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Hamstead Colliery

Remembering all those who lost their lives 4th March 1908
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Mining was a dirty dangerous job, its not a career choice I would have made, but if you are born and raised in a mining community, there is not a lot else going for you. God bless them.

Barrie.
 
Remember all, also at the end of this month a new Memorial is to be dedicated at Birch Coppice, myself not able to be there.
 

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dave what an absolutely wonderful memorial to those men who lost their lives in the mining disaster...i had no idea it existed....thank you for the great pics..is this memorial to be replaced then..??

lyn
 
dave what an absolutely wonderful memorial to those men who lost their lives in the mining disaster...i had no idea it existed....thank you for the great pics..is this memorial to be replaced then..??

lyn

No lyn, a new one on the site of the old Birch Coppice Colliery, near Junction 10 M42
 

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Its great to see the history of our mining history being remembered. I n ow live in the north east and you would think this was the only region that produced coal. We are all proud of our manufacturing history but let us not forget the midlands has a great mining history
 
My step sister was twenty two years older than me and when I was a toddler I became aware of the fact that she was in the Land Army and we only had infrequent visits from her. She was working somewhere near Atherstone and she met a feller who was a coal miner at Baddesley or Baddesley Ensor. I remember the marriage and they moved in with one of his relatives in Westwood Crescent Atherstone, the same road as his family home. A small group of us, as school kids used to go there on our cycles, no mudguards, ropey brakes and loose chains. A cake and a cup of tea and we would ride home again. A couple of years later and the happy couple were re-housed in a newly built Coal-Board house in Dordon and from their back garden you could see a working pit and slag heap, I don't know what pit it was.
My sister died from leukaemia about 45 years ago but her husband lived on in misery. After her death, he survived another fifteen years with heart and lung problems caused through mining. His last ten years were deadful but he was a proud man and he really would not allow anyone to do very much for him.
My son has a top of the range 'wood burner' and he tried burning anthracite, he remarked that people were silly to have allowed the banning of coal because it is so pleasant to watch as it burns and seems more efficient than wood.
I told him about my brother in law and how he died after digging up coal for a living. My son has gone back to burning wood now.
I know several industries were health destroyng in the past, but I also believe that coal mining was the worst. I know they did it for a living but how good was it in the 40s and before when we all sat in front of the fire? I have had the utmost respect for all those men from a long time ago.
 
My school took me to Hampstead Colliery in 1960 care of the NCB the chap who took prospective miners, schoolboys, round told us the story, and said the fire would still be burning in an "Undred years time", and the the dead miners were just left there as it was not possible to get them out. There was nothing in the world to deter young boys not to become miners, I am telling you I had nightmares for years. I suppose it is shut now.
paul
 
Thanks for the photo Carolina, the white building is The Institute. It was the centre for village life, there used to be a Sunday School held there and when I was a baby I was taken there to be weighed by the district nurse whose name was Nurse Goram.

Paul, what an awful story to tell to young children, especially as it isn't true. The mine was full of noxious fumes and although a rescue team arrived from Tankerly Colliery equipped with the first breathing equipment issued to the mining industry, the leader of the team died because his mask was faulty. Because of that accident it was decided that until the fumes cleared there could be no more attempts. It was more than a week later that the mens bodies were found and brought to the surface. My Grandfather was given a Silver Medal for his part in the early attempts, a great Uncle was awarded a Gold Medal. I wrote a post about the disaster a few years ago, I have searched for it but so far it seems to have disappeared.
 
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thanks for the pic of the hamstead houses topsy i take it they are no longer there...

hi di i had no idea that you have a personal family interest in this mining distaster...you must be proud of your grandad and and gt uncles attempts at rescue...

lyn
 
I follow Lyn Di, you must be very proud of your ancesters, my dad always said the hardest jobs in the world were mining and the fishing industry's.
paul
 
Yes I am proud of my grandfather. He died before I was born, miners didn't usualy make old bones, he died in 1930 and he had suffered dementia, but he was talked of so much by mom and my aunts that I have always felt that I know him. When the disaster happened in March 1908 my Gran, who was pregnant with mom, had to watch Granddad go into the mine in attempts to rescue his friends. It was a terrible time for Hamstead. I am so glad that now there is a memorial to the fact that the Coliery was in fact there, because soon there won't be any one left who remembers.
 
Sad story di, I think more local history ought to be taught in the schools even if it is only about the area the school is located in then at least hopefully it could be passed down.
 
I think that is the saddest part Di, when the last of the real people pass on, it leaves only a blank hole in history. RIP all those brave, selfless, souls who made this old nation of ours the best and, put the great in Britain.
paul
 
I often looked at the pit mound in this photo. I believe many of the new houses were occupied by miners who moved down from Durham when their pit closed. Unfortunately the pit at Hamstead closed only a few years after they moved.

View of Pit Mound near Hamstead Colliery
Hamstead_Pit_Mound.JPG
 
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