerk Saar, formed on 1 January 2004 from the merger of Bergwerk Warndt/Luisenthal and Bergwerk Ensdorf, the Ney-Schacht (located at Schwalbach, also described in some sources as Hülzweiler) served as an ausziehender Wetterschacht. Until the commissioning of the Nordschacht it had also served as a Seilfahrtsschacht. The final closure of the Bergwerk Saar came in June 2012. The listed ensemble of the Ney-Schacht — headframe, Fördermaschinenhaus with machinery, and Kompressorenhalle — survives on the former mine site.