Of our heroic miners alive
Drilling at the Coalface by artist Bob Olley helps this and future generations to understand how important the dangerous and dirty job of the coal miner was and how it was a mainstay of the local economy for almost a century.
“There were four working pits employing hundreds of miners supported by thousands of surface workers processing and moving the black gold by road, rail and sea.
“Some coal seams were worked miles out under the North Sea making the job of the miner even more Men pictured at Westoe South Shields in 1993 unpleasant by the constantly wet conditions.
“Coal mining also produced a unique social bond that sadly, like the mines and miners, has all but disappeared.”
Historically significant watercolours by Victorian artist Thomas Harrison Hair also feature in the exhibition on loan from Newcastle University’s Hatton Gallery, illustrating how the collieries looked in the early 19th century.
The collieries of Hebburn (A and C pits), Jarrow and St Hilda were recorded by Thomas Harrison Hair. His painting of Hebburn A pit, which is on show, is the artist’s earliest known work.
King Coal examines the history of all the South Tyneside collieries – Hebburn, Jarrow, Templetown, St Hilda, Harton, Boldon, Whitburn and Westoe.
Visitors can listen to audio recordings of personal recollections and watch video footage in the re-creation of the Westoe pickets’ hut, furnished with a second-hand settee, which was called the ‘Liddle House on the Prairie’ after an American TV series and the name of a particular police officer during the strike. There are badges that were worn by striking miners and their family, friends and supporters. Some were swapped with fellow miners from other areas, when pickets travelled around the country. Also on display is a banner made by Mary Gofton and Anne Hall of Leighton Street, South Shields. The Westoe Miners Women’s Support Group provided vital assistance to striking miners. The many pitmen who went to war are also commemorated. In the First World War over 1,400 men enlisted from Whitburn Colliery. Gold ‘Marsden Miners Welcome Home’ medals on show were presented to Edward Stephenson and Edward Grimes by the Marsden Miners’ Lodge at a ceremony in January 1920.
The exhibition includes a carved wooden memorial originally placed in St Andrew’s Church at Marsden by the parents of Robert Maddison, who is described as having died in 1919 age 27 “as the result of hardships suffered” while a prisoner of war in Germany.
Robert had lived at Hylton Street, Marsden Colliery, and worked as a putter at Whitburn Colliery before going to war.
Jimmy Holdcroft was a miner at Boldon Colliery and is pictured wearing two wound stripes on his left arm. He was wounded a total of five times – twice at Gallipoli and also on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. In the early 1950s during a coughing bout, he spat out a bullet which had been lodged inside him for almost 40 years. He went on to live to the age of 98.
South Shields Museum has free entry although a donation is welcome. It is open Mon-Fri, 10am to 5pm, and Sat, 11am to 4pm.