REGIONAL SOURCES
‘Start local’ is good advice for anyone beginning to research their mining ancestors. Most local libraries in former coalfield areas will have some general information about coalmining on their shelves and in their collections. The archives and libraries featured here contain some of the more important mining sources or have particular items of local interest. Do bear in mind that relatively few individual collieries are well documented (indeed record-keeping in the industry as a whole was not good prior to nationalisation in 1947). However, it is possible to compile a reasonably accurate local picture by reference to a variety of sources. Maps (and sometimes plans and aerial views) showing the location of pits are often available and should be made use of whenever possible, as should other somewhat neglected sources such as oral history recordings, estate papers and business records. You may not be able to find a photographic image of your miner in a local collection, but there are some superb and easily accessible local and regional picture libraries for images of collieries and communities – and of the miners themselves. Use of the moving image is also a surprisingly overlooked source, and yet there are many wonderful clips and documentary films available, viewable via regional film archives. The most basic and most detailed source for most mining matters is found in local and regional newspapers, which are becoming more and more accessible and searchable through digitisation projects.
Prior to visiting the archives listed and described in this guide you will usually need to make an appointment and/or obtain a reader’s ticket. The same may be true for a local study centre, museum library and certainly for an independent facility. It is always best to check the visitor guidelines posted on the archive’s/library’s website beforehand, where you will also be able to find out about opening times and other requirements, and also information on disabled access/facilities. Although much preliminary work can be done using online catalogues and online information some records may not yet be digitally available, or not yet catalogued, and there may be new accessions. Despite the convenience of the internet there is nothing better than actually visiting and using a variety of records in an archive or library where professional help is at hand.
Do remember that you may not necessarily have to reside in the local authority’s library service area in order to access material online or in person. Joining the library in person (and sometimes quite easily online) will provide you with an enormous amount of research potential via your own computer/device and at library terminals. If for whatever reason you are unable to visit in person most libraries and archives offer a paid enquiry and/or research service.
Some university libraries and their special archive collections contain important coalmining records, which are perhaps underused for family and local history research. You do not need to be a university student or academic to access these, but do contact the librarian/archivist beforehand before visiting.
British coalfields c.1900, from T.H. Cockin’s An Elemental Class-Book of Practical Coal-Mining.
Joining a family history society in the area or areas where your mining ancestor lived and worked is bound to assist your research as you will not only have access to a variety of source material, actually and online, but will also be able to make friendly contact with individuals who may be able to share and/or provide advice.
Although increasingly collections of objects are being placed online, actually visiting relevant museums, heritage centres and places of interest in a coalfield region will always add a new and meaningful dimension to your research, helping to build up a contextual picture of the life and times of your coalminer ancestor; and in some places you can even gain some insight into what it was like to be miner through a guided tour or ‘underground experience’.
I have tried to be as up-to-date and as accurate as possible regarding the contact details of the places in this regional guide and have indicated where some archives/libraries were in the course of moving to new headquarters or merging with partner organisations. Do check websites for the latest information. Updates and the very latest information from most large libraries and archives are now also available via their entries on Facebook and Twitter.
This guide covers all of the former coalfield regions of Britain. Each regional research section is preceded by a brief geographical/historical/administrative overview of the area and is then arranged as follows:
• Archives and libraries
• Places to visit
• Family history societies
• Online sources
• Useful books, film and video
SCOTLAND
The coalfields of Scotland
Most of the Scottish coalfields occupied the broad lowland stretching from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde, an area of about 90 miles by 20 miles. There were four main fields. In order of production (c.1913) these were: Lanark (Lanark, Dumbarton, Renfrew, Linlithgow, Stirling and Clackmannan); Fife (Fife and Kinross); Ayr; and Lothian (Edinburgh, Haddington, Peebles). Small, detached fields also existed at Argyle, Dumfries and Sutherland.
Day-to-day accidents were reported frequently in local newspapers. Apart from Nitshill in 1851 (sixty-one fatalities) Scotland escaped the massive disasters that took place in the main English coalfields during the middle years of Victoria’s reign, but at least 207 men and boys lost their lives in explosions at Blantyre, Lanarkshire in 1877. Another twenty-eight Blantyre miners were killed two years later and there were major disasters at Udsen (seventy-three dead) and Mauricewood (sixty-three dead) in 1887 and 1889 respectively.
In 1913, just before the start of the First World War, there were about 150,000 persons employed in Scottish pits, compared with only 88,000 in 1895, an indication of rapid development. At the start of nationalisation in 1947 the Scottish Division of the National Coal Board had responsibility for 275 collieries formerly run by 120 separate companies but seventy-nine of these, small drift mines, were granted licenses to operate privately. The situation was fairly grim as the industry had been in longterm decline since at least 1920. Many near redundant and redundant Scottish miners migrated to ‘safer’ coalfields such as Yorkshire.
By the early 1950s there were 185 Scottish collieries accounting for about 12 per cent of the Britain’s total output (only 3 per cent less than in 1913). But the labour force had shrunk to its 1890s level, about 85,000. Fife and Clackmannan, with large reserves near the coast and under the sea, had the most potential. The Lothian coalfield also had rich reserves, ‘with the best mining conditions in Scotland’, according to the NCB. The Central coalfield, much of Lanarkshire, had become exhausted and the Ayr/Dumfries fields were run down. The relatively shallow seams led the Scottish NCB to invest in the opening of numerous short-life drift mines. In addition several so-called ‘superpits’ (Bilston Glen, Killoch, Monktonhall and Seafield) were sunk. The showpiece Rothes Colliery, in production from 1957, closed only five years later, despite the massive efforts of the miners. The severe pit closures of the 1960s left fewer than fifty mines in Scotland and this number was reduced to just fourteen at the start of the 1984 miners’ strike. Deep mining in Scotland ended with the closure of Monktonhall (Midlothian, opened 1967) in 1997, the even shorter-lived Castlebridge Colliery (Clackmannanshire, opened 1979) in 1999; and finally when the Longannet Complex (Fife, opened 1969) closed in 2002 following a catastrophic flood.
The Scottish coalfields were administered by the Scottish Divisional Coal Board from headquarters in Edinburgh. There were eight areas: West Fife, Lothians, Central West, Central East, West Ayr, Alloa, East Fife and East Ayr.
Regional source material for Scottish mining is to be found in a variety of locations, from municipal archives and academic institutions to local studies libraries, museums and heritage centres. A summary of the main Scottish archives can be seen online at www.scan.org.uk (Scottish Archive Network).
Archives and libraries
Ayrshire
Ayrshire Archives
Watson Peat Building, SAC Auchincruive, Ayr, KA6 5HW
t. 01292 521 819 e. archives@south-ayrshire.gov.uk
Online guide. Oral history collection includes coalminers. Ayrshire coalmining resource/research pack contains documents, maps, extracts from sound archive, bibliography and sources. Ayrshire Archives is incorporated into the Bums Monument Centre (Kilmarnock) and the Heritage Centre in Saltcoats (see below), both having both archival and local history materials. Although a separate council department, family and local history material is also held at the Carnegie Library in Ayr; see immediately below for contact and content details.
South Ayrshire Libraries Local Studies: Carnegie Library
12 Main Street, Ayr, KA8 8EB
t. 01292 272 231 e. localhistory@south-ayrshire.gov.uk
www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/libraries/localhistory
Wide range of publications relating to mining in Scotland and Ayrshire. Relevant monographs by local history societies include a reprint of a 1913 report on conditions in Ayrshire miners’ rows. MI’s. OS maps from 1856. Large photographic collection, arranged by locality, includes some mining images. Local newspapers from 1803 on microfilm; card index to The Ayrshire Post 1920–1960 includes many mining references. ‘Coalmining in Ayrshire’ resource pack produced jointly by Ayrshire Sound Archive and Ayrshire Federation of Historical Societies, 1988. HM Mines Inspector’s Report on Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery accident 1950.
East Ayrshire Libraries
t. 01563 554300 (general enquiries) e. elibraries@east-ayrshire
http://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/CommunityLifeAndLeisure/LibrariesAndArchives.
Use of online catalogue via keywords will achieve many coal-related results. Local and special collections include The Keir Hardie Collection. Local history and family history items are housed at the Burns Monument Centre, Kay Park, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, KA3 7RU (t. 01563 576695; e. info@burnsmonumentcentre.com). Also see Ayrshire Achives (above) and www.coalcollections.org.
North Ayrshire Archives/Heritage Centres
Manse Street, Saltcoats, Ayrshire, KA21 5AA
t. 01294 464 174 e. naheritage@north-ayrshire.gov.uk
www.ers.north-ayrshire.gov.uk
Stevenson Coal Company (Cunninghame of Auchenharvie Papers). Ayrshire Sound Archive (Ayrshire Federation of Historical Societies tapes and illustrations). Local newspapers e.g. Ardrosssan & Saltcoats Herald 1857–2012. Printed sources include Auchenharvie Colliery History (Three Towns Local History Group) and Janet Retter’s Drongan: the story of a mining village. Also see www.coalcollections.org.
Clackmannanshire
Clackmannanshire Archives and Local Studies Service
Archives contact: Lime Tree House, Castle Street, Alloa, FK10 1EX
t. 01259 452 272
http://www.clacksweb.org.uk/culture/archives
Alloa Library (archives can also be ordered for consultation here):
Spiers Centre, 29 Primrose Street, Alloa, FK10 1JJ
t. 01259 452 262 e. libraries@clacks.gov.uk
http://www.clacksweb.org.uk/culture/localhistoryandlocalstudies
Online library catalogue. Local Studies/Archive listings soon online. The Walter Murray Local Studies has many family history resources including local newspapers, photographs. Devon Valley Colliery and Glenochil Mine plans. Devon Colliery 1897 disaster report. Alloa & Hillfoots Searchlite (miners’ newspaper) microfilm 10/1925 to 6/1026.
East Dunbartonshire Information and Archives
The William Patrick Library, 2–4 West High Street, Kirkintilloch, G66 1AD
t. 0141 777 3143 (local studies) 0141 777 3142 (archives)
e. libraries@eastdunbarton.gov.uk or archives@eastdunbarton.gov.uk
http://www.edlc.co.uk/libraries.aspx
Covers the ‘old’ counties of Dunbartonshire, Stirlingshire and Lanarkshire. Browse archive collections online and search archive collection via online catalogue: use keywords such as ‘mining’, ‘coal’, ‘colliery/colliery name’ and ‘mine’ for many results eg, Summburgh Mining Co. (GD101/14/179); Miners’ Relief Fund 1928–32 (BK/15/5): Woodhall Esate (GDC01): list of colliery employees (Meiklehill, GD52/2); Cardowen Colliery closure (GD112/1); Miners’ Welfare (GD49/6). Local and family history collections mainly at William Patrick Library and Brookwood Library (Bearsden). Extensive mining photograph collection relating to local collieries; local newspapers (Kirkintilloch Herald 1886-to date; Milngavie & Bearsden Herald 1901-to date) and newspaper index/cuttings files; Cadder Valley Colliery Disaster Report; mining books and printed material including maps and plans: search by keyword as above.
West Dunbartonshire Libraries and Archives
Strathleven Place, Dumbarton, G82 1BD
t. 01389 608 965 e. dumbarton.library@west-dunbarton.gov.uk
www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/arts-culture-and-libraries/libraries/branches/dumbarton
Dumbarton Heritage Centre has information on the history of the Dumbarton and Vale of Leven areas. Local studies and archives are located at Clydebank (0141 5622 434) and Dumbarton libraries (01389 608 965).
East Lothian
John Gray Centre (East Lothian Council)
New heritage centre combining library, museum gallery, Local History Centre and East Lothian Archives
15 Lodge Street, Haddington, East Lothian, EH41 3DX
t. 01620 820695 (local history/archives) 01620 820 680 (library)
e. jgc@eastlothian.gov.uk www.johngraycentre.org
Genealogy book collection. Newspapers, printed material, photographs etc.
Fife
Dunfermline Carnegie Library
1 Abbot Street, Dunfermline, KY12 7NL
t. 01383 602 365 e. dunfermline.library@fife.gov.uk
Extensive local and family history resources. Mining items searchable via archive online catalogue. HM Mines Inspectors’ Reports Scotland 1854—55, 1910–13, 1930, 1950 and East of Scotland: 1856–1909. Oral history ‘mining memories’ mini disk recordings. Mining Memorial Book (updated at www.users.zetnet.co.uk/mmartin/fifepits [see useful online sources below]).
Kirkcaldy Central Library
War Memorial Grounds, Kirkcaldy, KYI 1YG
t. 01592 412 879 e. kirkcaldy.library@fife.gov.uk
www.fifedirect.org.uk
Fife Council Libraries also have ephemera from the 1984/85 strike in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath areas.
Glasgow
The Mitchell Library (Glasgow City Libraries)
North Street, Glasgow, G3 7DN
(Archives is on Level 2; Family History Centre is on Level 3)
t. 0141 287 2999 e. historyandglasgow@glasgowlife.org.uk
www.glasgowlife.org.uk/libraries/the-mitchell-library/Pages/home.aspx
‘One of the largest libraries in Europe’ and a ‘one-stop shop’ for family history research. Online catalogue. Special Collections and City Archives. Courses for research and tours.
List of resources e.g. family and estate archives. Virtual Mitchell (see online sources below). Graham papers (Bargeddie, Old Monkland, Barrowfield, Calton, Bredisholm and Old M collieries); Armitage Shanks Ltd (Ayrshire colliery plans); plans of Sculliongour, Balgass and Woodhead coal and lime workings. Sound archive. Also see www.coalcollections.org.
University of Glasgow Library and Archives
Library: Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QE
Archives: 13 Thurso Street, Glasgow, G11 6PE
t. 0141 330 6704 e. library@lib.gla.ac.uk
t. 0141 330 5515 e. enquiries@archives.gla.ac.uk
Ardenrigg Coal Company records (N. Lanarkshire); Ayrshire Coal Owners Association; Bairds & Dalmellington; Coalmasters of Scotland; Gladsmuir Collier; Glencairn Coal Co.; Halbeath Colliery; Lanarkshire Coal Masters’ Association; Mining Association of Great Britain archive; William Baird papers. HM Mines Inspectors’ Reports Scottish Division 1957–1975.
Lanarkshire
Airdrie Library Discovery Room
Wellwynd, Airdre, ML6 OAG
t. 01236 758 070 e. online form www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk
North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre
1 High Road, Motherwell, ML1 3HU
t. 01698 524 712 e. online form www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk
Archives: records of John Alson & Son (U2); coal company records: Blackbands (U2/5/02); Burnbank (U2/5/03); Gartness (U2/5/09); Monkland Glen (U2/5/16); Leaend (U2/5/26; Chapel Miners’ Welfare and Community Society 1851–1994 (U25); Wm Dixon iron & coal masters, Coatbridge 1810–1911 (U47); Stanrigg Disaster Relief Fund 1918–1928 (U52); Anderson Boyes & Co. coal-cutting machine-makers 1904–1994; estate papers of Carrick-Buchanan 1560–1960 (U1); Baird papers (relating to local mining). Large photographic collection includes miners, cottages, miners’ welfare, collieries etc. Oral history collection includes several miners. Local history room (e. museums@northlan.gov.uk) holds a wide variety of information on coalmining and miners. Report of housing, 1910. Reports on disasters e.g. Blantyre and Stanrigg. Local newspapers: Motherwell Times and Wishaw Press indexed by surname. Ephemera collection includes strike items, list of names of on-cost workers at Cleland Colliery 1849–1865.
Hamilton Town House Library
102 Cadzow Street, Hamilton, ML3 6HH
t. 01698 452122 e. libhc@library.s-lanark.org.uk
http://slleisureandculture.co.uk/info/87/hamilton_town_house_library
Library has extensive reference and local history collection, plus family history resources.
Lanark Library
6 Hope Street, Lanark, ML11 7LZ
t. 01555 661 144 e. libin@library.s-lanark.org
http://slleisureandculture.co.uk/info/89/lanark_library
Local history collection and general family history resources. Photographic collection for Coalburn village (c.1880–1930) and ‘Coalburn Chronicles’ – papers of Jim Hamilton, 1980s–1990s).
Midlothian
Midlothian Libraries and Archives
9 Clerk Street, Loanhead, Midlothian, EH20 9DR
t. 0131 271 3980 e. library.hq@midlothian.gov.uk
Online library catalogue. Nine local libraries. Local newspaper: Dalkeith Advertiser (from 1869).
Stirlingshire
Stirling Libraries and Archives
Libraries: Central Library, Corn Exchange Road, Stirling, FK8 2HX
t. 01786 432 107 e. centrallibrary@stirling.gov.uk
Archives: 5 Borrowmeadow Road, Stirling, FK7 7UW
t. 01786 450745 e. archive@stirling.gov.uk
www.stirling.gov.uk/services/community-life-and-leisure/libraries-and-archives
Central library and sixteen branch libraries. Online catalogue: SEDAR. Local and special collections: local history and heritage and researching your family history. Local newspapers e.g. Stirling Journal & Advertiser (for disasters and strikes especially) and also Valuation Rolls, which show the head of each household and occupation (therefore good for miners’ rows).
Falkirk Community Trust Libraries and Archives
Library: Victoria Buildings, Queen Street, Falkirk, FK2 7AF
t. 01324 506 800 e. libraries@falkirkcommunitytrust.org
Archives: Callendar House, Falkirk, FK1 1YR
t. 01324 503 779 e. archives@falkirkcommunitytrust.org
www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/heritage/archives
Online library catalogue. Eight libraries. Local history collection includes a large number of coal and coalmining items: books, pamphlets, photographs, resource packs, cuttings; also information on the Redding and Herbertshire pit disasters. The Falkirk Herald is indexed from 1845 and Falkirk Death Notices indexed from 1845–1910. Archives can be searched for via the Collection Browser; the collection includes coal company records for local collieries. The Russell and Aitken archive contains many colliery plans. Oral history collection includes recordings of several former mineworkers, including Kinneil Colliery. Redding pit disaster. Useful family history advice pages.
West Lothian
West Lothian Libraries and Archives
Local History Library: County Buildings, High Street, Linlithgow, EH49 7EZ
t. 01506 282 491 e. localhistory@westlothian.gov.uk
www.westlothian.gov.uk/tourism/LocalHistory
Archives and Records Centre:
9 Dunlop Square, Deans Industrial Estate, Livingston, EH54 8SB
t. 01506 773 770 e. archive@westlothian.gov.uk
Online library catalogue. Fourteen community libraries. Photographic collection on Flickr photostream includes mining. Family history resources. Local newspapers e.g. West Lothian Courier (from 1873) is indexed (http://wlhas.westlothian.gov.uk). Downloadable introduction to archives. Lothian Lives project; Black Collection: coal mining in the Lothians (view at Penicuik Library or at the WL Archives). Valuation Rolls 1855 onwards. Mining Deaths in Great Britain 1850–1914 (Winstanley). United Collieries Active Service Rolls 1914–18. Catalogue of plans of abandoned mines. List of local mines and their nicknames. Novels of ex-miner Tom Hanlin of Armadale, 1930s-1950s.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh Central Library and City Archives
Library: 7–9 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EG
t. 0131 242 8000 e. libraries@edinburgh.gov.uk
www.edinburgh.gov.uk/libraries
Archives: Level 1, City Chambers, 253 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ
t. 0131 529 4616 e. archives@edinburgh.gov.uk
www.edinburgh.gov.uk/archives
Online catalogue. Card indexes for coal mining items. Online sources for family historians. Capital Collections image library.
National Archives of Scotland – see national sources
National Library of Scotland – see national sources
Scottish Mining Museum – see national sources
Places to visit
Doon Valley Museum
Dalmellington, KA6 7QY
t. 01292 550 633e. e. elaine.mackie@east-ayrshire.gov.uk
www.visiteastayrshire.com or www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk
Community museum and art gallery with a ‘research lab’. Large collection of old photographs and maps available for family and local history research. Permanent displays feature coalmining and its effect on local communities. Doon Valley FHS meet there.
Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum
Morrison’s Haven, Prestonpans, East Lothian, EH32 9RY
t. 0131 653 2904 e. online form
Managed by East Lothian Council Museums, the industrial heritage site includes the old colliery, which functioned from c.1830 to 1962, and its Cornish beam engine. Site is open all year but visitor centre, with exhibitions, from April to October. Guided tours, events and trails.
Scottish Mining Museum – see national sources
Summerlee Museum of Industrial Life
Heritage Way, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, ML5 1QD
t. 01236 638 460 e. museums@northlan.gov.uk
http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/member/sumerlee-museum-of-industrial-life
Large site of former ironworks located by Monkland Canal branch. The museum features include Cardowen Colliery winding engine. A working tram takes visitors down a reconstructed drift mine. Miners’ cottages, saw mill and wood-shed. Industrial/social collections include many mining and personal items. Electric tramway. North Lanarkshire Council Museums & Heritage Museum collection includes a range of artefacts relating to mining in Scotland and North Lanarkshire especially.
Smaller displays of coalmining artefacts, images and information about local coalmining can be seen when visiting many other Scottish museums and heritage centres and/or viewing their online collection catalogues. Some regional examples are: Auld Kirk Museum (Kirkintilloch, http://museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/member/auld-kirk-museum); The Baird Institute (Cumnock, www.visiteastayrshire.com); Clackmannanshire Museums Service (www.clacksweb.org.uk); Dick Institute (Kilmarnock, www.visiteastayrshire.com); John Gray Centre (Haddington, www.johngraycentre.org); Kirkaldy Museum (Kirkcaldy, www.fife.gov.uk) and Whitworth Community Museum within Whitburn Library (www.westlothian.gov.uk).
Family history societies
Visit http://www.safhs.org.uk/members.asp for a complete listing of the members of The Scottish Association of Family History Societies. Most have research facilities and a wide variety of online resources, forums and publications. Coalfield area examples include:
Alloway and Southern Ayrshire FHS www.asafhs.co.uk
Borders FHS www.bordersfhs.org.uk
Central Scotland FHS www.csfhs.org.uk
Dumfries and Galloway FHS www.dgfhs.org.uk
East Ayrshire FHS www.eastaryshirefhs.co.uk
Fife Family History Society www.eastaryshirefhs.co.uk
Lanarkshire FHS www.lanarkshirefhs.org.uk
Lothians FHS www.lothiansfhs.org.uk
Renfrewshire FHS www.renfrewshirefhs.co.uk
West Fife Family History Group www.dunfermlineheritage.org.uk
West Lothian FHS www.wlfhs.org.uk
Online sources
Ayrshire Ancestors www.ayrshireancestors.com
Genealogical help site via subscription with some free services.
Ayrshire History www.ayrshirehistory.org.uk
David McClure’s site includes the local history of Ayrshire’s parishes, towns and villages and Ayrshire miners’ rows.
Ayrshire Roots www.ayrshireroots.com and ayrshireroots.co.uk
Large site tailored to help you research your Ayrshire ancestry. Use ‘coal miner’ etc as key words – or a family name or place.
Dunfermline Heritage Roots www.dunfermlineheritage.org.uk
Part of Dunfermline Heritage Community Projects (DHCP). Living in the Past area has a history of local coalmining. Useful family and local history information.
Fife Mining Heritage Society www.fifeminingheritage.org.uk
David Reid’s ‘Preserving mining memories for future generations’ site. Registered charity founded in 1995. Information – text and images – about the Fife coalfield and collieries. Includes items of wider interest, e.g. Bevin Boys.
Fife Pits www.users.zetnet.co.uk/mmartin/fifepits
Michael Martin’s excellent site is a comprehensive online source for Fife mining and miners. Navigate via four menus and the Memorial Book contains over 2,300 entries.
Future Museum.co.uk South West Scotland www.futuremuseum.co.uk
Search museum collections. Features include mining and quarrying (Life and Work key industries area) and coal.
Genuki: Scotland genealogy – see national sources
Lothian Lives www.lothianlives.org.uk
Records and stories taken from the city of Edinburgh, East, Mid and West Lothian archives. Browse menu. Black Collection includes scrapbook about coal and ironstone mining in the Lothians and Isabella Somerville ‘the oldest pit woman in the world’.
Miners Voices www.miners-voices.homecall.co.uk
Excellent site originated by ex-miner Johnny Temperton in 2007 and dedicated ‘to the living history of the Ayrshire miners’. Oral history recordings, documents and photographs. Miners’ strikes and disasters. Alex Mills ‘union man’.
Scottish Coal Collections – see national sources
Scotland on Film (Mines) – see national sources
ScotlandsPeople – see national sources
Scottish Mining – see national sources
Scottish Screen Archive – see national sources
Sorbie family/Lanarkshire Mining
www.sorbie.net/lanarkshire_mining_industry.htm
History of mining in Lanarkshire.
Virtual Mitchell www.mitchelllibrary.org/virtualmitchell
Glasgow’s Mitchell Library’s online image library.
Useful books, film and video
R. Page Arnot, A History of the Scottish Miners From the Earliest of Times (George Allen & Unwin, 1955)
R.H. Campbell, The Scottish Miners, 1874–1939, Volume I: Industry, Work and Community (Ashgate, 2000)
R.H. Campbell, The Scottish Miners, 1874–1939, Volume II: Trade Unions and Politics (Ashgate, 2000)
Baron Duckham, A History of the Scottish Coal Industry, Vol. I, 1700–1815 (David & Charles, 1970)
Robert Duncan, The Mineworkers [of Scotland] (Birlinn, 2005)
Graham Holton, Discover Your Scottish Ancestry: Internet and Traditional Resources (Edinburgh University Press, 2009)
Guthrie Hutton, Fife – The Mining Kingdom (Stenlake, 1999)
Guthrie Hutton, Lanarkshire’s Mining Legacy (Stenlake, 1997)
Guthrie Hutton, Mining Ayrshire’s Lost Industry (Stenlake, 1996)
Guthrie Hutton, Mining the Lothians (Stenlake, 1998)
Guthrie Hutton, Mining From Kirkintilloch to Clackmannan & Stirling to Slamannan (Stenlake, 2000)
Guthrie Hutton, Scotland’s Black Diamonds (Stenlake/Scottish Mining Museum, 2001)
Ian Maxwell, Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors (Pen & Sword, 2009)
Miles K. Oglethorpe, Scottish Collieries. An Inventory of the Scottish Coal Industry in the Nationalised Era (RCAHMS, 2006)
National Archives of Scotland, Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors. The Official Guide (Birlinn, 2011)
* * *
Coalmining in Central Scotland [Kingshill colliery] (DVD: Scottish Screen Archive, 1939)
Memories of Mining in Scotland (DVD: Scottish Screen Archive: www.ssa.nls.uk)
Scottish Miners’ Gala Day (DVD: Scottish Screen Archive, 1953)
The Brave Don’t Cry [film based on Knockshinnoch Colliery disaster] (Associated British Film Distributors, 1952), Prod. J. Grierson; Dir. P. Laycock
Valleyfield Colliery [Fife] (DVD: Scottish Screen Archive, 1965)
ENGLAND
Northumberland and Durham coalfield
Historically known as the ‘Great Northern’ or ‘Northern’, the Northumberland and Durham coalfield was the first in the world to be developed on a large scale. Its nearness to the sea was a tremendous economic advantage over relatively landlocked areas elsewhere, enabling coal to be shipped in bulk. From pithead to waterway staithes and ports, entrepreneurs and engineers developed a system of wagonways, precursors to a dense network of colliery and mainline railways.
The coalfield extended from the river Coquet and Warworth in the north to the port of Hartlepool in the south. Its width varied from a few miles in the north to about 30 miles towards the centre and south. Coastal collieries at Seaham, Ryhope, Monkwearmouth, Horden and Easington worked seams for several miles under the sea. Permian rock strata (Magnesian Limestone) overlaid the older coal measures in the south-east of the area. The western, exposed coal measures covered an area of about 600 square miles and the concealed area accounted for a further 125 square miles. Despite the depth, pit sinking through the overlay was quite early, South Hetton, for example, dating from the 1830s.
In 1915, Professor Jevons (in The British Coal Trade) described the northern pitmen as ‘some of the finest manual workers in the country’.
The coalfield was plagued by major disasters during the nineteenth century, most notably at Wallsend (1835), Haswell (1844), New Hartley (1862) and Seaham (1880).
Durham’s last major pit, Monkwearmouth Colliery, closed in 1993, its site now occupied by Sunderland AFC’s Stadium of Light football ground. Both the stadium name and an impressive Davy lamp monument are reminders of a proud mining heritage. Deep mining continued in Northumberland until 2005, when UK Coal closed Ellington Colliery following the serious flooding of an underground development. ‘Big E’ had been exploiting seams off the coast of Northumberland since production began in 1911.
Durham was by far the more productive of the two areas. In 1912, it produced 37.9 million tons of saleable coal compared with 14.8 in Northumberland. John Bowes and Partners Ltd had seventeen mines in 1896 employing 7,189 men. Its operations concentrated on nine or ten collieries after the First World War. However, the typical ownership/operational arrangement in the coalfield was small-scale, just one or two, often quite aged pits employing a few hundred men. In 1898, Northumberland had 112 mines, operated by eighty independent companies. Durham had far more, 246 mines, but owned by ninety-one companies. The thin seams were worked with an increasing number of mechanical coal-cutters, only Scotland having a greater usage. At its peak in 1912 there were more than 250,000 persons employed in the coalfield. By 1947 the number of pits had reduced to seventy-nine in Northumberland (and thirty-eight companies) and 152 in Durham (fifty-five companies). From its Newcastle headquarters in the 1950s the NCB administered over 120 collieries in Durham and fifty-nine in Northumberland. The two Divisions accounted for about eighteen per cent of Britain’s output of coal.
This coalfield was one of the first to experience significant pit closures after the First World War, many miners and their families having to seek work in other regions. So if you have an early twentieth-century north-east England mining ancestor there’s a good chance he worked at several pits and may have migrated elsewhere.
Archives and libraries
Beamish: The Living Museum of the North
Regional Resource Centre (RRC)
Beamish Museum, Beamish, County Durham, DH9 0RG
t. 0191 370 4000 e. museum@beamish.org.uk www.beamish.org.ukw.
Archives and collections of the RRC include a vast amount of material of interest to family history research: manuscripts, oral history recordings, photographs and images, as well as printed items from books and newspapers to trade catalogues and ephemera. Its increasingly digitised People’s Collection can be searched at http//collections.beamish.org.uk and via ‘Photo Archive’, ‘Objects’, ‘Catalogues’, ‘Books’, ‘Audio’ or ‘Everything’. Photographs can also be browsed online by map location. Aiden Doyle’s book, The Great Northern Coalfield: Mining Collections at Museum (Northumbria University Press, 2005) is available at the museum or from other sources. Also see places to visit (below).
Blyth Library
Bridge Street, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 2DJ
t. 01670 361352 e. Blythlibrary@northumberland.gov.uk
www.northumberland.gov.uk
Online search via ‘my library’ includes ‘Family History’. Northumberland Coal Owners Mutual Protection Association Index 1898–1947 (microfiche). Card index to coalmining items.
Millennium Place, Durham, DH1 1WA
t. 0191 386 4003 e. DurhamClayportLibrary@durham.gov.uk
Modern purpose-built library, part of the Durham Millennium City Project. Online library catalogue. Huge local studies collection and family history resources. Newspapers e.g. Durham Advertiser (1814—to date), Durham Chronicle 1820–1951.
Durham County Record Office
County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL
t. 0191 383 3253 e. record.office@durham.gov.uk
‘A mine of information’. The official record office for County Durham and Darlington. A major holder of coalmining records. The Durham Collieries database can be searched online via keywords such as a place-name or colliery name (see online sources below). Subject Guide 7: Colliery Personnel Records. Mining Hidden Depths database has over 140,000 personnel from the Durham Miners’ Association records (see online sources below). Search the online catalogue by selecting Public Records (for NCB), Trade Union and Employers’ Association Records and Estate and Family Records. Family History online guide: http://www.durhamrecordoffice.or.uk/Pages/familyhistory.aspx
Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections
Palace Green, Durham, DH1 3RN
t. 0191 334 2932 e. pg.library@durham.ac.uk
Large and extensive holdings searchable via online catalogue. Coal company/estates: papers relating to Durham Bishopric, Bishopric Halmote Court Baker, Shipperdson, Grey, Shafto (Beamish), Clayton & Gibson; Mickleton and Spearman MSS, Additional Manuscripts, Durham Cathedral Muniments, Land Tax Records. Reports of HM Inspectors of Mines. Grey Papers, Jack Lawson Papers, Keith Armstrong Collection. Colliery histories. Newspaper and periodicals e.g. Coal News. Family History guide.
Darlington Library (Centre for Local Studies)
Crown Street, Darlington, Durham, DL1 1ND
t. 01325 349630 e. Centre.forLocalStudies@darlington.gov.uk
www.darlington.gov.uk/library/localstudies
Mining Deaths in Great Britain (Winstanley) database 1850–1914. Reports of HM Inspectors of Mines 1874–1883 (& 1887). Durham Coal Owners’ Association and Proceedings of Joint Committee 1872–1921. Durham Coal Board arbitration 1875–77, 1879–82, 1891, 1908. Durham Miners’ Association Joint Committee Decisions etc 1875–1923. Durham Miners’ Association Ascertainments 1933, 1935. Reid’s Handy Colliery Guide for Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Cumberland and Westmorland 1923, 1930 & 1938. Colliery Guardian 1878. Local newspapers e.g. The Northern Echo 1870-to date; Darlington & Stockton Times 1847-to date.
Central Library, Prince Consort Road, Gateshead, NE8 4LN
t. 0191 433 8430 e. libraries@gateshead.gov.uk
http://www.localhistorygateshead.com/local-and-family-history
Bulk of research material relating to the coalfield housed at the main library. Maps, newspapers, trade directories, recordings and transcripts of miners and their families recalling the 1926 strike. Transactions of North of England Institute of Mining Engineers 1852–1947. Archive sources via Tyne & Wear Archives (see below). The St Mary’s Heritage Centre holds family history surgeries (http://www.localhistorygateshead.com/about-us/st-marys-heritage-centre).
Newcastle City and Local Studies Library
City Library, Charles Avison Building, 33 New Bridge Street West,
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AX
t. 0191 2774100 e. information@newcastle.gov.uk
www.newcastle.gov.uk/libraries
‘Largest collection of local and family history material in the North East’. Searchable online catalogue and virtual library. Newcastle Collection. Fact sheets include family history, Newcastle history, local maps and newspapers. West Newcastle Picture History Collection (via West End Library: Condercum Road NE4 9JH e: wnls@btinternet.com). Nineteenth-century newspapers accessible remotely for library cardholders and major family history resources available at terminals across the library service.
Newcastle University (Robinson) Library
Jesmond Road West, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HQ
t. 0191 222 7662 www.ncl.ac.uk/library/specialcollections
Online catalogue. Special Collection includes many coalmining items.
North East England Mining Archive and Research Centre (NEEMARC)
Level 3, The Murray Library, Chester Road, Sunderland, SR3 1SD
t. 0191 515 2905 e. neemarc@sunderland.ac.uk www.neemarc.com
NEEMARC is part of the Special Collections at the University of Sunderland. Three important resources with excellent online family history advice (http://library.sunderland.ac.uk/resources/special%20collections/neemarc/articles/miningforfamilyhistoryandneemarc): (1) Records of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Durham Area; (2) The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME: also see separate listing, below) and (3) Durham branch of National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers (NACODS). Some former NCB records. Downloadable leaflets: Mining Your Family History 1, Mining Your Family History 2. Online catalogue: (http://leetar.sunderland.ac.uk/CalmView).
North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME)
Neville Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1SE
t. 0191 232 2201 e. librarian@mininginstitute.org.uk
Registered charity. Formed in 1852, the Nicholas Wood Memorial Library is probably the largest mining library in the world. Searchable online library catalogue. Maps and plans. Special Collection includes Buddle, Watson, Forster and Easton papers. HM Inspector of Mines reports 1851–1867, 1869–1917, 1920–1923, 1925–1977. Mine disaster reports, c.1877–c1980s. Colliery histories. Newspapers and periodicals include Colliery Guardian, Mining Journal, Iron & Coal Trade Review, Colliery Guardian Annual Guide to Coalfields, Coal News, Transactions of North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, Transactions of Institute of Mining Engineers/Mining Engineer. For more details, other periodicals, date runs etc, consult website and online catalogue. Regular exhibitions and events. New website will include a family history sources page.
North Tyneside Central Library
Howard House, 54a Saville Street, North Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE30 1NT (temporary address pending refurbishment and proposed establishment of the North Shields Customer First Centre: see website for updates).
t. 0191 643 5270 e. central.library@northtyneside.gov.uk
Branch libraries in former coalmining communities (contact details on website). Online catalogue. Although designed for schools, the Tyne Lives project (www.tynelives.org.uk) includes useful information about coalmining at Wallsend.
Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn
Woodhorn, QEII Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 9YF
t. 01670 528 080 e. collections@woodhorn.org.uk
www.experiencewoodhorn.org.uk
Major archive and study centre housed in the new Cutter building. Searchable online collection catalogue. Mining records include occupational registers, truck/fine books, training ledgers (post-1947), stoppages registers, estate papers, pit housing records, indemnity books, union records, pay bills, disaster and fatality records, compensation records, superannuation records, HM Mines Inspectorate (post-1921), Woodhorn (1916) and Montague (1925) disaster reports. A 3D collection includes mining items relating to accidents and disasters, strikes, memorials, artworks, banners and samples; and implements. Downloadable user guides include Coal Mining Records for Family Historians, Coroners’ Records, Northumberland Family History and Newspapers (see http//www.experiencewoodhorn.com/user-guides-and-forms/ for complete listing). Also see places to visit (below).
Northumberland Libraries
Northumberland County Council. Use ‘my library’ via the main website to access contact details of thirty-four local libraries, many in former coalmining areas; also online local and family history sections and searchable book catalogue. Also see Woodhorn and Blyth (below).
South Tyneside Central Library
Prince George Square, South Shields, NE33 2PE
t. 0191 427 1818 e. localstudies.library@southtyneside.gov.uk
Serves several former mining communities where there are branch libraries (see main website for contact details). Online catalogue.
Sunderland City Library and Arts Centre
Fawcett Street, Sunderland, SR1 1RE
t. 0191 514 8439 e. localstudies@sunderland.gov.uk
Local studies material includes newspapers (1831 onwards), maps and trade directories. Local heritage factsheet; Washington F Pit (download). See http//www.sunderland.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid+1092 for local history and heritage.
Tyne & Wear Archives
Blandford House, Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4JA
t. 0191 277 2248 (searchroom) 0191 232 6789 (switchboard)
e. archives@twmuseums.org.uk www.tyneandweararchives.org.uk
Covers all North East area and a major source for local and family history research. Online catalogue. User guides include 19A: Coal Industry (general sources, public records, business records, industrial relations; welfare and safety; maps and plans; film and miscellaneous and 19B Collieries (individual colliery records); also useful is 16: Trade Unions, Employers and Professional Associations. HM Inspector of Mines reports 1864–1866: Children’s Employment Commission (TWAM L/3983). HM Inspector of Mines Northern District Dec 1859-Dec 1860 (TWAM DF.WF/38). For mine disaster reports search catalogue, e.g. Hartley (1862), Montague (1925). Miners’ Permanent Relief Fund available on microfilm and CD.
Places to visit
Beamish The Living Museum of the North
Beamish, County Durham, DH9 0RG
t. 0191 370 4000 e. museum@beamish.org.uk www.beamish.org.uk
Multi award-winning ‘open-air’ museum of great interest to anyone with coalmining ancestry. Pit Village (Pit Cottages, Board School and Methodist Chapel); Colliery and Colliery Yard; Mahogany Drift Mine (guided tours with ex-miners); Lamp Cabin; Engine House; Pockerley Waggonway and many mining exhibits. Also see archives, libraries & local studies centres (above).
Bellingham Heritage Centre
Station Yard, Woodburn Road, Bellingham, Northumberland, NE48 2DF
t. 01434 220 050 e. info@bellingham-heritage.org.uk
www.bellingham-heritage.org.uk
Volunteer-run local history museum and registered charity. Collections include an excellent mining heritage exhibition relating to the North Tyne and Redesdale.
Springwell Village, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, NE9 7QJ
t. 0191 416 1847 www.bowesrailway.co.uk
Registered charity. Designed by George Stephenson for John Bowes et al in 1826, for hauling coal from local collieries to boats on the Tyne. Such colliery railways were once common in the North East. The section that remains is the only surviving and preserved operational rope-hauled railway in the world.
Durham Mining Museum
Spennymoor Town Hall, Spennymoor, County Durham, DL16 6DG
t. 0757 701 2822
Mining artefacts and information. Display rooms are open on weekdays (12–4) and Saturdays (10–2). Also see online sources (below).
Segedunum Roman Fort, Baths and Museum
(Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums)
Buddle Street, Wallsend, NE28 6HR
t. 0191 236 9347 htttp//www.twmuseums.org.uk/segedunum
Interactive museum that also houses coalmining artefacts; history of Wallsend Colliery. A recent exhibition was ‘Into the Mouth of Hell’ relating to four major pit disasters on Tyneside, including the 1862 Hartley disaster. New permanent exhibition on the evolution of the local landscape includes the coal trade.
Washington F Pit Museum
Albany Way, Washington, NE37 1BJ
t. 0191 553 2323 http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/washington
Owned by Sunderland City Council and managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums. Superb Victorian winding engine, engine house and pit headgear. This important colliery site dates back to the sinking of the pit in 1777. Washington colliery was closed by the NCB in 1968 and a museum established in 1976.
Woodhorn Colliery Museum
Woodhorn, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 9YF
t. 01670 528 080 www.experiencewoodhorn.com
Historic site of Woodhorn Colliery, one of the Ashington pits. Preserved Heapstead, Winding House, Fan Room, Engine House, Workshops, Stables. Guided tour/Darkside Tour. Coal Town (interactive galleries in the modern Cutter building). Unique Pitman Painters (Ashington Group of miner-artists) exhibition; pit banner display. Country Park setting and a superb visitor experience.
Mining artifacts and smaller exhibitions can also be seen at many other North East museums, for example South Shields Museum (http://twmuseums.org.uk/southshields), Sunderland Museum (http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/sunderland) and Wheatley Hill Heritage Centre (www.wheatleyhillheritagecentre.btck.co.uk).
Northumberland & Durham FHS www.ndfhs.org.uk
Cleveland (North Yorkshire and South Durham) FHS www.clevelandfhs.org.uk
Newton Aycliffe FHS www.nafhs.com/newton_aycliffe.php
Elvet Local and Family History Group e. margot@hallgarthstreet@plus.net
Online sources
Durham In Time www.durhamintime.org.uk
The Community Archive links collections from local and family history groups, and other groups. Project websites include Durham Miner and Coal Mining Oral History Project. Digital archive. Run by Adult Learning and Skills Service of Durham CC.
Durham Miners’ Gala
Many sites but for an overview see the Wikipedia entry en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Durham_Miners’_Gala. Video clips on youtube. Artist Tim Brennon’s (University of Sunderland Faculty of Arts) app ‘Gala Manoeuvres’ is available free from the Apple app store.
Durham Miners’ Museum www.dmm.org.uk
Excellent virtual site relating to the North East, which also covers Cumberland and is useful for other coalmining areas too. Includes practical advice for family history research (http://www.dmm.org.uk/famhist.htm). Topics easily navigated via main menus of ‘Museum’, ‘Mining’ and ‘Disasters’. ‘Site Map’ a good starting point, providing a list of resources and the Forum section is also useful. Also see places to visit (above).
Durham Records Online www.durhamrecordsonline.com
‘International partnership of genealogists and historians’. Free search then payment. Huge database of records including mine-related examples. Useful coalmining links. Also see Search Durham Collieries (below).
Hampstead Miners Memorial Trust http://miners.b43.co.uk
Interesting site commemorating the Hampstead pit disaster of 1908.
Mining Durham’s Hidden Depths
www.Durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/Pages/AdvancedSearchHiddenDepths.aspx
Durham Record Office’s excellent project – via volunteers – is the creation of indexes of the Durham Miners’ Association trade union records. Thousands of names in the growing searchable database. Also see Search Durham Collieries (below).
Northern Region Film & Television Archive www.nrfta.org.uk
Based at Teesside University. Explore the collection using keywords such as ‘coal’.
Northumberland Communities www.communities.northumberland.gov.uk
Northumberland Archives’ project. A-Z listing of places with digitised sources for local and family history research.
www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/Pages/AdvancedSearchDurhamCollieries.aspx
Durham Record Office’s excellent database of Durham collieries, from c.1850. Search/browse by colliery, place or map. Also see Mining Durham’s Hidden Depths (above).
Tomorrow’s History www.tomorrows-history.com
The regional local studies site for the North East of England. Managed by Newcastle-upon-Tyne Libraries, Information and Lifelong Learning Service. Search collection via subject (e.g. coalmining), period and keyword.
What’s Your Story www.whatsyourstory.org.uk
‘Discovering Family History in Tyne & Wear’. Volunteer-run site of shared information about North East ancestors, started by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums in 2011. See Sheila Fiddler’s Story, for example, on child labour in coalmining and the 1842 Report.
Useful books, film and video
Frank Atkinson, The Great Northern Coalfield (Durham County Historical Society/University Tutoral Press, 1966)
Norman Emery, The Coalminers of Durham (The History Press, 2009)
W.R. Garside, The Durham Miners 1919–1960 (Allen & Unwin, 1971)
Bill Griffiths, (compiler), Pitmatic: The Talk of the North East Coalfield (Northumbria University Press, 2005)
Mike Kirkup, Ashington and its Mining Communities (The History Press, 2008)
Ken and John Prestwick, Beneath this Green and Pleasant Land. A Miner’s Life (Tyne Bridge, 2009)
Jean Smith, The Great Northern Miners (Tyne Bridge, 2009)
Neil Taylor, Memories of the Northumberland Coalfields (Countryside Books, 2009)
Les Turnbull, Coals From Newcastle. An Introduction to the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield (Chapman Research, 2009)
* * *
Brass and Banners. A History of the Great Northern Coalfield and its People (DVD: Puddle Productions)
A Tour of Westoe Colliery [South Shields] (DVD: Slipstream Productions)
Seaham Pits [Dawden, Vane Tempest etc]
The Miners’ Hymns, Bill Morrison (dir) (DVD: BFI Video, 2011)
Cumberland coalfield
One of the smaller coal-bearing regions, the Cumberland coalfield was about 25 miles from north-east to south-west and about 6 miles wide at its greatest extent. The western, coastal area extended from Whitehaven to Maryport and then a further 12 miles to Wigton. There were considerable workings under the Irish Sea and Solway Firth, up to 4 miles from land.
The entrepreneurship of Sir William Lowther was important in the emergence of the area from the latter part of the seventeenth century and in the growth of Whitehaven as a coal-shipping port. The Curwen family developed their Workington area pits in the eighteenth century. In 1900, according to the Victoria County History, there were forty-three collieries in Cumberland, but several were quite small concerns, employing fewer than twenty hands. By 1912, the total number of persons employed and production was relatively small, 10,742 persons producing 2,133,563 tons. The coal seams were not only difficult to work due to faulting, but also contained high levels of methane gas, so explosions were always a danger. The worst disaster occurred at Wellington Pit (Whitehaven) in 1910 when there were 136 fatalities. The unfortunate Haig Colliery had explosions in 1922, 1928 and 1931, with a total loss of life of seventy-nine persons. After nationalisation, the NCB administered the coalfield from offices at Bankfield, Workington, when ten pits were still operating. Haig, with its undersea workings, was the biggest, and was the last deep mine to be worked, closing in 1986. Its site is now an interesting mining museum run by volunteers (see below).
Archives and libraries
Carlisle and Whitehaven Archives and Local Studies
Carlisle Archives Centre, Lady Gillford’s House, Petteril Bank Road, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA1 3AJ
t. 01228 227 285 e. carlisle.archives@cumbria.gov.uk
Whitehaven Archives and Local Studies Centre, Scotch Street, Whitehaven, Cumbria, CA28 7NL
t. 01946 506 420 e. Whitehaven.archives@cumbria.gov.uk
The Carlisle Archive Centre’s coalmining records are contained within family and estate papers: Lowther (DLONS W7: collieries; Senhouse (DSEN 5/9/2: Ellenborough and other collieries); Lawson (DLAW 1: leases include individual miners’ names). CASCAT (online collection catalogue) searches through records held at all of the centres. Family history advice/information online. Keyword such as ‘colliery’ will reveal hundreds of results, e.g. Broughton Colliery deeds 1937–1877 (C. DX565); Roachburn disaster 1908 (C.1908); Whitehaven Colliery plans 1907–1915 (W. DH/441).; or use a colliery name such as ‘Haig Colliery’ for Whitehaven Coal Company records (W. DH series). See Nationalised Industries: National Coal Board summary and links to online catalogues of records: colliery plans (Broughton, Cleator, Flimby, Harrington, Whitehaven, Workington); colliery companies (Allerdale, Cumberland Coal Owners, Moresby Coal Company; Whitehaven Colliery Company (Winscales Central Mines Rescue, Cumberland District Coal Mines Scheme) and Cumberland Coalfield Records: catalogue references (and holding location) can then be accessed. Online Exhibition Gallery includes Wellington Pit Disaster 1910 and a podcast. The local studies library also has a good collection of coalmining sources including newspapers, books and maps and files.
Places to visit
Haig Pit Mining and Colliery Museum
Solway Road, Kells, Whitehaven, Cumbria, CA28 9BG
t. 01946 599 949 e. root@haigpit.com www.haigpit.wordpress.com
Situated high on the cliffs above Whitehaven. A major ‘Power House and Visitor Centre’ on the site of Haig pit, which closed in 1986, which will include a new exhibition space for mining and related displays. Steam winding house and headgear. Engines. Website has useful information on disasters, historical figures, the engines, West Cumberland Coalfield, news and events etc.
The Beacon
West Strand, Whitehaven, Cumbria, CA28 7JG
t. 01946 592 302 e. thebeacon@copelandbc.gov.uk
www.thebeacon-whitehaven.co.uk
Award-winning art gallery and museum for the Copeland area. Floor 2: Work and Play includes mining. Collections online search facility.
Family history societies
Cumbria FHS www.cumbriafhs.com
Online sources
Brayton Domain Collieries www.rumneys.co.uk
Coalmining and the people of Aspatria, Cumberland. Several images, history of the colliery, accident details, local census and directories.
Cumberland Roots www.cumberlandroots.co.uk
Cumberland family history site. Surname search. Parish records.
Useful books, film and video
J.V. Beckett, Coal and Tobacco. The Lowthers and the Economic Redvelopment of West Cumberland 1660–1760 (Cambridge University Press, 1981 and 2008)
Ray Devlin, Children of the Pits. Child Labour and Child Fatality in the Coal Mines of Whitehaven & District (Friends of Whitehaven Museum, 1988 & 1999)
Yorkshire (and Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire) coalfield
This extensive area, occupying much of the old West Riding of Yorkshire, and parts of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, had become the most important coalfield in the UK by 1913, with more than 271,000 persons employed and an annual output of about 74 million tons. Unlike in other regions output continued to rise right through to the mid-1920s.
Accidents and disasters were commonplace throughout much of the nineteenth century, no more so than around Barnsley, communities there suffering from a huge number of fatalities in a series of dreadful explosions, most spectacularly at Lundhill (1857, 189 deaths), the Oaks (1866, 361, the worst disaster at any English coal mine) and Swaithe Main (1875, 143).
Stretching more than 60 miles from the north of Leeds to Nottingham in the south, the exposed coalfield was at its widest (c.25 miles) in its upper half, beyond Sheffield. The Barnsley seam was the most famous coal worked (often indicated in the word ‘Main’ after a pit’s name) and the town from which it got its name was the geographic, economic and administrative centre of the old coalfield. After exhaustion of the Barnsley bed many other seams were developed via deeper workings at pits such as Cortonwood, Elsecar Main and Woolley, and at the Monckton and Manvers complexes.
A band of Magnesian Limestone overlaid the eastern edge of the coal measure rocks forming the start of a concealed coalfield. New sinkings had begun at Denaby (1864), and continued nearby at Cadeby (1889), but took off during the early years of the twentieth century at Bentley, Brodsworth, Frickley, Bullcroft, Edlington (Yorkshire Main), Askern, Hatfield, Rossington, and finally, the most awkward of all due to inrushes of water, at Thorne (1912–26). The new collieries were deep and large, employing several thousand men. Brodsworth Main, sunk by the Staveley Coal & Iron Company on the Thellusson country estate, began production from 1907, and by the 1920s (and again in the 1950s) was breaking national (in effect world) production records, referred to as the ‘biggest pit in the country’. A good number of Brodsworth’s c.3,500 workforce were housed in the model village of Woodlands. Two of Britain’s last deep mines, at Hatfield (near Doncaster) and Thoresby (Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire) remain in production; and, further north, Kellingley Colliery, near Knottingley, in West Yorkshire, also still operates.
During the NCB era the Yorkshire regional administrative headquarters was located in Doncaster, at Coal House.
The North Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire part of the coalfield formed part of the the NCB’s East Midlands Division after 1947, administered from Sherwood Lodge, Arnold, in Nottinghamshire.
In North Yorkshire the much-heralded Selby coalfield and its complex of five ‘superpits’: North Selby, Riccall, Stillingfleet and Wistow (plus Gascoigne Wood drift mine) officially opened in 1976, but due to geological problems production had ceased by 2004.
Archives and libraries
Barnsley Archives & Local Studies
(Experience Barnsley Discovery Centre)
Town Hall, Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2TA
t. 01226 773 950 e. archives@barnsley.gov.uk
http://experience-barnsley.com/archives-and-discovery-centre
Online collection catalogue. Records of West Riding Miners’ Permanent Relief Fund (miners and families) 1877–1988. HM Mines Inspectors’ reports 1860–1979. Coalfield Community Campaign records. Houghton Main, Dearne and Darfield Coal Home Delivery services. Hundreds of mining images in photographic collection. Excellent range of printed material relating to mining. Film: Black Diamonds (1930s). Oral history recordings include Brian Elliott’s recordings of local miners.
Brotherton Library/University of Leeds Special Collections
University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 9JT
t. 0113 343 5663 e. library@leeds.ac.uk http://library.leeds.ac.uk
Online catalogue to special collection of rare books and manuscripts. Yorkshire Coal Owners’ Mutual Indemnity Scheme, 1898–1902. Wentworth-Woolley Hall papers include coalmining items (Handlist 9). Newspapers and periodicals include Leeds Mercury, Leeds Intelligencer, Halifax Courier, Halifax Guardian. Periodicals include Illustrated London News (nineteenth-century).
Chesterfield Library
New Beetwell Street, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S40 1QN
t. 01629 533 400 e. chesterfield.library@derbyshire.gov.uk
http://derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/libraries
Also covers North East Derbyshire. Online catalogue. Wide range of coal-related sources. Coal Collection contains technical literature. Holdings include books and pamphlets, photographs, newspaper items, NCB maps, journals (e.g. Derbyshire Miner 1975–83, Staveley Company magazine 1926–32), copies of HM Inspectors of Mines’ reports (Midland/Yorkshire Midland District 1850–1914), HMI accident reports (Grassmoor, 1933; Markham, 1938 & 1973; Cresswell, 1950) index to abandoned mines. Barnes Collection includes eighteenth-century coalmining. Handout available on coalmining sources. Local newspapers.
County Hall Local Studies Library (Matlock)
County Hall, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 3AG
t. 01629 536 579 e. localstudies@derbyshire.gov.uk
Many Derbyshire newspapers (see http://newsplan.liem.org.uk/) and free access to British Library nineteenth-century newspaper database. Cuttings files (1960s onwards). Maps and plans. Ephemera and miscellaneous printed materials.
Derbyshire Record Office
County Hall, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 3AG
t. 01629 539 202 e. recordoffice@derbyshire.gov.uk
www.derbyshire.gov.uk/leisure/record_office
Online collection catalogue and record office guide. Downloadable guides include Tracing Your Family’s Roots in Derbyshire. Collections contain many mining records e.g. NUM (Derbyshire) minutes; Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Company accident record books 1923–1957; Denby Colliery wages book 1919–1937; diary of J.F. Russ, coalminer, 1917–1929. Unlisted coalmining records references can be searched on site via index cards.
Doncaster Archives & Local Studies
Archives: King Edward Road, Balby, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN4 ONA
t. 01302 859 811 e. doncaster.archives@doncaster.gov.uk
Local Studies: Central Library, Waterdale, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN1 3JE
t. 01302 734 307 e. central.localhistory@doncaster.gov.uk
www.doncaster.gov.uk/Leisure_and_Culture/Libraries_Local_Studies
Ongoing online indexing project. Sources for Local and Family History listing includes local newspapers, monumental inscriptions and Miners’ Strike Collection. Family & Local History Alphabet includes webpages on the Coal Industry (but few original records kept). Newspapers and Doncaster Family History Society. Registers of Fatal Accidents in Coal Mines (MQ?1 1914–1949 (exc. 1923/24). HM Inspectors of Mines’ reports (MQ) 1885–1938 (printed). Local newspapers. McFarlane Papers (1935–85) for Cadeby Main and Denaby Main collieries.
John Goodchild Local Collection
John Goodchild, M.Univ., c/o West Yorkshire Archive Service, Registry of Deeds, Newstead Road, Wakefield, WF1 2DE
Postal enquiries preferred, t. 01924 288 929 (library) or 01924 891 871 (home)
An independent study centre containing important coalmining sources collected over many years. Original papers of colliery owners in West and South Yorkshire coalfields, c.1700–2000 and individual documents c.1330–1947. A few colliery papers from outside this area. Coal-bearing estates’ records; Union records include a fine set for Lofthouse Colliery. HM Mines Inspectors’ reports 1851 onwards; colliery directories and other printed material. Notes by John Goodchild, M.Univ., on individual West Riding collieries, arranged alphabetically (and also by card index); typescript notes and printed studies by Goodchild on coalmining history. Colliery plans, from eighteenth century. Biographical details of colliery owners and engineers/managers. Many Price Lists. Yorkshire Small Mines Association papers.
Hull History Centre
Worship Street, Hull, HU2 8BG
t. 01482 317 500 e. hullhistorycentre@hullcc.gov.uk
Combined material from the Hull City Archives and Local Studies Library and archives of University of Hull. Online catalogue. Family history guide: key sources and useful links, e.g. newspapers and directories. Papers of W.E. Jones 1888–1968, President of the NUM and Secretary of Yorkshire Mineworkers’ Association (includes Rossington Colliery items); and papers of prolific coalmining historian Robin Page Amot, c.1917–1976.
National Coal Mining Museum for England (see Section II, National sources)
National Union of Mineworkers Archives
Miners’ Offices, 2 Huddersfield Road, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2LS
t. 01226 215 555 www.num.org.uk
The archives of the NUM contain many Yorkshire items (the building continues to be headquarters of the Yorkshire NUM, previously Yorkshire Miners’ Association), photographs, ephemera, books, disaster/accident reports, union records and printed items but are uncatalogued. Access by appointment only. Also see Section II, national sources; places to visit (below); useful online sources (below).
North Yorkshire County Record Office
Malpass Road, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, DL7 8TB
t. 01609 777585 e. archives@northyorks.gov.uk
www.northyorks.gov.uk/archives
Although coalmining was less extensive in the area than lead and copper, it was important in the Colsterdale (Swinton papers) and Bowes areas (Clifton Castle archive). Online catalogue. Historic maps online. List of Mining Plans (Guide No. 9, also see Guide 1 for an overview of mining).
Nottinghamshire Archives
Castle Meadow Road, Nottingham NG2 1AG
t. 0115 958 1634 e. archives@nottscc.gov.uk
http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/learning/history/archives
Online catalogue. Summary guide to holdings. Downloadable visitor guides and downloadable leaflets include Family History and the Internet and Maps and Plans. Researching your family history online guide includes sources and records. Portland MSS. Other estate and business records will contain many mining documents, for example Nottinghamshire & District Miners’ Federation Union, coroner’s warrants. For colliery company records prior to 1947 see the Access to Archives website at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a (SO/NCB).
Nottingham Local Studies Library
Nottingham Central Library, Angel Row, Nottingham, NG1 6HP
t. 0115 915 915 2873 e. local_studies.library@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/libraries
Online catalogue: ‘Nelib’. Card index on site. Local maps and newspapers (cutting files on collieries), books, directories and printed items, photographic collection. Oral history recordings includes miners. Online family history guide.
Nottingham University Manuscripts and Special Collections
Kings Meadow Campus, Lenton Lane, Nottingham, NG7 2NR
t. 0115 951 4565 e. mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections
Online catalogues. Research guide units; most useful include East Midlands Collection, D.H. Lawrence Collection and the Family and Estate Collections (Manvers, Drury-Lowe, Galway, Middleton and Thoroton Hildyard [see online guides for details]; also Portand (London) Collection, especially c.1850 onwards. Wollaton and Radford collieries shaft sinking records 1873–1905 (MS822); NCB reports 1937–1989. Newspapers include a collection relating to the 1926 General Strike (MS747). East Midlands mining papers (MS649). Photographs of industrial sites including mining (MS627).
Rotherham Archives and Local Studies Library
Clifton Park Museum, Clifton Lane, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S65 2AA
t. 01709 336 632 e. archives@rotherham.gov.uk www.rotherham.gov.uk
Located within Clifton Museum. Online library catalogue. South Yorkshire Family History Guide (download). Business records includes mines. Use ‘Local Towns and Villages’ from online menu for background history of mining in local communities. Several estate records relate to mining. ‘Local towns and villages’ from RMBC’s ‘Patchwork of Parishes’ includes coalmining backgrounds. Local newspapers e.g. Rotherham Advertiser 1858-to date. Excellent range of large-scale OS maps. Books and printed material on mining (list available). Photographic collection includes many mining images.
Sheffield Archives and Local Studies
Sheffield Archives: 52 Shoreham Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 4SP
t. 0114 203 9395 e. archives@sheffield.gov.uk
Sheffield Local Studies Library: 1st Floor, Central Library, Surrey Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 1XL
t. 0114 273 5009 e. localstudies.library@sheffield.gov.uk
http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/libraries/archives-and-local-studies.htlm
Online library catalogue: use keywords such as ‘colliery’, ‘coal mine’ etc for your search. Online archive collections fact sheets. Family history services. Tracing Your Ancestors in South Yorkshire download. Miners’ Strike Research Guide download (with detailed sources). BBC Radio Sheffield miners’ strike broadcasts (index cards). Picture Sheffield computerised image resource (see online sources below). Archives hold details relating to 126 south Yorkshire collieries (Ref: NCB). Local Studies also has a wide range of sources: printed material, local newspapers, images, periodicals e.g. Coal News; and oral history recordings.
Wakefield Library & Local Studies Library
Wakefield One, Wakefield Council, Burton Street, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF1 2EB
t. 01924 305356 e. wakefieldlibrarymuseum@wakefield.gov.uk
www.wakefield.gov.uk?CultureAndLeisure/Libraries/default.htm
Online library catalogue for book stock, which includes Ian Winstanley’s ‘Mining deaths in Great Britain 1850–1914’ and some HM Mines Inspectors’ reports. Local newspaper and ephemera collection, online index. Maps and plans. Images can be accessed via http://www.twixtaireandcalder.org.uk/default.htm.
West Yorkshire Archive Service
Morley, Leeds, West Yorkshire
2 Chapeltown Road, Sheepscar, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS7 3AP
t. 0113 214 5814 e. leeds@wyjs.org.uk
www.archives.wyjs.org.uk/archives
Huge service has offices in Wakefield, Bradford, Calderdale (Halifax), Kirklees (Huddersfield) and Leeds. Each has some coal-related holdings but the main deposits are in Wakefield (01924 305980) and Leeds. Online catalogue and collections guides. Family history: download Use Guides 7 and 11. Local history sources. The West Riding Registry of Deeds at Wakefield is a superb place for family and local history research for land ownership, for personal names, properties and businesses (1704–1970) and will include houses of coal mine company owners, managers etc and related items: enquire via 01924 305 980 or research@wyjs.org.ug.
Yorkshire Archaeological Society (YAS) Library and Archives
Claremont, 23 Clarendon Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 9NZ
t. 0113 245 7910 (library) or 0113 245 6362 (archives)
e. yas.library@googlemail.com or yas.archives@googlemail.com
www.yas.org.uk
Open to non-members (donations helpful) but by appointment only. Library contains books and journals on all aspects of Yorkshire history; also prints, photographic images, maps and aerial views. Standard family history resources also available. Catalogue searchable on site via card index or electronically. Archive has online guide, list of MI’s. Relevant estate records include deeds etc relating to coalmining in Barnsley (DD164); Farnley, near Leeds (MD279); Ingelton and Bentham (MD279; Middleton Colliery (MD1098); Woolley Colliery (DD200); Bradfer-Lawrence collection (Fountains Fell, Low Side, Bierley, Oakenshaw collieries: [MD335]); Duke of Leeds collection (Barnsley coal mines). Also see family history societies and online sources (below).
Places to visit
Barnsley Main Colliery Headgear & Engine House
Oaks Lane, Barnsley, South Yorkshire
http://www.ukminingremains.co.uk/barnsley-main-colliery
Listed pithead retains one of the former headgears and engine houses of Barnsley Main Colliery, which closed in 1991. Not open to the public but can be viewed from Oaks Lane, off Pontefract Road (A628), Hoyle Mill, Barnsley. Near the site of the old Oaks Colliery where 361 men and boys lost their lives in England’s worst pit disaster in 1866. Also see Experience Barnsley and Elsecar Village, Heritage Centre & Newcomen Engine (below).
Bestwood Winding Engine House & Headgear
Bestwood Country Park, Off Northern Drive, Bestwood Village, Nottinghamshire, NG6 8XA
t. 0115 927 3674 (ranger)
http://nottinghamshire.gov.uk/enjoying/countryside/countryparks/bestwood/winding-engine-house
Restored and open Saturday mornings, Easter–October. Last remains of Bestwood Colliery (1871–1967). Run by volunteers.
D.H. Lawrence Heritage
Durban House, Mansfield Road, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, NG16 3DZ
t. 01773 717 353 e. culture@broxtowe.gov.uk
www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4654
Two visitor attractions: 1. Durban House, former headquarters of coal owners Barber, Walker & Company, now a museum featuring a permanent exhibition relating to D.H. Lawrence and has many interesting local mining items; 2. D.H. Lawrence Birthplace Museum (nearby, at 8a Victoria Street, NG16 3AW), the former home of Lawrence, where timed guided tours are available.
Elsecar Village, Heritage Centre & Newcomen Engine
Wath Road, Elsecar, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S74 8HJ
t. 01226 740 203 e. elsecarheritagecentre@barnsley.gov.uk
www.elsecar-heritage-centre.co.uk
Located in a conservation area, excellent example of early industrial village includes miners’ houses, public park and former canal. Heritage site includes restored buildings of former ironworks and colliery workshops, heritage railway, craft workshops and antique centre, exhibition centre (Building 21). On TransPennine Trail. Its gem is the Newcomen-type engine house (only surviving example on its original site in the world) of Earl Fitzwilliam’s former New Elsecar Colliery, which has now undergone a major lottery-funded restoration.
Experience Barnsley Museum & Discovery Centre
Town Hall, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2TA
t. 01226 773 950 e. experiencebarnsley@barnsley.co.uk
www.experience-barnsley.gov.uk
New ‘people’s museum’ (and archive/local studies centre) housed in Barnsley’s Art Deco town hall, opened in 2013. Includes important mining exhibits and has an oral history recording studio, shop/tourist information point and educational facilities. Also see Barnsley Archives and Local Studies (above).
National Coal Mining Museum for England (see national sources)
National Union of Mineworkers Headquarters
2 Huddersfield Road, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS
t. 01226 215 555 www.num.org.uk
Regarded as the first purpose-built trade union headquarters in the world, its Miners’ Hall/Council Chamber is a hidden gem of coalmining architecture and heritage, containing sculptures/plaques, stained-glass windows, banners and exhibits (virtual ‘tour’ on website). Public access is on national heritage opening days and for the annual Joe Green Lecture (second Saturday in March, check website); and also by appointment.
Nottingham Industrial Museum
Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, NG8 2AE
t. 0115 915 3900 e. online form www.nottinghamindustrialmuseum.co.uk
The museum’s collection housed in the former stable block includes coalmining items. Online article: ‘My job as an under manager of a pit’ (Denis Ward who worked in local mining 1947–1988). Colliery horse gin on display outside building. Steam engines. Weekend opening, check website/telephone for details.
Peak District Mining Museum
The Pavilion, South Parade, Matlock Bath, Matlock, Debyshire, DE4 3NR
t. 01629 583 834 e. mail@peakmines.co.uk www.peakmines.co.uk
Although mainly concerning lead extraction, the museum is well worth a visit for anyone with coalmining interests as there were many common features. Guided tour of Temple Mine. Also see online sources (below).
Pleasley Colliery Mining Heritage site
Pleasley, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, NG19 7PH
e. admin@pleasley-colliery.org.uk www.pleasley-colliery.org.uk
A scheduled ancient monument, Pleasley Colliery functioned from 1871–1983. An excellent site for anyone interested in mining history as it includes headgears, engine houses and steam winders, plus exhibits. English Heritage award-winning restoration led by the Friends of Pleasley Pit volunteers. Open for visitors Thursdays and Sundays and on special event days/weekends: check website beforehand.
Many of the council-run museums in the region also have small collections of coalmining artefacts, photographs and information relating to their local area, for example, Cusworth Hall and Doncaster Museum (http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Leisure_and_Culture/Museums_and_Galleries) and Mansfield Museum (www.mansfield.gov.uk/museum).
Family history societies
Barnsley FHS www.barnsleyfhs.co.uk
Bradford FHS www.bradfordfhs.org.uk
Calderdale FHS www.cfhsweb.com/web
Chesterfield & District FHS www.cadfhs.org.uk
Derbyshire FHS www.dfhs.org.uk
Doncaster & District FHS www.doncasterfhs.co.uk
Huddersfield & District FHS www.hdfhs.org.uk.
Keighley & District FHS www.kdfhs.org.uk
Mansfield & District FHS c/o 15 Cranmer Grove, Mansfield, NG19 7RG
Morley & District FH Group http://wakefieldfhs.org.uk/morleyfhg
Nottinghamshire FHS www.nottsfhs.org.uk
Pontefract & District FHS www.pontefractfhs.org.uk
Rotherham FHS www.rotherhamfhs.co.uk
Sheffield & District FHS www.sheffieldfhs.org.uk
Wakefield & District Family History Society www.wdfhs.co.uk
Yorkshire Archaeological Society FH Section www.yorkshireroots.org
Online sources
Clay Cross Geneaology www.claycross.org.uk
This site includes ‘Collieries’ in the main menu.
Donny Online www.donny.co.uk
Contains local history features and has a genealogy forum.
Kiveton Park & Wales History Society www.kivetonwaleshistory.co.uk
Excellent community site for the story of local pits; lives at pits; mining question and answer; oral history clips. Download: Pit ponies of Kiveton Park Barnsley Seam.
Miners’ Advice www.minersadvice.co.uk
Dave Douglass’s comprehensive miners’ trade union advice site includes many items of Yorkshire historic interest, plus reviews and excellent links.
My Yorkshire www.myyorkshire.org
Partnership with eleven museums, including National Mining Museum for England e.g. images and audio of Life Down the Mine (Monckton/Roundwood collieries) for the Cutting Edge Heritage project.
Northern Mine Research Society www.nmrs.org.uk
Lots of mining interest for enthusiasts: also see national sources.
National Union of Mineworkers www.num.org.uk
Official website of the NUM/Yorkshire Area NUM. Menu includes history, publications, banners and miners’ plates. Also see national sources.
Nottinghamshire Roots www.nottinghamshireroots.com
Tourist-style guide with family history interests.
Picture Sheffield www.picturesheffield.com
Internet version of Sheffield Local Studies Library’s computerised picture collection. Searchable database has hundreds of coal-related images.
Picture the Past www.picturethepast.org.uk
North East Midland Photographic Record. Search and order prints from Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire areas. Many coalmining images.
Rotherham Web www.rotherhamweb.co.uk
Useful site for Rotherham and district local and family history, including many coalmining items: newspaper extracts, disaster reports, early mining, A-Z of local collieries, unions, welfare, strikes, photographs, plus index and easy site search.
Sheffield Indexers www.sheffieldindexers.com
Site now includes South Yorkshire Collieries and useful links.
Silverwood Colliery http://johndoxey.100freemb.com/Silverwood/
John Doxey’s excellent and very detailed site about Silverwood Colliery (1900–1994), near Rotherham. Contains over 4,200 ex-miners’ names.
The Magic Attic www.magicattic.org.uk
Large Swadlincote-based archive of newspapers, maps and family history information relating to south Derbyshire.
Yorkshire Film Archive www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com
Registered charity, based at the Fountains Building, York St John University. Over 16,000 film and video items. Online catalogue search. Online film clips. Many coal-related films, use keyword ‘coal’, ‘colliery’, ‘miner’ etc and view results.
www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100407210511/
http://www.freewebs.com/yorkshiremain/
British Library’s archived website. Lots of information and images about the colliery and other local pits. Also see ‘Edlington Yorkshire Main’ on Facebook.
Useful books, film and video
Yorkshire
Catherine Bailey, Black Diamonds. The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty (Viking/Penguin, 2007)
Ray Battye, The Forgotten Mines of Sheffield (Alistaire Lofthouse, 2004)
John Benson and Robert G. Neville (eds), Studies in the Yorkshire Coal Industry (Manchester University Press, 1976)
Brian Elliott, Pits and Pitmen of Barnsley (Wharncliffe, 2001)
Brian Elliott, Yorkshire Miners (The History Press, 2004)
Brian Elliott, Yorkshire Mining Veterans (Wharncliffe, 2005)
David Douglass and Joel Krieger, A Miner’s Life [Doncaster] (Routlege, Kegan & Paul, 1983)
John Goodchild, West Yorkshire Coalfield (The History Press, 2000)
Alan Hill, The South Yorkshire Coalfield. A History and Development (Tempus/The History Press, 2001)
Robert G. Neville, The Yorkshire Miners in Camera (Hendon, 1976)
John Threlkeld, A Pictorial History of Mining (Wharncliffe, 2003)
Peter Tuffrey, Doncaster’s Collieries (Amberley, 2011)
Peter Williams, Images of Yorkshire Coal (Landmark, 2005)
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire
David Bell, Memories of the Derbyshire Coalfields (Countryside Books, 2006)
David Bell, Memories of the Nottinghamshire Coalfields (Countryside Books, 2008)
Alan Ramsey Griffin, Mining in the East Midlands 1550–1947 (Cass, 1971)
Alan Ramsey Griffin, The Nottinghamshire Coalfield 1881–1981 (Moorland, 1981)
Clive Hardy, When Coal Was King (Derbyshire Times, 2010)
Terry Judge, The Clay Cross Calamities (Scarthin, 1994)
Terry Judge, Journal of a Derbyshire Pitman, 1835–1906 [Joseph Wright, a hewer] (Highedge Historical Society, 1996)
* * *
Kes (Film: MGM, directed by Ken Loach, 1969 and based on Barry Hines’ book Kestrel for a Knave, set in the Barnsley area)
Portrait of a Miner [features Thoresby colliery] (NCB Archive Collection, 1966)
The Price of Coal (1977, BBC Play for Today television plays written by Barry Hines and directed by Ken Loach)
Lancashire and Cheshire coalfields
The oldest part of the coalfield had an area of 217 miles of exposed coal measures, mostly north of Manchester. Later development took place through Permian rocks further south, more than doubling the area. The Cheshire section was small, production less than 2 per cent of the whole. An indication of the importance of the Lancashire coalfield was that 534 pits were recorded in the 1880 mine inspector’s annual report and by 1911 there were over 300 collieries still working, employing 104,000 persons. Lancashire miners, like their South Wales counterparts, often worked 10-hour shifts, so the 1909 Eight Hour Act cut down production, as did the closure of many exhausted old pits. Mechanisation was also fairly slow; a good deal of coal was produced via old fashioned hand-got methods before the First World War, with associated risks to the miners.
The whole area was riddled with accidents and disasters, particularly during the 1850s and 1860s, especially around Wigan. The disasters at Wood Pit, Haydock, in 1878 (189 fatalities) and Clifton Hall seven years later (178 dead) were massive tragedies, but even these were eclipsed by the explosion at the Pretoria Pit (Over Hulton) in 1910 when 344 men and boys died in a single day.
The large number of shafts and collieries around several towns led to Atherton, Burnley, Manchester, Oldham, St Helens and Wigan being described as ‘coalfields’. The thin Burnley seams meant a relatively small output and pit closures due to exhaustion of workable reserves, though sixteen collieries remained in production at nationalisation (1947). By 1970 only two, Bank Hall and Hapton Valley, still operated, closing in 1971 and 1982 respectively. In the Manchester coalfield twenty-two collieries remained at nationalisation. Mosley Common, the largest and most productive, closed in 1968. Manchester’s Lancashire pits were absorbed into the NCB’s Western Area and administered from its Staffordshire House offices, Berry Hill Road, Stoke-on-Trent. Oldham’s pits were mostly small and closely associated with the local cotton industry. The St Helen’s coalfield covered about sixty square miles, reserves in the shallow seams becoming exhausted by the 1960s, the area’s output concentrated on a few large collieries such as Parkside, which functioned from 1964 to 1993 and was Lancashire’s last deep mine. Wigan was probably the oldest and certainly the most intensively worked of the regional Lancashire coalfields, but there were few new collieries developed after 1900. At nationalisation just ten mines remained, Chisnall Hall being the last to finish in 1967.
Archives and libraries
Bolton Museum and Archive Service
Le Mans Crescent, Bolton, Lancashire, BL1 1SE
t. 01204 332 211 e. museum.customerservices@bolton.gov.uk
www.boltonmuseums.org/bolton-archives
Online catalogues for archives and local studies. Pretoria (Hulton) pit disaster information via menu on archives home page; also Pretoria Relief Fund. Lancs and Cheshire Miners’ Federation Minutes 1920–69. Business records include Alkrington Colliery; Ladyshore Coal and Terra Cotta Company (Little Lever); Top o’ th’ Meadows Colliery (Darcy Lever); Westhoughton Colliery (plans) and Wingates Colliery (plans, reports etc). Estate papers contain coal mine references, especially regarding the Andrews and Bradford families. Image Collection includes coal-related pictures accessible online. Family history advice. Extensive newspaper and printed collection.
Cheshire Archives & Local Studies
Cheshire Record Office, Duke Street, Chester, Cheshire, CH1 1RL
t. 01244 973 812 e. recordoffice@cheshire.gov.uk
www.cheshire.gov.uk/recordoffice
Online catalogue allows search via archives and local studies. Mining results are mainly from estate and solicitors’ collections (so limited personnel information), e.g. Shakerley Coal Company in Hulme and Somerford collection (DSS); DTO Toller family. Oakmere Hall Miners’ Rehabilitation Centre, 1940s (D6078). Cheshire trade directories online. Colliery records include Astley Co., Bakestone, Hardshaw, Poynton & Worth, Shakerley Coal Co. Local studies collection also in local libraries, especially East Cheshire, Cheshire West and Chester.
Lancashire Archives/Record Office
Lancashire Record Office, Bow Lane, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 2RE
t. 01772 533 039 e. record.office@lancashire.gov.uk
www.lancashire.gov.uk/education/record_office
LANCAT online catalogue. Search via keywords ‘coal’, ‘mine’ etc for many results. Downloadable family history guide and research guides. Lancashire Lantern E-Resource (see online sources below). Main Lancashire depository for colliery records (ref NCB). Some HM Mines Inspector’s reports e.g. c.1857–1870s (with gaps) and Manchester district reports e.g. 1903–04, 1906–13. Much coal industry printed material in the local studies collection.
Manchester Archives and Local Studies
Manchester Room and City Library
Elliot House, 151 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 2HN
t. 0161 234 1979 e. themanchesterroom@citylibrary
Greater Manchester County Record Office (with Manchester Archives),
56 Marshall Street, New Cross, Manchester, M4 5FU
t. 0161 832 5284 e. archiveslocalstudies@manchester.gov.uk
As from 2014 Archives + will operate in the refurbished Manchester Central Library in partnership with Manchester Archives and Local Studies, Greater Manchester County Record Office and other partners – see website for updates: www.manchester.gov.uk/libraries/arls. The Manchester Collection is searchable at findmypast.co.uk. For photographic images, see online sources below. Pastfinder online catalogue for Greater Manchester: use keywords such as ‘coal’, ‘coal mine’ ‘colliery’ and view results; or browse ‘businesses’ or ‘family and estate papers’. Documentary Photography Archive (DPA) containing family photographs searchable via Pastfinder: enter ‘DPA’ in ‘reference number field’ when searching. HM Inspectors of Mines’ reports 1851–1914 (with gaps). Estate records for coalmining (Record Office): Wilton Papers; Legh of Lyme Hall; Bagot Family and Assheton of Middleton (searchable catalogues).
People’s History Museum/Archive and Study Centre – see national sources
Salford Local History Library and City Archives Centre
Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Peel Park, The Crescent, Salford, Lancashire, M5 4WU
t. 0161 778 0814 e. local.history@salford.gov.uk
www.salford.gov.uk/library
Online catalogue. Search using keywords such as ‘colliery’ for many results. Extensive family history sources, newspapers, photographs and printed material.
Liverpool Record Office
Central Library, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EW (from mid-2013)
t. 0151 233 5817 e. recoffice.central.library@liverpool.gov.uk
http:/www.liverpool.gov.uk/libraries-and-archives/archives-local-and-family-history
Online catalogues for archives and local studies. Liverpool in Print includes reading guides, e.g. archive sources, coroners’ records, family history on the internet, family history, newspapers, photographs. Edmund Kirkby Archive: plans include Moss Colliery (Wigan) and Platts Fold (Tyldesley). Hulton Colliery disaster papers (1910) Mersey Gateway (is the image website, see online sources below).
St Helens Local History and Archives Library
Gamble Institute, Victoria Square, St Helens, Merseyside, WA10 1DY
t. 01744 676 952 e. localhistory&archivesservices@sthelens.gov.uk
www.sthelens.gov.uk/history or
http://calmview.sthelens.gov.uk/calmview (catalogue)
Online catalogue for archives, local books and collections. Many coal-related items if you use ‘colliery’ and ‘coal mine’ as keywords or use a local colliery name. Searchable index of seventy volumes of newspaper cuttings. Image gallery. Records held include Birchley Colliery collection (includes miners’ wage books). Ian Winstanley’s ‘Mining Deaths in Great Britain’ (7 vols, 1850–1914). Wood Pit/Haydock Colliery HM Inspector of Mines’ report on 1878 disaster; Golborne explosion report (1979); Royal Commission on Mines (1907). Oral history collection includes Annie Nicholson, a ‘pit brow lass’ in 1930s; Jack Owen, James Dowd, James Knowles, John Baratt, John Boughey, John Case; Valentine Cotham coal miners/mining memories.
Wigan Heritage Services: Wigan Archives
Leigh Town Hall, Civic Square, Leigh, Wigan, Lancashire, WN7 1DY
t. 01942 404430 e. heritage@wict.org
www.wict.org/heritage-services/archives
Use online Guide to the Archives for an overview of the collections, especially business records; also occasional mining items in solicitor and and estate records. Most records deposited in Lancashire Record Office (see above) but Wigan Archives’ Lancashire and Cheshire Miners’ Permanent Relief Society collection is an important record of miners and their families. Maps and plans. Wigan Images Online includes many coalmining photographs (see online sources below).
Wigan Heritage Services: Museum of Wigan Life (previously The History Shop)
Library Street, Wigan, Lancashire, WN1 1NU
t. 01942 828 020 (local and family history) e. heritage@wict.org
www.wict.org/heritage-services/museum-of-wigan-life
Extensive local and family history collections (see A Guide to Genealogical Sources, 3rd edition (purchasable) and ‘Sources Available’ on website page. Ian Winstanley’s ‘Mining Deaths in Great Britain’ 1850–1914. Local colliery histories. Local newspapers, mainly 1830s onwards. Wigan Images Online (see online sources below).
Working Class Movement Library – see national sources
Places to visit
Astley Green Colliery Museum
Higher Green Lane, Astley Green, Tyldesley, Manchester, M29 7JB
e. info@agcm.org.uk www.agcm.org.uk
The museum is run and maintained by the Red Rose Steam Society and includes Lancashire’s only surviving colliery headgear and engine house, and has the largest collection of colliery locomotives in the UK. Astley Green Colliery functioned from 1908–1970. Mining history displays. Regular openings on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons or by arrangement.
Clifton Country Park: Wet Earth Colliery
Clifton House Road, Clifton, Salford, M27 6NG
t. 0161 793 4219 e. clifton.countrypark@salford.gov.uk (ranger)
http://wwww.salford.gov.uk/wetearthcolliery.htm
Industrial remains of Wet Earth Colliery, one of the first to be sunk in the Irwell valley in c.1740: engine shed (1896); Penstock arch and Wheel Chamber (both by James Brindley); Gal Pit; eighteenth-century cottage; Fletcher’s folly (steam engine house) and fan house (1889). There’s a visitors’ centre on site.
A variety of mining artifacts and displays can also be seen at Burnley Art Gallery & Museum (Towneley Hall, www.burnley.gov.uk/towneley), the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester (www.mosi.org.uk), and several smaller museums.
Family History Societies
Family History Society of Cheshire www.fhsc.org.uk
Manchester & Lancashire FHS www.familyhistorybolton.tk
North Cheshire FHS www.ncfhs.org.uk
St Helens Townships FHS www.sthelenstownshipsfhs.org.uk
Wigan Family & Local History Society www.wiganworld.co.uk/familyhistory
Online sources
Cheshire Memories http://blogs.chesterchronicle.co.uk/cheshire-memories
Nostalgia-type items posted, questions and answers. Search site via ‘coal miner’ etc.
Link4Life w.www.link4life.org
Interesting information about coalmining in the Rochdale area: e.g. history, conditions of work, access via the Arts and Heritage section.
Images of Lancashire http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
Manchester Local Image Collection. Over 80,000 images. Search, view and purchase high-quality A4 prints.
Lancashire Coalmining www.jnadin1.50megs.com
Ex-miner Jack Nadin’s Lancashire coalmining website. Family history name/colliery searches, a small donation welcome.
Lantern Lancashire www.lantern.lancashire.gov.uk
Lancashire Life and Times E-Resource Network. Includes image archive, community information, local studies resources, pioneers, poetry index and library catalogue.
Northern Region Film & Television Archive www.nrfta.org.uk
Based in Constantine Building, Teesside University, Middlesbrough. Search via ‘Explore the collection’ using keywords such as ‘coal’.
North West Film Archive www.nwfa.mmu.ac.uk
Based at Minshull House, Manchester Metropolitan University. Select Industry and Working Life and search for mining films using keywords such as ‘coal’, ‘coal mine’, ‘colliery’ etc. Limit search by date facility.
Picture Cheshire www.picturecheshire.org.uk
Extensive photo archive (old and new images) with search, view and purchase options.
Stockport Image Archive
http://interactive.stockport.gov.uk/stockportimagearchive/searchdisplay.aspx
Coal mine/colliery items via search and view.
Wigan Images www.wiganimages.wict.org
Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust Photographic Archive. Search, view and purchase coalmining photographs.
Wigan World http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/stuff
Winstanley and Highfield mining communities, Park Collieries (memories of). Extensive site menu includes directories, Wigan past, Wigan dialect etc.
Useful books, film and video
Alan Davies, Coal Mining in Lancashire and Cheshire (Amberley, 2010)
Alan Davies, The Atherton Collieries (Amberley, 2009)
Alan Davies, The Pit Brow Women of the Women Coalfield (Tempus/The History Press, 2006/09)
Alan Davies, The Wigan Coalfield (Tempus, 2006)
Donald Anderson, The Orrell Coalfield, Lancashire 1740–1850 (Moorland, 1975)
Ken Howarth, Dark Days. Memories of the Lancashire & Cheshire Coalmining Industry (Greater Manchester CC, 1995 edition)
H.L. Holliday, Moston Colliery, Manchester. A Victorian Super-Pit (Landmark, 2005)
Jack Nadin, East Lancashire Mining Memories (The History Press, 2008)
Geoff Simm and Ian Winstanley, Mining Memories. An Illustrated Record of Coal Mining in St Helens (St Helens MBC, 1990)
* * *
Parkside Colliery [Newton-le-Willows] Shaft Sinking (1959)
Oliver Wood, West Cumberland Coal 1600–1982/3 (Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 1988)
* * *
Humphrey Jennings (dir), At the Coal Face: 40s Britain Series: featuring The Cumberland Story (1947) (Panamint Cinema, 2006)
The Midlands coalfields
The coalfields of the midland counties were fairly distinctive from one another and varied in size. Broadly speaking they were found in Staffordshire (north and south), Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Shropshire. A small coalfield also existed in Worcestershire but statistically it was often linked with Staffordshire. The South Staffordshire field was by far the most important in terms of extent, production and employment.
The North Staffordshire (or Potteries) field covered an area of about 100 square miles, excluding the (detached) Cheadle district, which added another 18 square miles to the total. Two smaller areas also existed: Goldsich Moss and Shaffalong. In 1874 the coal (and ironstone) mines had over 20,000 persons employed, and although many pits had closed (123 to 109 between 1851 and 1873) the surviving ones began to access reserves at deeper levels. The peak of production, over 7.5 million tons, was reached in 1939 (3.25 per cent of national output) prior to a long decline.
The larger South Staffordshire coalfield, which lay between the concealed Cannock Chase field and the Clent Hills, was about twice the size of its northern neighbour, 200 square miles in area. Reserves included the famous 30-feet ‘ten-yard’ or ‘thick coal’ seam, notably near Dudley. The seams in the Black Country were also shallow, an obvious economic advantage but countered by flooding and the awkward ‘butty’ system. At nationalisation over forty mines remained in Staffordshire as a whole, which became part of the NCB West Midlands Division. Baggeridge was the last south Staffordshire deep mine to close in 1967. The much-hailed Wolstanton Colliery, once the deepest mine in Europe, closed in 1985; and Littleton (1993), Hem Heath (1996) and finally Silverdale (1998) followed.
Staffordshire mining communities were badly affected by accidents and disasters, especially during the middle decades of the nineteenth century, but the most serious occurred at the Minnie Pit (Podmore Hall Colliery) in 1918 when 155 lives were lost.
The Warwickshire Coalfield covered an area of about 60 square miles between the towns of Coventry, Nuneaton and Tamworth. In the nineteenth century, there were about twenty small mines. Production peaked in 1939 but by 1986 only four pits remained: Birch Coppice, Baddesley, Coventry and Daw Mill.
The oldest part of the Leicestershire Coalfield covered about 30 square miles and was centred around the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. It was often linked with the south Derbyshire field to the east. In 1880 there were twenty-six mines in Leicestershire. The last deep mine, Bagworth, closed in 1991. The most serious single disaster occurred at Whitwick Colliery in 1898 when thirty-five men lost their lives.
The Shropshire and Worcestershire coalfields included important areas in and around Coalbrookdale, Shrewsbury, Le Botwood, the Forest of Wyre, Dryton and Clee, in total about 98 square miles. In 1880 sixty-one mines were listed in Shropshire.
By 1913 the Midland coalfield as a whole employed 96,423 persons.
Archives and libraries
Leicestershire
Coalville Library
High Street, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 3EA
t. 0116 305 3565 e. coalvillelibrary@leics.gov.uk
www.leics.gov.uk/coalville_library.htm
Regional library of Leicestershire County Council – near to the Snibston colliery site and Discovery Museum – has good range of reference material about local coalmining and sources and facilities for family history research.
The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland (and Local Studies Reference Library)
Long Street, Wigston Magna, Leicester, LE18 2AH
t. 0116 257 1080 e. recordoffice@leics.gov.uk
http://www.leics.gov.uk/record_office.htm
Online catalogue. Keywords such as ‘colliery’ will obtain many results for mines, ephemera, events, biographies, photographs etc. Records of the NCB in Leicestershire c.1800–1994: business, planning, maps and plans of mines. Desford disaster. Accidents claims (Snibston). Bagworth Colliery notices of engagement 1955–1976. Purchasable family history handlists.
Snibston Discovery Museum: Mining Study Centre
Snibson, Ashby Road, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 3LN
t. 01530 278 444 e. snibston@leics.gov.uk
http://www.leics.gov.uk/snibston_museum
Study Centre in the old colliery office, access by appointment only. Substantial collection on Leicestershire coalfield includes technical aspects of the industry, NCB films, oral history interviews, maps, books and printed material. Online collection: start by browsing ‘coal mining’ to see objects relating to the Leicestershire coalfield (eg, Desford Colliery Band recording, Whitwick miner’s tally) and access background information via ‘details’ and ‘resources’. Download ‘mines of memory’ on Snibston and Whitwick collieries and Coalville mining community via http://www.leics.gov.uk/minesofmemory.pdf. Also see places to visit, below.
University of Leicester Special Collections
David Wilson Library, University Road, Leicester, LE1 9QD
t. 0116 252 2056 e. specialcollections@le.ac.uk
www2.le.ac.uk/library/find/rarebooksandarchives/specialcollections
Special collections do not have any coal industry records but the library catalogue is worth searching via the Local History Collection (on open shelves). The 1843 commission of inquiry on employment of children in mines is SCM 06552 in the David Wilson Library.
Shropshire
Ironbridge Gorge Museum, Library & Archives
Coach Road, Coalbrookdale, Telford, TF8 7DQ
t. 01952 432 141 e. library@ironbridge.org
www.ironbridge.org.uk/about_us/libray_and_archives
The Research Library is based in the Long Warehouse, next to the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron. The collection includes printed items on the social history of the East Shropshire Coalfield. Open weekdays by appointment.
Shropshire Archives (incorporates the former local studies library)
Castle Gates, Shrewsbury, SY1 2AQ
t. 01743 255 355 e. archives@shropshire.gov.uk
www.shropshire.gov.uk/archives
Browse online catalogue. Discovering Shropshire’s History Catalogue is the most useful database, and also searches the local studies library. Link to Newsplan West Midlands website. Keywords such as ‘colliery’ will obtain many results eg. Madeley Court Colliery, Clee Hill Colliery, Colliers Side Colliery or search for a specific colliery; ‘mine disaster’ will also show several examples, e.g. Jackfield 1856, Dark Lane 1862, Madeley Wood 1910; or try searching for a named individual. Main coal records are from estate/private papers, e.g. Howard Williams, notes re Dawley and Madeley 1960s (1434) but are mostly administrative, deeds, plans; also NCB items, e.g. Highley Colliery (6277 [map]), Madeley Wood register of employees 1940–55 (6570). Shropshire Family History Society advice desk: Wed-Sat (10am–1pm). Family history and local history research guides online. Downloadable source guides include newspapers, maps, trade directories. Image service: order and purchase photographs, maps etc. Local history centres at Bridgnorth, Church Stretton, Craven Arms, Ludlow and Oswestry.
Staffordshire
Keele University Archives
The Library, Keele University, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG
t. 01782 733 237 e. h.burton@lib.keele.ac.uk
www.keele.ac.uk/library/specarc
Online catalogue. Special Collections include the papers of William Jack, formerly employed at Chaterley-Whitfield Collieries Ltd, relating to North Staffordshire mining history; also scrapbooks and minute books of the colliery (1870s–1926); and many of his photographs, an exhibition of which can be seen via the Staffordshire Past Track website (see online sources below). Family estate papers such as the Sneyd Archive also contain mining items though mainly administrative.
Stoke on Trent City Archives (SOTCA)
City Central Library, Bethesda Street, Hanley, Stoke on Trent, ST1 3RRS
t. 01782 238 420 e. stoke.archives@stoke.gov.uk
William Salt Library (WSL)
Eastgate Street, Stafford, ST16 2LZ
t. 01785 278 372 e. william.salt@staffordshire.gov.uk
The library is a registered charity supported by Staffordshire County Council, administered by an independent trust and run in close conjunction with the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service. ‘Gateway to the Past’ online catalogue also searches Stoke on Trent Archives, William Salt Library and Staffordshire Arts and Museum Service. Keywords such as ‘colliery’ and ‘coal mine’ will obtain many results: click on blue number for document details. Downloadable family history guides/sources guides include an excellent guide to colliery records (No. 6) and the relevant reference and access office, i.e. Staffordshire Record Office (SRO), William Salt Library (WSL) and Stoke on Trent City Archives (SOTCA). SRO, the main repository, holds the NCB West Midlands Division, Western Division (including Cannock Chase), Mid Staffordshire Area and North Staffordshire Area records. Individual collieries in the guide are listed according to coalfield location: Cannock Chase, North Staffordshire, South Staffordshire, Warwickshire (Staffordshire section); small items relating to other coalmining areas include Cheshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales. Trade union records for the Midland Miners’ Federation/NUM Midlands Area and some NUM records (mainly minutes) are also held.
Staffordshire University Special Collections
Thompson Library, Staffordshire University, College Road, Stoke, ST4 2DE
t. 01782 294 771 e. libraryhelpdesk@staffs.ac.uk
www.staffs.ac.uk/support_depts/infoservices/library/collections/special/list.jsp
Online catalogue. The Special Collections include the Mining Collection, which includes journals, maps, photographs, NCB records and original records from Hem Heath and Silverdale collieries – but currently uncatalogued, appointment to view required. For the Staffordshire Film Archive, formerly part of the university library collection, which includes the Sneyd Pit Disaster and The Proud Valley film, set in Wales, but filmed at and around Silverdale Colliery, see online sources below.
Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies
Molineux Hotel Building, Whitmore Hill, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SF
t. 01902 552 480 e. archives@wolverhampton.gov.uk
www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/archives
Online catalogue via www.blackcountryhistory.org (also see entry for Dudley Archives below). Bilston area coal mines. Family history sources include photographs and maps, newspapers. Browse website menu under The History of Wolverhampton’ (or site map) and see ‘Work’; sub-list includes ‘Coal Mining’: Baggeridge Colliery, ‘mining’s legacy’ and ‘continue the story’ through information on ‘the local coalfield’, ‘early mining’ and ‘decline and closure’.
Warwickshire
Birmingham Archives and Heritage (BAH)
Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3HQ
(BAH has moved to the new Library of Birmingham, Centenary Square, open from
2 September 2013: see http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/LOB for details)
t. 0121 303 4549 e. archives.heritage@birmingham.gov.uk
www.birmingham.gov.uk/archivesandheritage
Open Access Area for printed local and family history, maps and local newspapers. Archives Searchroom for archival collections, photographs, early printed material (reader’s ticket needed). Online catalogue and browse types of collections (includes Public Records [e.g. coroner’s inquests] and Deposited Records [e.g. estate papers, photographs and oral history recordings]). Search the catalogue (http://calmview.birmingham.gov.uk) using key words such as ‘coal’ and ‘colliery’ obtains many results. Separate catalogue for books and journals: http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/libcat. Charles Parker Archive (MS4000) includes his BBC Radio Ballad The Big Hewer (1961, about miners); also see Banner Theatre of Actuality (MS1611), which includes items relating to miners’ strikes (1972,1984–5) and pit closures (1992): shows include Collier Laddie and Saltley Gate. ‘Journey to your past’: a guide to family history sources pack (£5).
Warwickshire County Record Office
Priory Park, Cape Road, Warwick, CV34 4JS
t. 01926 738 959 e. recordoffice@warwickshire.gov.uk
Warwickshire Past Unlocked online catalogue (with tutorial): use appropriate keyword, e.g. ‘colliery’ or more precise name e.g. ‘Baddesley Colliery’ for results and click on ‘view records’ for archival details. NCB records (02942) include Coventry Colliery registers and papers re accidents (CR2468). Warwickshire Miners’ Association c.1948 (CR2471/18). Warwickshire Collieries (CR2471) price lists, NUM 1902–1955. Record types include estate and family collections and business. Local newspapers, maps and plans. Also see Windows on Warwickshire (online sources below).
Warwick University Modern Records Centre
University Library, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL
t. 024 7652 4219 e. archives@warwick.ac.uk
www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc
Online archive search page. Use keyword such as ‘coal mining’ for many results, mainly twentieth century, and then access details of the full catalogue of the collection. Links to main holdings includes overview of main archives collection, which feature trade union records. ‘Looking for an ancestor?’ research aid, clicking on ‘Miners’ will reveal that some non-membership material is held (MSS.429) of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). Research guide: The Miners’ Strike, 1984—5: Sources at the Modern Records Centre. Online exhibition web page: ‘King Coal: The Turbulent Story of Coal Mining and its effect on British Life’. Papers of Lawrence Daly, former Secretary of NUM (MSS.302/11/). TUC files (MSS.292D), especially 1984–5 strike, including ephemera.
Worcestershire
Dudley Archives and Local History Service
Mount Pleasant Street, Coseley, West Midlands, WV14 9JR
(new archives and local history centre open from summer 2013 at Tipton Road site next to Black Country Living Museum).
t. 01384 812 770 e. archives.centre@dudley.gov.uk
www.dudley.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/local-history—heritage/archive-and-local-history
Online catalogues, especially www.blackcountryhistory.org (people, places, times, subjects) searches through eight partner archives including museum services. Use keywords such as ‘coal mining’, ‘colliery’ or a colliery name for many results. Guide to sources held. ‘How to’ guides include family history. Dudley Web: Past and Present oral history project. ‘Distinctly Black Country’ network. Colliery Workmen’s pay books 1848–1912 and 1848–1945. Baggeridge Colliery (e.g. R25133). The Dudley Web Oral History Project (BK04064). The Local Studies Library has an excellent range of printed material relating to coalmining. Ian Winstanley’s List of Mining Deaths in Great Britain (7 vols, BK00854–65). Local newspapers and catalogued cuttings. Reports of HM Inspectors of Mines (West Midlands/Southern regions): 1911; 1952–9; 1960; 1961; 1962; 1965; 1966. Worcestershire branch of National Association of Colliery Managers (R10895). Miners’ wages and the price of coal (1864–1909): R7331. Online catalogue details of company records via D6, D8, DPIt etc. The large Earls of Dudley Estate collection contains many mining references but not fully catalogued, reference DE; and other coal-industry items may not not yet be listed online.
The Hive
Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service
Sawmill Walk, The Butts, Worcester, WR1 3PB
t. 01905 822 866 e. archive@worcestershire.gov.uk
www.thehiveworcester.org or www.worcestershire.gov.uk/waas
New and fully integrated university [of Worcester] and [Worcester County Council] public library includes large and extensive local studies (for local and family history), archaeology and archive collections. Incorporates the former Worcester Library and History Centre. Developing online catalogue for archives. Access via keyword general search e.g. ‘coal’ will reveal many results, e.g. National Coal Board files 1943–48 and view; or use a more exact phrase. Archive area is on Level 2’s ‘Explore the Past’; public/university library is on Level 3 (download leaflet for details). Coalmining ventures into Warwickshire by Coventry family of Croome (B705:73 BA14450/233); Forest of Dean mines (BA 9600/28vii); Abberley mines (4600/85; Baynton Colliery 1912–67 (BA 12661 .Online research guides to family history, local history, oral history and community archives. Handlist to family history, microfilms, local newspapers, directory of oral history recordings (Worcestershire Sound Archive: coal mining at Worcestershire County Museum www.worcestershire.gov.uk/museum) via ‘documents’ menu. CARN ticket required to see original archives or bring along ID.
Places to visit
Leicestershire
Snibston Discovery Museum
t. 01530 278 444 e. snibston@leics.gov.uk
http://www.leics.gov.uk/snibston_museum
Museum on site of the former Snibston Colliery, established by George Stephenson in 1832 (pit closed 1983). Country park setting includes former garden of pit manager now the Grange Nature Reserve and landscaped pit spoil heap. Excellent coalmining displays from Tudor to modern era. Winding houses and spectacular headgears. Colliery tour with former mineworker includes engine house, lamp room, control room, medical centre etc and there is an ‘underground’ experience. Train ride to Coalville and old sidings via Pitt, the diesel locomotive, on special event days (see website for latest information). Annual miners’ gala in September. Also see archives and libraries above.
Shropshire
Blist Hill Ironbridge Gorge Museums
Coach Road, Coalbrookdale, Telford, TF8 7DQ
t. 01942 580 650 e. information@ironbridge.org.uk www.ironbridge.org
Internationally-acclaimed visitor features at Blist Hill Victorian Town include the Blist Hill Mine and winding house, fireclay mine with steel headgear, wooden headgear and ventilation furnace, adit (drift mine), candle works, mine railway and mine experience and miner’s walk. Visitor Centre film show: story of the Industrial Revolution.
Staffordshire
Apedale Heritage Centre
Loomer Road, Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 7JS
t. 01782 565 050 e. info@apedale.co.uk www.apedale.co.uk
Site of Aurora/Apedale drift mine, which closed in 1998, located by Apedale Country Park. ‘Mining in Apedale’ online feature. Underground tours of ‘authentic drift mine where the last coal was drawn in North Staffordshire’: Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday weekends. Museum collection has impressive collection of mining artefacts including a mine rescue van and drift mine (model). See website for sample items. Features on mine disasters, especially Minnie (1918). Miner’s cottage (‘bath night’) and yard. Special events. Museum opens Fridays-Mondays. Also see North Staffordshire Coalfield via online sources below.
Black Country Living Museum
Tipton Road, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 4SQ
t. 0121 557 9643 e. info@bclm.com www.bclm.co.uk
One of Britain’s most popular open-air museums, its collections of national and international importance, searchable online. Discover ‘the world’s first industrial landscape’. Guided tours of Racecourse Colliery, reconstructed over one of the Earl of Dudley’s original small pits, Coneygreave Colliery No. 126, which operated from 1860 to 1902. Hear about the history of local mining. Headstocks and pulley wheel, steam-powered engine, manager’s office. Brook Shaft, a reconstructed small 1930s pit is nearby, sited over an original 1840s pit worked before 1842. Canal-side village. Reconstructed full-scale replica of Thomas Newcomen’s first steam engine, employed to pump water from coal mines on the Earl of Dudley estate. Working horses. Workers’ Institute and Park.
Family history societies
Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry www.bmsgh.org
Coventry FHS www.cocfhs.org
Leicestershire & Rutland FHS www.lrfhs.org.uk
Nuneaton & North Warwickshire FHS www.nnwfhs.org.uk
Shropshire FHS www.sfhs.org.uk
Warwickshire FHS www.wfhs.org.uk
Online sources
Baddersley Colliery Disaster www.baddersleypitexplosion.co.uk
Celia Parton’s excellent website about the 1882 Baddersley (north Warwickshire) pit explosion.
Black Country Bugle www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk
Nostalgia-type features, memories etc. Use search facility for coalmining items.
Coal Mining in North Staffordshire www.staffspasttrack.org.uk/exhibit/coal
Multi-media archive includes audio recordings, images and information under themes such as history, safety and rescue, miners’ lives, strikes, disasters, collieries.
Go Leicestershire
www.goleicestershire.com/see-and-do/industrial-heritage-nwleics-mining-tour.aspx
Includes an industrial heritage mining trail via former pit villages and towns.
Media Archive for Central England (MACE) www.macearchive.org
Screen archive for Midlands includes former NCB archive of films collected from Chatterley Whitfield Colliery by Roy Johnson and volunteers. Free viewing. My Leicestershire Digital Archive (see separate listing below).
My Leicestershire Digital Archive
www.macearchive.org/Resource-area/My-Leicestershire.htlm
Collaboration between Midland Screen Archive and University of Leicester, East Midlands Oral History Archive (EMOHA) and local history organisations; also BBC Radio Leicester. Online repository of images, sound recordings and books, including coalmining. Searchable.
Newsplan West Midlands http://wm.newsplan.co.uk/modules.php
Database of 1,100 newspaper titles. Includes Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Black Country towns.
North Staffordshire Coalfield(s) http://nsmg.apedale.co.uk/index.htm
Hosted by the Apedale Heritage Centre (see museums, heritage centres/places to visit above). Useful historical information about north Staffordshire mines and miners; also see Bob Burdon’s site ‘North Staffordshire Coalfields’: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/coalface/index.htm.
Shropshire Mining www.shropshiremining.org.uk
A history of Shropshire mining in words and images.
Staffordshire History www.staffshistory.org
Now developed by Julian Bielewicz in Queensland, Australia. Very useful local history reference site and includes Staffordshire History Journal. Navigate website through simple click-on links.
Staffordshire Places www.placespasttrack.org
Examples of archives (via places) deposited with the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive.
Staffordshire Past-Track www.staffspasttrack.org.uk
Mining and quarrying theme for images and information; and search by keyword such as ‘colliery’.
Windows on Warwickshire www.windowsonwarwickshire.org.uk
Project involving Warwickshire CRO, Warwickshire libraries, museums and galleries. Browse collections by location, object and subject or use advance search for specific item. Good for images of collieries and mine-related objects.
Wolverhampton History & Heritage www.localhistory.scit.wiv.ac.uk
This large and very useful local history site includes the Black Country and has coalmining items e.g. search Black Country and its industries; also use keyword searches.
Useful books, film and video
David Bell, Memories of the Leicestershire Coalfields (Countryside Books, 2007)
David Bell, Memories of the Staffordshire Coalfields (Countryside Books, 2010)
David Bell, Memories of the Warwickshire Coalfields (Countryside Books, 2011)
Harold Brown, Most Splendid of Men. Life in a Mining Community 1917–25 [N. Staffs] (Blandford Press, 1981)
Ivor Brown, East Shropshire Coalfields (Tempus, 1999)
Nigel A. Chapman, The South Staffordshire Coalfield (Tempus/The History Press, 2005 & 2010)
Jean Caswell and Tracey Roberts, Getting the Coal. Impressions of a Twentieth Century Mining Community [Leicestershire: Coalville, Bagworth, Ellistown], (Mantle Oral History Project, 1992)
Paul Deakin, Collieries of North Staffordshire Coalfield (Landmark, 2004)
Fred Leigh, Mining Memories. A Portrait of the Collieries of North Staffordshire (SB Publications, 1992)
Richard Stone, The Collieries and Coalminers of Staffordshire (Philimore, 2007)
* * *
Miners [featuring men from Bagworth Colliery, Leicestershire] (NCB Archives [films], 1976)
Nines was Standing [Haunchwood Colliery, Warwickshire, pit consultative committee at work] (NCB Archives, 1950)
The Miner [featuring Hilton Main colliery, Wolverhampton] (NCB Archives)
The Proud Valley, Ealing Studios Collection, 1940 (2010). South Wales context but filmed at Silverdale Colliery
Sneyd Pit Disaster January 1st 1942, Staffordshire Film Archive
Bristol and Somerset/Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire) coalfields
It was conventional for official statistics to group the Bristol (and Gloucestershire) and Somerset coalfields as a single field though each had their own characteristics. The whole area covered about 240 square miles, but was important between Bristol and Bath, and especially around Radstock. The main families and companies were the Beauchamps, Bennetts, Waldegraves, Handel Cossham, Leonard Boult & Company and Egbert Spear. Working the shallow seams in probably the worst geological conditions imaginable was very demanding for the miners, who were poorly paid. Pits were small and the few disasters that took place did not result in the massive loss of life as in other coalfields, but were of course felt with an equal sense of loss. Communities associated with the Wellsway (1839), Newbury (1869) and Norton Hill collieries (1908), were affected by disasters, resulting in twelve, eleven and ten deaths respectively. Annual output of coal was quite modest, about a million tons in 1912, with 6,500 persons employed, mostly in north Somerset. In 1947 there were thirteen pits in production but reserves were low, and the mines became run down. Only six remained in 1960. A new mine, Harry Stoke (1961–63), failed and the last two collieries, Kilmersdon and Writhlington, closed in 1973.
The Forest of Dean coalfield was a small but thriving mining area covering about 34 square miles and had been worked from ancient times. It was peculiar because of the long association of its ‘freeminers’ and their defined rights to a gale (a lease of a defined area subject to the payment of a small royalty to the Crown). The right of sub-letting of freeminer areas (after 1838) to coal owners/companies with sufficient capital for investment and development led to a boom in production. Thus in 1880 the mine inspector listed seventy-one mines here in his annual report. By 1912 the number of men employed in the coalfield reached 8,524, a not inconsiderable figure. Wages, however, were low if compared with those in south Wales. At nationalisation in 1947 the Forest of Dean was exempted from state control due to its ancient and unique system of ownership and regulation. However, the NCB purchased six collieries: Arthur & Edward [Waterloo], Cannop, Eastern United, Narchard, Northern United and Princess Royal. Northern United was the last to function, closing in 1965. A few ‘micro mines’ continue to be worked by freeminers in this historic and attractive area.
Archives and libraries
Bristol Central Library: Local Studies
College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TL
t. 0117 903 7200 e. bristol.library.service@bristol.gov.uk
www.bristol.gov.uk/page/local-studies
Oral history collection includes several coalmining transcripts (KHP09, R038, R081 and R102), provided by the South Gloucestershire Mines Oral History Project 2009. Dean Lane explosion, HM Mines Inspector report 1887. Local newspapers. Several published miners’ memoirs.
Bristol Record Office
‘B’ Bond Warehouse, Smeaton Road, Bristol, BS1 6XN
t. 0117 922 4224 e. bro@bristol.gov.uk www.bristol.gov.uk/recordoffice
Online catalogue. Use keywords such as ‘colliery’ for many results but mainly for eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Click on blue numbers for details; or use a specific colliery/personal name, e.g. Bromley Colliery, Sir George White papers. Plans for mines, see 39398.
Bristol University Special Collections
Arts and Social Sciences Library, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TJ
t. 0117 928 8014 e. special-collections@bristol.ac.uk
Online archive catalogue. Somerset Miners’ Association minutes, correspondence, 1868–1964; includes accident reports, strikes and lock-outs (DMM443).
Dean Heritage Centre: Gage Library
Camp Mill, Soudley, Forest of Dean, Gloucester GL14 2UB
t. 01594 822 1 70 e. gagelibrary@deanheritagecentre.com
Registered charity. The library contains many books and printed material relating to the Forest of Dean as well as archival material, maps and images; also items relating to family history research plus access to ancestry.com. Research access by appointment or by online enquiry form. Open Wednesday afternoons. Online catalogue in progress. Also see entry in museums, heritage centres/places to visit below.
Clarence Row, Alvin Street, Gloucester, GL1 3DW
t. 0152 425 295 e. archives@gloucestershire.gov.uk
www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives
Online catalogue (archives and/or local studies or library: use keywords such as ‘coal/coal mining’, ‘collieries’ etc (for a quick search) for many results; then click blue ‘overview of records’ for details; or use a specific colliery/personal name, e.g. Forest of Dean: deeds of Collingwood Colliery. NCB 1911–1980s ([D7837] some uncatalogued/restricted holdings): mining in Forest of Dean mainly but some South Gloucestershire/Bristol & Somerset coal items. Forest of Dean freeminers. Genealogical database contains a name index. South Gloucestershire Resource is a guide to archive material, some of which is housed at Bristol RO (download pdf). Newspapers guide download. Researching your family history online guide to resources; sources include coroner’s records from 1844.
Radstock Museum: Research Room
Waterloo Road, Radstock, Somerset, BA3 3EP
t. 01761 437 722 e. info@radstockmuseum.co.uk
North Somerset Coalfield items. The research room is open Tuesdays by appointment, when the archives can be consulted. Useful for family history mining ancestry research. Excellent photographic collection is viewable at www.radstockmuseumphotos.blogspot.com. Also see museums, heritage centres/places to visit below.
Somerset Heritage Service: Archives and Local Studies
Somerset Heritage Centre, Brunei Way, Langford Mead, Norton Fitzwarren, Taunton, TA2 6SF
t. 01823 337 600 e. archives@somerset.gov.uk
Online archive catalogue. Keywords such as ‘coal’ and ‘colliery’ will obtain many results (click on blue number for details of record) e.g. 32: nominal roll Kilmerston and Writhlington collieries (ref’: A/BDM/15/2/7). Try searching more specifically via ‘Somerset coalfield’ or a colliery name; or use the surname search facility. NCB records re Somerset mines (DD/NCB) and British Coal Corporation records (A/BDM). Some Somerset Miners’ Association (1912) and Bristol Miners’ Association (1889–94) records. Library catalogue (new window). Research/holdings guides include researching your Somerset family, coroner’s records (pdf), maps, newspapers, estate and manorial records, pictures and photographs (including Frith and excellent postcard by browsing locations and locations/images), printed sources. Online OS maps complete set of 1:10,560 for Somerset (c.1885 & c.1903). Somerset Voices Oral History Archive (new window) includes several ex-miners.
Places to visit
Dean Heritage Centre
Camp Mill, Soudley, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, GL14 2UB
t. 01594 822 170 e. online form www.deanheritagecentre.com
Forest of Dean Heritage Centre includes a museum and educational/research facility. History of the forest including coalmining information and displays (in Gallery 3). Visit a replica of a traditional hillside mine used by the freeminers.
Hopewell Colliery Museum
Speech House Road, Cannop Hill, Coleford, Gloucestershire, GL16 7JP
t. 01559 810 706
Seasonally-working Forest of Dean drift mine with small museum. Underground tour. Summer opening but check for details before visiting.
M-Shed
Princess Wharf, Wapping Road, Bristol, BS1 4RN
t. 0117 352 6600 e. info@mshed www.mshed.org
Former dockside industrial museum now transformed into a modern and major visitor attraction exploring Bristol’s history. Local mining information in Places Gallery and via online site: ‘explore and contribute’ has useful background on the Bristol coalfield. Radstock pithead head gear is in store.
Radstock Museum
Waterloo Road, Radstock, BA3 3EP
t. 01761 437 722 e. info@radstockmuseum.co.uk
The many interesting mining exhibits and displays include a replica coal face, miner’s cottage, two-decker cage, artefacts etc. Mine disaster information. Five Arches Journal (Radstock & Midsomer Norton & District Museum Society). Shop and tearoom.
Ram Hill Colliery site
Coalpit Heath Westerleigh, South Gloucestershire
http://www.southglos.gov.uk/LeisureCulture/MuseumsHeritage/RamHill.htm
Nineteenth-century colliery remains (OS ref: ST679802) include engine house, horse gin, dramway. Scheduled ancient monument. Friends Group.
Family history societies
Bristol & Avon FHS www.bafhs.org.uk
Gloucestershire FHS www.gfhs.org.uk
Somerset & Dorset FHS www.sdfhs.org
Online sources
Bath in Time www.bathintime.co.uk
Searchable image library. Shops and Industry menu includes ‘Working Life’. Many coal-related items.
Bristol Stories www.bristolstories.org
Watershed digital story project in partnership with M-Shed (see museums, heritage centrtes/places to visit above) and Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archive Service. Integrated sound and image collection includes Dean Lane Pit 100-year commemoration; mining in Bedminster.
Bristol Past: The Changing Face of Bristol www.bristolpast.co.uk
Photographic archive of Bristol includes coalmining: view images and captions. Image database can be searched via flckr. Message Forum for family/local history research.
Clutton (north Somerset) www.clutton.org.uk
Somerset village had three local pits: Burchells, Fry’s Bottom and Greyfield, historical details and background.
The Colliers Way www.colliersway.co.uk
Interesting coalmining details via Heritage menu near and along the recreational path linking Dundas, Radstock and Frome.
Frampton Cotterell Mining (Coalpit Heath, South Gloucestershire)
http://www.framptoncott.co.uk/mining.htm
History of mining at Coalpit Heath by local historian Trevor Thompson.
Forest of Dean Local History Society
http://79.170.40.163/forestofdeanhistory.org.uk
CD of mine fatalities and freeminers listing available. Research guides. Events programme.
Gloucestershire Revealed www.gloucestershirerevealed.co.uk
Guide to local museums, galleries and heritage.
Nailsea and District Local History Society www.ndlhs.org.uk
Includes a history of mining in the locality. DVD: Nailsea Bottle Green and Coal Black.
Somersetshire Coal Canal Society (SCCS) www.coalcanal.org
The canal carried coal from the Paulton and Radstock areas to the Kennet and Avon Canal. Images, maps, history and features.
South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group www.sgmrg.co.uk
Useful site with many interesting items relating to mining. Includes local publications e.g. Bristol’s Forgotten Coalfield – Bedminster (2012); Frog Lane Colliery (2009); Kingwood Coal (2008); The Bristol Coal Industry (2003). Open days at Oldwood Pits, during annual national Heritage Open Days.
Useful Books, film and video
Beth Anstis and Ralph Anstis, Diary of a Working Man, 1872–1873. Bill Williams [of Trafalgar Colliery] in the Forest of Dean (Sutton, 1994)
Ralph Anstis, Blood on Coal. The 1926 General Strike and Miners’ Lockout in the Forest of Dean (Black Dwarf Publications, 1999)
John Cornwall, Collieries of Somerset & Bristol (Landmark, 2005)
John Cornwall, The Bristol Coalfield (Landmark, 2003)
C.G. Down and A.J. Warrington, The History of the Somerset Coalfield (David & Charles, 1971, reprinted by Radstock Museum, 2005)
Fred Flower, Somerset Coalmining Life (Millstream, 1990)
Ken Griffiths, Miners’ Memories of the South Bristol Coalfield (Fiducia Press, 2011)
Cyril Hart, The Free Miners of the Forest of Dean and Hundred of St Briavels (Black Dwarf Lightmoor Press, 2002 [revised edition])
A.J. Parfitt, My Life as a Somerset Miner (Radstock Museum, 2005 [first published 1932])
* * *
Nailsea Bottle Green and Coal Black (DVD: 1st Take)
Somerset Mining Memories. A History of Coal Mining in Somerset told by the Men and Women who Lived it (DVD: Radstock Museum, 2005)
Kent coalfield
This entirely concealed field, only an hour or so from London by rail, was not discovered until 1890, Kent Collieries Limited developing the Shakespeare (Dover) mine in 1905–15. Kent Coal Concessions Limited also sank several pits. The great depths needed for shafts and inundations of water made development very difficult, with lots of stops, starts and abandonments. The survivors were Tilmanstone (1906–86), Chislet (1918–69), Snowdown (1908–86) and the largest, Bettshanger (1924–89), famously the last pit to return to work after the 1984/85 miners’ strike (and the last to close). Many miners from the old coalfield regions of south Wales, the Midlands and northern England found work in one or more of the four big pits of Kent, and new communities emerged at places such as Aylesham, Elvington, Hersden and Mill Hill.
Archives and libraries
Kent History and Library Centre (KHLC),
James Whatman Way, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1LQ
t. 08458 247 200 e. historyandlibrarycentre@kent.gov.uk
New centre replaces Centre for Kent Studies, East Kent Archives Centre and several libraries. Online catalogue searches material at the KHLC and Canterbury Archives. Using keywords such as ‘colliery’ will result in references to Bettshanger, Chislet, Dover, Snowdown, Tilmanstone and Guilford collieries. NACODS East Kent branch records 1937–1990. Maps and plans. Photographs and aerial views. Online family history reference resources. Explore Kent’s Past project (see online sources below). The book collection cane be searched via the online Kent Libraries catalogue. Some local libraries have coal industry items such as news cutting files, images, maps and newspapers.
Dover Museum
Market Square, Dover, Kent, CT16 1PB
t. 01304 201 066 e. museumenquiries@dover.gov.uk
Mining artefacts, oral history collection and a large database of photographs in the museum collection. Online information on Kent coalfield and Miners’ Way Trail via CHIK (Coalfield Heritage Initiative Kent – see online sources below). Rich Seam walks pack (purchasable).
Family history societies
Kent FHS www.kfhs.org.uk
Online sources
Coalfields Heritage Initiative Kent (CHIK) www.dover.gov.uk/kentcoal
Excellent site on the Kent coalfields with lots of useful information in the form of text, images and oral histories. Started by Dover District Council and led by Dover Museum and the White Cliffs Countryside Project. Includes the Miners’ Way Trail.
Dover History Scrapbook http://doversociety.homestead.com/collieries.html
Interesting site includes Dover (Shakespeare) Colliery information and images.
East Kent Local History Pages www.eastkent.freeuk.com
Use menu to access ‘Mining’ (‘A brief history of mining in East Kent …’).
Exploring Kent’s Past www.kent.gov.ExploringKentsPast
Search the Kent Historic Environment Record for colliery-related items: sites, buildings and finds.
Here’s History Kent www.hereshistorykent
Search Kent History and Kent place-names for pictures and articles.
Kent History Forum www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk
Very useful forum for family history research/contacts. Try searching for recent comments on Kent collieries, e.g. Bettshanger or place your own request online.
Useful books
J.P. Hollingsworth, Those Dirty Miners. A History of the Kent Coalfield (Stenlake, 2010)
Ross Llewellyn, Hersden. Chislet Colliery Village (K H McIntosh, 2003)
A.E. Ritchie, The Kent Coalfield, its evolution and development (Nabus Press [digital reprint of original 1923 edition], 2010)
WALES
Regional Welsh coalmining records that survive are well scattered amongst many former coalfield archives and libraries, but the South Wales Coalfield Collection, held partly at the University of Swansea’s Singleton campus and at the South Wales Miners’ Library, is a resource of international importance. An overview of archival holdings can also be seen via the Welsh Archive Network, referred to below. There are also several excellent museums that are well worth visiting, including The Big Pit and National Waterfront Museum, both included in Section II, national sources.
Often overlooked but with a proud mining heritage, this small coalfield covered about 103 square miles and was concentrated in the counties of Denbigh, Flint and a small part of the island of Anglesey. Faults and inclined seams always hampered mining. In the early 1900s production gradually increased to a peak of c.3.1 million tons with 16,000 persons employed, coal closely allied to the local iron industry. The decline of the area led to a migration of some miners, for instance from Mostyn to Carlton, near Barnsley, where the Welsh formed their own distinctive community. At nationalisation in 1947 the NCB managed six deep mines: Gresford, Llay Main, Point of Ayr, Bersham, Hafod and Ifton, part of its North Western Division, with Area headquarters at Llay, near Wrexham. By 1974 only Bersham and Point of Ayr remained, the latter closing in 1996. Although north Wales was not noted for major disasters, the terrible explosion and fire at Gresford in 1934 killed 266 men, the highest number of fatalities at a British colliery in the modern, post-First World war era.
Archives and libraries
Flintshire Record Office
The Old Rectory, Rectory Lane, Hawarden, Flintshire, CH5 3NR
t. 01244 532 364 e. website enquiry form www.flintshire.gov.uk/archives
Online index to records. User guides (downloadable) include family history (No. 3). Source guides include Coroner’s Records (No. 12). Personal/subject name indexes. Records from medieval to modern times include businesses and industries, families and estates e.g. Mostyn of Talacre Estate MSS (mines in Picton, Gwespyr and Holywell [D/Mt/94–96); Hawarden coalmining accounts, 1739 (D?Bj/358) and coalmining deeds for Mold collieries, 1868–1927 (D/DM/292/2–7). Browse Subject Index for document reference numbers e.g. accidents: list of subscribers to Gresford Disaster Fund 1934 PC70/17; collieries/coalmining: Point of Ayr photograph of two miners 1957 D?DM?1300/1. Holdings also include a large collection of NUM North Wales Area records (D/NM). Gresford Colliery Disaster Relief Fund MSS (GB0208 D/GF). Large compensation claim files by individuals re industrial disease c.1930–1970: indexed in the search room but part restricted under Data Protection Act: access/application via the Freedom of Information Office, Flintshire County Council. Downloadable lists include coalmining records (contains general, place and named collieries, including Gresford disaster (1934)); local newspapers; photographs (arranged by parish). Coleshill Colliery Handbill (purchasable). Quarterly newsletter: The Hourglass (download) e.g. Spring 2012 includes ‘A Hawarden Colliery Accident 1784’. Archive (images) Gallery.
Flintshire Libraries
Library Headquarters, County Hall, Mold, CH7 6NW
t. 01352 704 411 e. libraries@flintshire.gov.uk www.flintshire.gov.uk
Search the online catalogue and browse online reference sources. A good community network of local and family history research facilities. For information access ‘History and Heritage at Your Library’ from the menu of Leisure and Culture. The @answers centre at Mold has a major local history collection. It’s Flintshire Memories oral history recordings includes an interview with ex-miner Tom Jones aka ‘Tom Spain’, who served in the Spanish Civil War, an active trade unionist. Tom worked in Rhos, near Wrexham and recalls the Gresford disaster and Bersham Colliery. Mining in the old Clwyd area of Flintshire.
University of Bangor: Archives and Special Collections
College Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DG
t. 01248 382 983 e. library@bangor.ac.uk
www.Bangor.ac.uk/library/archive
Online catalogue. Archive collection includes estate and family papers from medieval times to present day. Plas Gwyn Papers. Welsh Library collection. Colliery records available include Berw Uchaf, Glantraeth, Penrhyn Mawr.
Wrexham Archives and Local Studies Collection: A.N. Palmer Centre
Wrexham County Museum and Archives, Regent Street, Wrexham, LL11 1RB
t. 01978 297 480 e. localstudies@wrexham.gov.uk or e. archives@wrexham.gov.uk
www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/archives
Online catalogues. Searching museums, archives and local studies catalogue using key words such as ‘colliery’ will give many results. Books and printed material. Maps and plans. Local newspapers: holdings downloads. Photographic collection. Sources for family history research. Picture Wrexham (see online sources below). Websites for family historians.
Places to visit
Bersham Colliery Mining Museum
Bersham Heritage Centre, Bersham, Wrexham, LL14 4HT
t. 01978 318 970 e. bershamheritage@wrexham.gov.uk
http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/bersham_colliery-visitors.htm
Scheduled ancient monument in the care of Wrexham CBC and Bersham Colliery Trust. Open by prior appointment and on open days. ‘Former engine house and the last headgear still standing in the North Wales coalfield’, Bersham Colliery’s history began with its sinking by the Barnes family from Liverpool in 1868 and was the last working pit in the Denbighshire coalfield, closing in 1986. The current metal headgear, from nearby Gatewen Colliery, replaced a timber-framed version destroyed by fire in 1930. The adjacent coal-tip/muckstack is now also preserved following a campaign/protest by Cadw (Welsh historic monuments agency) in 2007 when the shale spoil was threatened with sale and removal.
Mold Museum/Flintshire Museums Service
Earl Road, Mold, Flintshire, CH7 1AP
t. 01352 754791 www.flintshire.gov.uk
Daniel Owen (1836–1895) came from a local mining family; his father and two brothers were killed in a flooding accident at Argoed Colliery. Apprenticed as a tailor, against all the odds he became one of Wales’s greatest writers, famous for novels such as Rhys Lewis (1885) and Enoc Huws (1891). On display is a reconstruction of Owen’s study and shop; the collection also has items relating to Buckley and Mold collieries, available by appointment. Flintshire museums main coalmining collection relates to the Point of Ayr Colliery.
Gresford Colliery Disaster Memorial
(Near Gresford Colliery Club, Bluebell Lane, Pandy, Wrexham, LL12 8EE, off A483)
Commemorates one of Britain’s worst pit disasters when an explosion and subsequent fire caused the deaths of 266 miners. Erected in 1982, comprising two tapering stone piers supporting one of the winding sheaves from the colliery. In 2000 the names of all those who lost their lives were added to the memorial.
Flintshire Museums
Mining collection relates to Point of Ayr Colliery; smaller items concerning Buckley and Mold mines at Mold museum.
Family History Societies
Clwyd FHS www.clwydfhs.org
Online sources
North East Wales History (BBC)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/sites/history/pages/pits.shtml
Useful pages on pit names, personal nicknames (Wrexham link), family history; Gresford disaster also featured on www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/sites/wrexham/pages/gresford_disaster.shtml.
North Wales Miners Association Trust www.northwalesminers.com
Bersham Colliery mine site charity trust. Working life in the coal mines, Gresford disaster, news items and lots of useful information about mine sites, colliery lists etc and useful links.
Picture Wrexham www.wrexhamimagebank.org.uk
Digital images from Wrexham Archives and Local Studies Service. Search and buy mining prints.
Useful books, film and video
Ithel Kelly, North Wales Coalfield. A Collection of Pictures. Vol. 1 (Bridge Books, 1990)
The Terrible Price. Gresford 1934 (DVD: Panamint Cinema)
South Wales Coalfield
At the eve of the First World War the South Wales Coalfield was the largest and most important in Britain, and one of the biggest in the world, covering a huge area of almost 1,000 square miles, from Pontypool in the west to St Brides Bay in Pembrokeshire. In 1912 it produced a quarter of all UK coal output from 649 mines and had 221,000 employees, a small number of them women. Glamorgan was by far the most important county (398 mines), followed by Monmouth (122 mines) and Carmarthen (71). A small number of mines were also located in Brecon (25) and Pembroke (6). The quality of the coal – bituminous, steam and anthracite – was exceptional, and the black gold of South Wales was sold worldwide from the ports of Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Port Talbot and Barry.
The demand contributed to the relatively higher wages of Welsh miners but this was also due to the great efforts of the unions, its leaders and men constantly protesting for their rights at pit and district levels. The miners also worked in the most dangerous coalfield in Britain where seams were fiery and deep. Accidents were commonplace. Between 1850 and 1920 about one in three of all mining fatalities were in south Wales. The average annual death rate for the years 1901–10 was 1.78 per thousand employees, worse than any other coalfield, some 70 per cent higher than in Yorkshire, which was by no means a safe area. Disasters at Llanerch (176 dead) and Morfa, Glamorgan (87) in 1890 were soon followed by Great Western (63) and Combs (139) in 1893; and the huge (290-fatality) disaster at Albion in 1894. About half of the major disasters in Britain from 1890 to 1920 were in south Wales. The terrible tragedy at Senghenydd (Glamorgan) in 1913 when 439 miners were killed remains Britain’s worst mining disaster.
The South Wales coalfield fared badly during the 1920s and 1930s, losing almost half of its collieries. At nationalisation in 1947 135 collieries remained and the NCB sank new mines, for instance Cynheidre in 1954—56. But decline accelerated through the 1960s. In 1984, at the start of the miners’ strike, fewer than thirty mines remained. The last deep mine, Tower Colliery (at Hirwaun), closed by British Coal in 1994, was the subject of an heroic buyout by Welsh miners and continued to function until 2008. A resurgence of interest in high-quality coal has resulted in the redevelopment of the Unity and Aberpergwm drift mines in the Neath Valley and anthracite will be extracted by opencast methods around Tower Colliery. Gleision Colliery in the Swansea valley, one of a handful of very small private pits still working in south Wales, attracted worldwide media attention when four miners lost their lives there following an inrush of water from old workings in 2011.
Archives and libraries
Cardiff Central Library Local Studies Department
The Hayes, Cardiff, CF10 1FL
t. 029 2038 2116 e. centrallibrary@cardiff.gov.uk
Online catalogue. Local newspaper collection. Colliery Guardian 1861–1976*. Mines & Quarries Inspectors’ Reports 1921–75*; HM Inspectors of Mines Disaster Reports (mostly S. Wales region, with in-house index); List of Mines 1893–1950*; South Wales Coal Annual 1903–1937*; Mon & S Wales Miners’ Permanent Provident Society Annual Reports 1881–1920. 25 inch OS maps, South Wales coalfield maps 1873–1924. Ian Winstanley’s Mining Deaths in Great Britain 1850–1914 [7 vols]. South Wales Coalfield Directory [2 vols, compiled by Ray Lawrence, 1998]. Some MS material, see MS catalogue http://apps.cardiff.gov.uk/WebCat Images/PDF/PDF055.pdf (* = with gaps).
Carmarthenshire Archive Service
Parc Myrddin, Richmond Terrace, Carmarthen, SA31 1HQ
t. 01267 228 232 e. archives@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
www.archives.carmarthenshire.gov.uk
Downloadable holdings include family and estate papers, business papers: records of Emlyn Colliery is the main item relating to the coal industry.
Glamorgan Archives
Clos Parc Morgannwg, Leckwith, Cardiff, CF11 8AW
t. 029 2087 2200 e. glamro@cardiff.gov.uk www.glamarchives.gov.uk
Online catalogue: htttp://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk/calmview/. Using keywords such as ‘colliery’ will obtain many results e.g. Cardiff Collieries Ltd, Llanbradach Records; Universal Colliery Explosion, Senghenydd, Coroner’s Report and so on: but very few employment records; also please note that not all colliery records are accessible via the online catalogue. General description of former NCB (South Wales Area) records can be seen on the online catalogue (general reference DNCB); more detailed cataloging pending. Pay books and accident compensation registers for a small number of collieries. Patchy coverage of mines inspectors’ reports (DNCB 67): copies for some districts e.g. South Wales, Cardiff and Newport; annual reports (DNCB/67/2) from 1888 and explosion/disaster reports from 1885 (DNCB/67/3). Tynewydd disaster account written by miners who were buried underground and later rescued (DX557/1). Powell Duffryn Ltd (DPD) records are catalogued and online.
Gwent Archives (formerly Gwent County Record Office)
Steelworks Road, Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, NP23 6DN
t. 01495 353 363 e. enquiries@gwentarchives
Holdings include many coalmining records. Subject Index under ‘Miners’ contains a list of names of miners mentioned in records, mainly deeds; and under ‘Mining Disasters’ there are items such as ‘Trust Funds after colliery explosions’ and ‘Death Rolls’ (these often provide name lists). Accident Compensation Registers (D3491) C.1920-C.1951 (some closed due to data protection). And they worked us to Death: three booklets by Ben Fieldhouse listing victims of multiple-death pit disasters. Wages sheets from Big Pit c.1950s (not yet indexed: D2732/ACC3072). Guide to research No. 3: The Coal and Iron Industries, lists main resources held, e.g. Report of Inspection of Coal Mines 1856; maps and plans; coal company records e.g. Blaenavon Iron & Coal, Brynmawr Iron & Coal, Guest Keen & Nettlefolds, Nantyglo & Blaina Iron & Coal, Partridge Jones & John Paton; nationalisation papers, NUM (South Wales)/Miners Federation of Great Britain Lodge records c.1890s-c.1960s; Area records 1907–1974. Useful for reference: The South Wales Coalfield Directory by Ray Lawrence.
West Glamorgan Archive Service
Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, SA1 3SN
Archives: t. 01792 636 589 e. westglam.archives@swansea.gov.uk
www.swansea.gov.uk/westglamorganarchives
Archives: a joint service for the councils of the City and County of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot Borough. There are also Service Points in Neath and Port Talbot (see website for details). Archive Search Room, Family History Centre and Shop are housed in Swansea Civic Centre (formerly the County Hall). Tracing your family history printed guide. Comprehensive download ‘Sources available in the Family History Centre …’ includes ‘Glamorgan colliery disasters’: index of victims at Senghenydd and Wattstown, 1901–1913 (fiche); Penallta Colliery workmen’s register, 1915–1919 (fiche); Tracing your Family History and related downloads. Online archive catalogue. Relevant records in business (Ynyscedwyn Iron, Coal and Steel Co [D/D YISC]; Main Colliery company[D/D MC]; Glenavon Garw Colliery Company [D/D TDN]; estate and family papers; also Women Archive of Wales: [WAW 1; WAW 4; WAW 11] for 1984/85 miners’ strike/support groups. Browse catalogue e.g. business records or conduct a general search using online catalogue. Keywords such as ‘coal’, ‘colliery’ will generate many results. The oral history archive includes several recordings of former mineworkers and women talking about local mining/mining communities: browse to see basic details of colliery names, personal names and places.
Swansea Central Library
Central Library, Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road, Swanse, SA1 3SN
Local Studies: t. 01792 636 464 e. libraryline@swansea.gov.uk
The Local Studies collection contains an excellent range of resources suitable for family and local history research; and online use of the Cambrian Index (see online sources below). Online library catalogue. Local newspapers e.g. the South Wales Daily/Evening Post (1893-to date), the Western Mail (1869-to date). Newspaper cuttings file. Maps and plans. Photographs and other illustrations.
National Waterfront Museum – see national sources
Newport Reference Library & Local Studies Library
Central Library, John Frost Square, Newport, NP20 1PA
t. 01633 656 656 e. reference.library@newport.gov.uk www.opac.gov.uk
Covers former county of Monmouthshire. Online library catalogue. Local newspapers: South Wales Argos (1892-to date); Monmouthshire Merlin (1829–1891). Local Studies card catalogue e.g. South Wales Mining Company Prospectus (1925); List of Abandoned Mine Plans for Monmouth Division (1929); Reports of HM Inspectors of Mines (1947).
Pembrokeshire Record Office
The Castle, Haverfordwest, SA61 2EF
t. 01437 763 707 e. record.office@pembrokeshire.gov.uk
Online summary of main collections download; also family history and useful Coal Mining in Pembrokeshire downloads (accessible via Topic Lists on main website). Also browse index via Archives Wales http://arcw.llgc.org.uk/anw/browse_repository.php?inst_id=32?&L=0. Private collections (Business) include items re coalmining at Hook, Sandersfoot, Nolton and Roch. Local newspapers e.g. Western Telegraph 1854-to date. Pembrokeshire section of the 1842 Employment of Children report (HDX/159/43). Indices at the record office under ‘coal’ headings. Maps and plans. Books on the Pembrokeshire coalfield.
Rhondda Cynon Taf Library Service (RCTLS)
Reference and family history sources at Aberdare (Green Street, Aberdare, CF44 7AG; t. 01685 880 050; e. Aberdare.Library@rhondda-cynon-taff.gov.uk): Price Collection, for Powell Duffryn); Treorchy (Station Road, Treorchy, CF42 6NN; t. 01443 773 204; e. Treorchy@rhondda-cynon-taff.gov.uk): Ferndale Relief Fund Minute Books now on CD Rom; HM Inspector of Mines Reports; and Pontypridd (Library Road, Pontypridd, CF37 2DY; t. 01443 493 258; e. Pontypridd.Library@rhondda-cynon-cynon-taff.gov.uk). The RCTLS Photographic Archive enables search and purchase of many images (see online sources below). Many local newspapers e.g. Rhondda Leader 1899–1902. Winstanley Mining Deaths in Great Britain 1850–1914.
Swansea University Richard Burton Archives
Library and Information Centre, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP
t. 01792 295 021 e. archives@swansea.ac.uk
http://www.swan.ac.uk/lis/historicalcollections/archives
Holds the South Wales Coalfield Collection (SWCC), a huge resource that includes records of the South Wales Miners’ Federation (later the NUM South Wales Area) and its individual lodges; also records from miners’ institutes, co-operative societies and individuals connected to the mining industry; books, pamphlets, posters, etc. There is an online catalogue for the SWCC at www.agor.org.uk/cwm (archives, photographs, audio tapes, video, banners and printed material. Documents and photographs (over 4,000 images) are held at Singleton Park and the ‘media’ collection (banners, audio/video tapes, books etc) at the South Wales Miners’ Library (SWML: see below). Leaflets: The South Wales Coalfield Collection; The Richard Burton Archives.
South Wales Miners’ Library (SWML)
Information Services & Systems, Swansea University Henrefoelan Campus, Gower Road, Swansea, SA2 7NB
t. 01792 518 603 e. miners@swansea.ac.uk www.swansea.ac.uk/iss/swml
Part of the South Wales Coalfield Collection (see above), an exceptionally important library of coalmining history, especially for the coalfield valleys, with excellent facilities, open to all researchers as well as university students and staff. Online library catalogue: http://ifinddiscover.swan.ac. Pamphlets, posters, oral history and video collections, newspaper cuttings, miners’ banners and books. Some HM Mines Inspectors’ and Mine Disaster reports. Leaflets: South Wales Miners’ library; Lest We Forget: Banners of the South Wales Miners. Banners can be viewed at www.agor.uk/cwm/banners.
Aber Valley Heritage Centre and Museum
Senghenydd Community Centre, Senghenydd, Caerphilly, CF83 4HA
t. 02920 830 4445 e. senghen.heritage@btconnect.com
http://www.your.caerphilly.gov.uk/abervalleyheritage
Established by the Aber Valley Heritage Group, the museum commemorates the explosions at the Universal Colliery, especially the 1913 disaster. Wider aspects of mining and community history are also displayed, including the Windsor Colliery. Contains artefacts, memorabilia, photographs and film archive. Cabinet displays and two touch-screens. BBC audio recording of William Vizard who survived the 1913 disaster; also the award-winning Mourning of the Valley YouTube film. Mon-Sat openings, 11am–2pm normally. Heritage Trail nearby. Also see online sources below.
Big Pit Mining Museum – see national sources
Cefn Coed Colliery Museum
Neath Road, Creunant, Neath, SA10 8SN
t. 01639 750 556 e. colliery@btconnect.com www.npt.gov.uk
Was the deepest anthracite coal mine in the world when sunk in 1913, also unaffectionately known as ‘the Slaughterhouse’ because of the dangerous working conditions. Former steam winding engine is now electrified but remains impressive. Engine House, headframes, drams and displays. Excellent online audio tour (downloadable) by ex-Blaenant Colliery Deputy and tour guide. Summer opening only, 28 May to 1 Oct (check website or phone museum).
Cwm Colliery & Abemant Tunnel
t. 01685 727 474 e. tic@merthyr.gov.uk www.visitmerthyr.co.uk
Opposite Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Village. Remains of the old colliery (1845–1910) and associated buildings, once part of William Crawshay’s Cyfartha Works. The tunnel, completed in 1863, took the Vale of Neath railway from Merthyr to Abernant Halt (Aberdare) and Hirwaun Junction. It closed in 1963. Also see Cyfartha Castle Museum & Art Gallery below.
Cyfartha Castle Museum & Art Gallery
Brecon Road, Merthyr Tydfil, CF47 8RE
t. 01685 727 371 e. museum@merthyr.gov.uk www.visitmerthyr.co.uk
Industrialist William Crawshay’s house, now a museum. Collection includes several coalmining artifacts and equipment. Also see Cwm Colliery & Abemant Tunnel above.
Fforest Uchaf Pit Pony Sanctuary
Maendy Road, Penycoedcae, Pontypridd, Rhondda, CF47 IPS
t. 01443 480 327 e. info@pitponies.co.uk www.pitponies.co.uk
Last few retired pit ponies/horses at Uchaf Fforest Farm Pony Rehabilitation Centre and Pit Pony Sanctuary. Excellent online videos on the charity website include the last Welsh pit ponies. Information via ‘modern pit ponies’ menu. Open May-October (Monday-Friday & Sunday).
Kidwelly Industrial Museum
Broadford, Kidwelly, SA17 4LW
t. 01554 891 078 e. Info@kidwellyindustrialmuseum.co.uk
www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk and www.kidwellyindustrialmuseum.co.uk
Site of one of Britain’s oldest tinplates works but coalmining exhibits include colliery headframe, steam winding and Morlais coal complex.
National Waterfront Museum – see national sources
Newbridge Colliery Beam Engine
University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, CF37 1DL
Although not in situ, this restored steam winding engine, often regarded as the first of its kind in the Rhondda, is well worth seeing. Located across the road from a car park, the engine appears as an almost sculptural as well as engineering campus feature. By Varteg Iron Company, dating from 1844, it was installed at Newbridge/Gelliwion Colliery in 1844 by the coalmaster John Calvert and functioned until 1919. It was re-erected here shortly afterwards, an impressive open-air showpiece and exhibit for the then South Wales School of Mines. The engine’s latest restoration was by the University in 1996.
Pontypool Museum
Park Buildings, Pontypool, Torfaen, NP4 6JH
t. 01495 752 036 e. pontypoolmuseum@hotmail.com
www.pntypoolmuseum.org.uk
The museum’s local industry collection includes mining items (closed Mondays). The Dobell-Moseley Library and Archive has ephemera and printed material, photographs, maps and plans and local books: by appointment only, Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
Rhondda Heritage Park
Lewis Merthyr Colliery, Coed Cae Road, Trehafod, Pontypridd, CF37 2NP
t. 01433 687 420 e. reception@rhonddaheritagepark.com
Based at Lewis Merthyr Colliery, which functioned c.1862–1983. Visitors’ Centre includes art gallery, shop and cafe; and Village Street, which includes Tyneydd mine disaster exhibition. Black Gold Tour well worth experiencing, guided by an ex-miner (see miner profiles on website); includes pit-head buildings such as engine house, lamp room and realistic ‘underground’ visit. Check website for events and opening/tour times.
South Wales Miners’ Library (banners) – see archives etc above
Afan Forest Park, Cynonville, Port Talbot, SA13 3HG
t. 01639 851 833 e. southwalesminers@btconnect.com
www.southwalesminersmuseum.co.uk
In pleasant country park setting, outside exhibits include blacksmith shop, lamp room, pulley wheel, engine and drams. Tour guide. Many interior exhibits and displays. Cafe and gift shop. Small library. Open Easter-October daily; Tuesday-Sunday winter.
St Fagans National History Museum
Cardiff, CF5 6XB
t. 029 2057 3500 e. use web contact form
www.Museumswales.ac.uk/en/stfagans
‘Wales’ most popular heritage attraction’. Open-air museum in grounds of St Fagans Castle and gardens. Reconstructed buildings include The Workmen’s (Oakdale) Institute; and there is a reconstructed miner’s home interior.
The Winding House/Elliot Colliery
Cross Street, New Tredegar, NP24 6EG
t. 01143 822 666 e. windinghouse@caerphilly.gov.uk
Built on the site of the former Elliot Colliery, its centrepiece being the original Victorian winding engine, which is demonstrated on Bank Holidays and event days (check website for running days). Online History of Elliot Colliery, which functioned from 1888 to 1967. New museum opened in 2008 by Caerphilly County Borough Council (open Tues-Sun and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10–5) incorporating the Elliot attraction. Has coalmining displays and a Heritage Research Centre. Searching online ‘Our Collection’ via ‘Explore History’ menu using keywords such as ‘colliery’ will reveal many results relaying to objects, documents and photographs.
University Colliery Mining Disaster Memorial
Nant-Y-Parc Primary School, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan, CF83 4GY
GR: ST1139591033
Aber Valley memorial to the 1901 and 1913 disasters at Senghenydd, which accounted for 81 and 439 deaths of men and boy miners. Colliery headframe set on raised brick platform was erected in 1981 near the site of the pit and next to a primary school. An attached bronze plaque commemorates the disasters. A new Memorial Wall has now been funded to commemorate the disasters, to be officially unveiled to mark the centenary of the 1913 event. Also see Senghenydd Heritage Centre above and Aber Valley Heritage online source below.
Family history societies
Dyfed FHS www.dyfedfhs.org.uk
Glamorgan FHS www.glamfhs.orh
Gwent FHS www.gwentfhs.info
Aber Valley Heritage http://your.caerphilly.gov.uk/abervalleyheritage
Site of Aber Valley Heritage Group, heritage centre and museum. Also see places to visit above.
Agor www.agor.org.uk
University of Wales Swansea’s site includes many very useful items relating to coal mining in South Wales: photographs, videos, audio recordings and information. Also see Coalfield Web Materials, below.
Cambrian Index Online www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=5673
Index of the Cambrian, the first English-language newspaper to be published in Wales, 1804—1930. Also see West Glamorgan Archives above.
Coal House www.bbc.co.uk/wales/coalhouse2/index.shtml
Interesting BBC Wales series (2007/08) filmed at Bleaenavon replicating the lifestyle of a family living in a coalmining town. First series set in 1927 and second in 1944, the latter including conscripted Bevin Boys. Also see extracts on YouTube.
Coalfield Web Materials www.agor.org.uk/cwm
Based on the South Wales Coalfield Collection at the University of Wales Swansea (see above). Explore video clips, audio recordings and photographs. Also see archives, libraries and local studies centres above.
Senghenydd http://www.senghenydd.net/senghenydd_explosion_octobe/
Simon Barnett’s US site is a photographic record of the 1913 Senghenydd disaster. ‘Explosion Gallery’ is a collection of postcards by Benton showing aftermath of the disaster.
Senghenydd Pit Disaster BBC Wales History Blog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2011/10/the_senghenydd_pit_disaster_html
BBC Wales History blog featuring Phil Carradice’s comments on the Senghenydd pit disaster of 1913. Includes audio of William Vizard who survived the disaster.
The Winding House Collection
http://yourcaerphilly.gov.uk/windinghouse/explore-history/our-collections
Explore collection of The Winding House/Elliot Colliery site, research centre, events etc. Also see museums, heritage centres and places to visit above.
Wallace the Pit Pony www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlcD8tS3rmE
Life of a pit pony short film ‘as sung by Wallace the adorable animated pony and his mates’. For primary school consumption but useful generally. Part of Film Encounters heritage education programme. More pit pony clips can be seen on YouTube.
David Barnes, Black Mountains. The Recollections of a South Wales Miner (Y Lofta Cyf, 2002)
A.J. Booth, Small Mines of South Wales (Industrial Railway Society, 1995)
M.R. Connop-Price, Pembrokeshire. The Forgotten Coalfield (Landmark, 2004)
B.L. Coombes, These Poor Hands. The Autobiography of a Miner in South Wales (Victor Gollancz, 1939)
John Cornwall, Collieries from Aberdare to Ebbw Vale (Landmark, 2009)
John Cornwall, Rhondda Cynon Taff Collieries (Landmark, 2008)
John Cornwall, Collieries of Blaenavon & the Eastern Valleys (Landmark, 2009
John Cornwall, Collieries of South Wales (Landmark, 2001, 2002)
Sharon Ford, Ceri Thompson and Peter Walker, The Big Pit [guide]. National Coal Museum (National Museum of Wales, 2005)
Bill Jones and Beth Thomas, Coal’s Domain (National Museum of Wales, 1993)
David Lewis, The Coal Industry in the Llynfi Valley (Tempus/The History Press, 2006)
John O’Sullivan. A Photographic History of Mining in South Wales (Sutton/The History Press, 2001/10)
David Owen, South Wales Collieries (six vols) (Tempus/The History Press, 2001–05)
Leslie M. Shore, Peerless Powell Duffryn of the South Wales Coalfield (Black Dwarf Lightmoor Press, 2012)
W. Gerwyn Thomas, Welsh Coal Mines (National Museum of Wales, 1979)
Ceri Thompson, Harnessed. Colliery Horses in Wales (National Museum of Wales, 2008)
Ceri Thompson, Miniature Miners [child labour in mines] (National Museum of Wales, forthcoming)
* * *
Blue Scar (film directed by Jill Craigie), post-nationalisation drama includes underground scenes at Llanharan Colliery, Abergwynfi, Outlook films, 1949
How Green Was My Valley (film starring Walter Pidgeon and Maureen O’Hara, based on Richard Llewellyn’s classic novel), Twentieth Century Fox, 1941
The Proud Valley (film starring Paul Robeson) Ealing Studios, 1940
The Welsh Miner. A Hard Life. The History of Miners and Mining in Wales (DVD: Artsmagic, 2007)
The Welsh Miner. The Bitter End. The History of Miners and Mining in Wales (DVD: Artsmagic, 2007)