It was on June 18th 1885 that disaster struck at Clifton Hall Colliery in Pendlebury when an explosion caused the deaths of 178 men and boys, some aged as young as 13. Now, finally a memorial has been unveiled at the site to commemorate both the working life of the pit and the horror that happened there on that day.
This afternoon, ex miners, supporters of the Irwell Valley Mining Project and Salford MP Rebecca Long Bailey gathered for the unveiling of two plaques, a memorial garden and a pit wheel monument to mark the site of the Colliery, now next to the Viridor Recycling Centre on Lumns Lane.
"It's been left for 130 years with no commemoration of the pit site and we decided we needed to put that right for future Salfordians to remember their history, and those who died producing the modern world we have today through their endeavour and labour" said Paul Kelly of the Irwell Valley Mining Project.
"If it was a ruling class disaster 130 years ago, there would have been a ruling class statue here years ago but as the working class we have to remember our own history" he explained "It takes us a bit of time because we have to do it off our own backs but we get there."
The marking of Clifton Hall follows the unveiling of the Agecroft Colliery memorial two years ago (see here), and the aim is to eventually commemorate all the old pits of the Irwell Valley
"The next pit to be remembered will be Pendleton Colliery at the top of Whit Lane, which was at one point the deepest pit in the world, the manager was George Stephenson of the railways and his son, Robert Stephenson, was a consultant engineer there" Paul explained "There were also a couple of disasters there that have been wiped away from history, so we aim to commemorate that next..."
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