Image Bank
Our image bank includes a selection of striking images and illustrations, which can be downloaded for use in the classroom.
Chronology of Mining
An illustrated chronology of mining
Miners Working Underground - Pre 20th Century
Caphouse Colliery
Children being lowered into the mine
A thruster at work.
Hewer working by candle light.
Hurrier and a thruster moving coal
Men hewing and riddling coal
Trapper and Thruster
Trapper opening a ventilation door
Pit Ponies
Miner with a pit pony. Ponies wore eye protection underground.
Pit ponies lived in stables underground
Miners with pit ponies underground.
Team of horses pulling coal carts
Miner and pit pony in a field. Pit ponies spent only two weeks each year above ground.
Miners Working Underground 1950s-1960s
Miners putting up a wooden pit prop
Miners pick up their lamp and batteries from the lamproom at the start of a shift
Miners would ride a paddy train to get to the coal face
Miner testing for gas with a safety lamp
Miner drilling the coalface
Miner shotfiring
Miner loading coal onto a conveyor
Miners eating their snap underground
Miners in the dirty side lockers in the pithead baths at the end of their shift
Miners Working Underground 1970s-1990s
Miner using a flame safety lamp underground
Miner checking a hydraulic roof support
Miner with a road heading machine. These are used to 'drive' roadways underground.
Team of miners who worked together at the coal face
Miners used canaries to warn them of dangerous gases underground. If the canary stopped singing, they would leave the area
Miners had to wear protective clothing underground including goggles, gloves ear defenders and helmets
Electric loco transporting men underground
A shearer is a big coal cutting machine. It has two cutting discs, which slice through the coal seam.
Miners working on roof bolting, a modern method of roof support
Mining Objects
Rag rugs were made out of old clothing and material.
A spedding mill was one of the first attempts at a safety lamp. Flint was held against the spinning disk to produce a shower of sparks and dim illumination.
A safety lamp is designed to work in air that may contain coal dust or gases which are flammable or explosive.
The headgear is a steel structure above an underground mine shaft.
The Miner's Welfare Fund, set up in 1921, gave money for welfare projects including pithead baths. The miners bought soap at the baths canteen, which was normally stamped PHB.
Candles were expensive so only the head of the family had one to work with.
Cap lamps were first introduced in Yorkshire in the 1920s. They were not popular in the beginning as most men still wore flat caps.
Miners had 2 checks, 1 brass, 1 alloy. The alloy check was handed in at the start of the shift, and the brass check was handed in after the shift.
Proctectives helmets were given to all underground workers in the 1950s. Before this, not all miners could afford to buy one.
A pair of protective boots that miners wore when working underground.
Snap tins were used by miners to take their food or "snap" underground. The metal tin kept it safe from mice, rats and coal dust.
Donkey jackets were worn in the 1980s by miners, mostly in the north.
Wearing a reflective vest made sure miners could be seen underground.
A dudley is a round metal water container, which miners took underground.
Hurriers and then pit ponies pulled the coal tubs through the mines taking the coal to the surface.
Miners wear gloves when working. Most miners wear gloves which are woven mesh with rubber criss-crossing.
Horse shoes were worn by pit ponies to protect their hooves from the rocky, uneven floor of the mine.
In the second half of the 20th century, miners were issued with a vest, pants and overalls.
Home and Family
A miner's cottage on the site of Caphouse Colliery in the early 1900s. A family would often rent a place to live from the mine owner.
A miner sitting outside his house with his family.
A miner's wife black leading the coal fired range.
Grandma sitting next to a coal fired range
Miner's wife drying clothes on the rane. Washing dirty pit clothes was an endless task.
The new housing for miners working in the colliery in Grimethorpe was opened in 1952.
Rows of miners' homes known as 'Gaffers Row' in Silkstone, Barnsley
Coal being delivered to homes was once a common sight.
A miner's wife doing shopping
Leisure and Community Life
Miners and their families would go to the Miners Welfare holiday centre in Skegness for a holiday
Keeping pigeons was a popular past time for miners
Brass band playing at Gala Day in Dewsbury 1962
Miners with their whippers. You can see the colliery houses in the background.
Family watching a cricket match. The NCB paid for recreation grounds in mining communities
British Jeffrey Diamond made coal machinery and put on social events such as this sports day for their workforce and families.
Rocks and Fossils
Sigillaria Sample
Neuropteris sample
Neuropteris-Flexuosa_sample
Lancashire-Boiler-sandstone
Winding House Sandstone
Sandstone Sample
Loco-Track-Gravel
Granite Sample
Control Room Slate
Slate Sample
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