The Erin mine was a coal mine in Castrop-Rauxel. In 1858, Irish mining entrepreneur William Thomas Mulvany consolidated several minefield properties in the Castrop area. As a reminder of his homeland, the new minefield received the name of the goddess Erin, a form of the Gaelic name "Eire" which stands for Ireland. With the purchase of capital by the Prussian mining and metallurgical company Mulvany began with the sinking of the shafts 1 and 2 at the Karlstraße in Castrop. Already in 1867 coal mining started. The design and expansion of the mine was carried out according to standards that were adopted from the Anglo-Saxon coal industry. Shaft 1 and 2 had only a distance of 20 m to each other. Thus, as usual in some British collieries at that time, a common machine house could be built between the shafts and the rope guide could be diverted via two outriggers from the gable sides of this house into the shaft. In 1870, a coking plant with beehive stoves was put into operation on the shaft. In the following years, several blown weather explosions with fatalities occurred, also led strong waterfalls repeatedly to business interruptions, which weakened the capital ceiling of the operating company considerably. In 1877 the Prussian mining and metallurgical company declared bankruptcy. The Erin colliery was kept open only temporarily and promoted coal only for personal use. For this reason, it is explained that the Erin colliery was not included as the mining company Hibernia and Shamrock like the other founded by Mulvany collieries when founding Hibernia AG. In 1882 Friedrich Grillo founded a new union Erin. This union now invested extensively in the drowned mines and sümpfte them successfully. In 1887, Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (GBAG) acquired the Erin colliery and coking plant. In the following years, the coking plant was replaced by a new building. The conveyor system of the shafts 1 and 2 was replaced by a unique construction in the Ruhr area: Two small German struts scaffolding, which were connected by a gangway, were built as "Siamese twins" over the shafts. 1889 to 1891 east of the shafts 1 and 2 as Seilfahrt- and weather shaft of the bay Erin 3 was sunk and put into operation.
Source: Wikipedia
After the Erin colliery ceased operations in 1983, an association was set up to help preserve the winding tower. Today the winding tower is the landmark of Castrop-Rauxel.
On the former site of the Erin colliery, the service and commercial park Erin was built.
The Erin Park
After the decommissioning of the coal mine and coking plant, most buildings were demolished. From 1985 a combined recreational and commercial park was created on the site - the Erin Park (often also read the spelling »Erinpark«). This means that one part is a usable green area for recreation and in another part of the park commercial enterprises were settled. The entire, quite extensive park is characterized by a large road-axis cross.
In the Park section, which can be used for recreational purposes, there are streams, ponds, hills and geometric landscape forms connected by paths. They should reflect the contrasts of the one hand, barren and on the other hand gently rolling "Green Island". Thus, this park differs pleasantly from many other city parks alone by its varied terrain and planting. The highest elevations are elongated landfills, landscaped buildings in S-shape, which keep sealed the collected contaminated soil of the former plant. They are to climb, offer from their crest a good overview of the park and the city of Castrop-Rauxel and are both visual and wind protection.