Former coal mine in Recklinghausen-Hochlarmark whose 1963/64 Deutsches Strebengerüst and 1967 twin steam winding engine survive as listed monuments at the centre of the Stadtteilpark Hochlarmark.
Zeche Recklinghausen II - Schacht IV was the principal Zentralförderschacht of Zeche Recklinghausen II at Hochlarmark, sunk in the early 1960s to serve as a modern dual-shaft hoisting installation. The colliery itself originated with the Belgian Société Civile Belge des Charbonnages d' Herne-Bochum, which began sinking the first shaft, Clerget, in 1869. After the Harpener Bergbau AG acquired the mine in 1889 and renamed the complexes Recklinghausen I and II, the Hochlarmark complex grew through the addition of two further shafts in 1899 and 1901.
Recklinghausen I was closed in 1931 following the Weltwirtschaftskrise, and the combined Grubenfeld was concentrated on the Recklinghausen II complex. Coal winding on Schacht IV ran from 1901 to 1974; thereafter the shaft served for Seilfahrt and materials transport until 1988, when operations ended. The Deutsches Strebengerüst of 1963/64 with its four side-by-side rope pulleys — unique in the Ruhr — and the twin steam winding engine of 1967, the last such machine built for German coal mining, were placed under Denkmalschutz in 1982.
The site was converted into the Stadtteilpark Hochlarmark in 1999–2002.
The origins of Zeche Recklinghausen lie with Belgian capital. The Société Civile Belge des Charbonnages d' Herne-Bochum commenced sinking the first shaft, designated Clerget (and known informally as Klärchen), in 1869 at a site near the future Recklinghausen Südbahnhof. The work was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 and recommenced after its end; the Carboniferous was reached in 1873 at 225 metres depth and coal production began around 1875 with approximately 34,000 tonnes and 320 workers. In 1882 sinking began of a second shaft, Clerget II, in Hochlarmark; this shaft reached the seams in 1883 at 254 metres depth and began production in 1884 under the name Zeche Clerget II.
In 1889 the Harpener Bergbau AG acquired the entire Grubenbesitz of the Belgian company. The two colliery complexes were renamed: Clerget I became Recklinghausen I, and Clerget II became Recklinghausen II in Hochlarmark. In 1899 and 1901 a second shaft was sunk alongside the old shaft at each complex. By 1900 combined output from both complexes had reached 765,000 tonnes with approximately 3,000 employees. The colliery was affected by several serious accidents: a Schlagwetterexplosion on 30 April 1889 killed 3 men; further explosions in 1895 and 1900 killed 3 and 19 respectively; a Strebbruch in 1898 killed 4 and a Gebirgsschlag in 1899 killed 4.
As a consequence of the economic depression, Recklinghausen I was closed in 1931 and its Grubenfeld transferred to Recklinghausen II. In 1957 the mine was combined with the adjacent Bergwerk Julia/von der Heydt in Herne-Baukau.
Schacht IV, the Konrad-Ende-Schacht, was sunk in the early 1960s to serve as a new Zentralförderschacht for the Recklinghausen II complex. It was a Doppelschacht, consisting of two parallel shafts side by side, and its headframe, erected in 1963/64, was a Deutsches Strebengerüst in Vollwandverkleidung. The headframe is unusual in having four rope pulleys arranged side by side rather than the conventional paired arrangement, a direct consequence of the dual-shaft construction. The shaft was named after Konrad Ende, a director of the Salzgitter AG. To drive both Doppelschacht hoists, two Tandemdampfmaschinen (twin steam winding engines) of 3,800 PS each were ordered from the Eisenhütte Prinz Rudolph in Dülmen; the second of these, bearing the date 1967, is recorded as the last steam winding engine built for the German coal industry and for general industrial purposes. Coal winding on the Recklinghausen II complex ran from 1901 to 1974, at which point production was ended and the Grubenfeld transferred to Zeche Ewald in Herten. Schacht IV then served for Seilfahrt and materials transport until 1988. The Trainingsbergwerk Recklinghausen, established in the 1970s under the waste tip adjacent to the old Schacht II, was opened in 1975 for training and testing and later reopened as a visitor mine. The last shafts at Recklinghausen II were filled in the early 1990s.
The headframe (errichtet 1963/64) and the Maschinenhaus of Schacht IV were placed under Denkmalschutz in 1982, while the mine was still nominally in service. Following the final closure of the site, most surface buildings were demolished. A citizens' initiative of former miners and residents of the adjacent Dreieckssiedlung prevented the demolition of the surviving structures and restored them with considerable voluntary effort. The restored headframe and machine house, including the surviving 1967 steam winding engine and the art glass installation Die Welt des Bergmanns by Karl-Willy Heyer (1952), rescued from the demolished Bergschule Recklinghausen, passed to the Verein für Bergbau- und Industriegeschichte Recklinghausen e.V. The site was acquired by the Kommunalverband Ruhrgebiet (later Regionalverband Ruhr) in 1999 and redesigned as the Stadtteilpark Hochlarmark, a component of the Emscher Landschaftspark; the park and its structures were handed to the city of Recklinghausen in June 2002. The rope pulleys on the headframe are illuminated at night as a light simulation by Vossloh-Schwabe Optoelectronic GmbH & Co. KG. The site is part of the Route der Industriekultur. The Dreieckssiedlung adjacent to the site, with its distinctive triangular ground plan, was developed in stages from the mid-1880s to accommodate workers of the colliery.