The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Townhill remembers its rich mining history with heritage garden
Project: Townhill Community Council wanted lasting memorial to the people involved
Miners will live on in memories thanks to the effort of Townhill Community Council.
Townhill Colliery and Muircockhall Colliery were among many local pits so the area including the village, park, loch and woods is peppered with old pit shafts, filled in and covered over long ago.
Townhill’s long mining history can be traced back through the centuries to the first official mention in the year 1291 but there was very little left to indicate its mining roots.
That is where the community council stepped in and decided to create a garden dedicated to the men, women and children who worked and sometimes died in the pits beneath our feet.
It wanted something to engage all ages of park users and so Townhill Mining Heritage Garden was born.
Consultations helped shape the design and Townhill Primary pupils took the initiative on as a school project, interviewing former miners.
Following research, information panels were designed.
The first phase was opened in 2014 and incorporates education through play and storytelling areas.
They feature life-size wooden sculptures of adult miners, child workers and a pit pony, while the play equipment reflects aspects of mining life.
There are two interactive talking posts which play mining stories and poems.
A willow tunnel leads to a storytelling area which features a mining themed mosaic created by Townhill Primary School, a storyteller’s chair and seating.
The final phase was opened yesterday by Labour councillor Helen Law and former pugline driver Joe Miller with help from primary six pupils and teacher Karen Woodhouse, who sang mining songs.
The completed garden now features a path leading from phase one bordered by large black rocks representing coal and two sculptures of 6ft-high half pit wheels where mining tools have been substituted to form the spokes.
This leads to a stone memorial paying tribute to Townhill’s mining heritage and incorporates two plaques with lists of the names of some Townhill miners.
It has an inbuilt seating bench and also features a strata drawing of Townhill’s below-street-level geology donated by the late Stanley Bell, a local mining engineer.
This project was managed by Townhill Community Council and made possible with financial support from the West Fife Common Good Fund, Scottish Coal Industry Fund and the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.