© Photograph from the Harold White Collection


© Photograph from the Harold White Collection

28 January 2008 – 18 May 2008

Using documentary photographs from the photography collections of the National Coal Mining Museum for England and English Heritage, 'Changing Landscapes' documents pits from their heyday to their demise, to show the visual impact that Britain's industrial heritage has left behind. Coal formed the backbone of Britain's Industrial Revolution. At the height of the industry's prosperity in 1913, around 2,600 pits employed more than 1.1 million men. At the beginning of 2008 there are four deep mines managed by UK Coal and two managed by other owners. The decline of this once-great industry has left its mark both on the generations of people whose lives were bound up in these collieries and on the landscape where they were sited.

This touring exhibition also aims to be a catalyst for encouraging school and community involvement. While 'Changing Landscapes' is on display at the National Coal Mining Museum for England, communities now living in and around the former Grimethorpe and Houghton Main Colliery sites were invited to rephotograph their villages. A selection of these images were displayed in the exhibition to help share their mining heritage and to record the changes that have taken place. As the exhibition tours, loan venues will be encouraged to enhance the exhibition while it is on site by using material from their own collections and by photographing additional pits, mainly in their region, that they feel are most appropriate for their audience and site.