At the Pendleton Gateway last Friday the Irwell Valley Mining Project (IVMP) created a pop up museum, packed full of old mining photos, badges, maps, commemorative plates, lamps, leaflets and artefacts from both the collieries and the fight against Thatcher's efforts to terminate the industry.
The event was the start of a tour of Salford that will take in the Gateways at Eccles, Walkden and Swinton over the coming months*. It was also the launch of a fundraising drive to create a monument at the site of the old Pendleton Colliery, near Whit Lane/Langley Road South.
Pendleton, which shut in 1939, was once the deepest mine in the world going down 3,000ft, with a 600ft walk to the coalface. The pit's manager was George Stephenson, of Stephenson's Rocket train fame, and his son, Robert, was the consultant engineer. It's well worth commemorating...
"This is the continuation of the work the Irwell Valley Mining Project has already done, with memorial gardens and monuments at Agecroft Colliery and Clifton Hall Colliery" says Paul Kelly of IVMP "We're `pinning the pits', putting memorials at the sites instead of some abstract place where nobody would have an idea of where they were. We're also aiming to get local schools and local people involved.
"Our reason for existing is to educate people that there was coal mining in Salford and it gave us the life we have today" he explains "Pendleton basically worked under the heart of Salford, down Langworthy Road, starting at Whit Lane. It was owned by Andrew Knowles who was big on profits, so when the coal got harder to get he moved on. But there's still plenty of coal still down there and there's tons of coal under Salford."
The pop up museums aim to raise awareness of the former coal industry in the city as well as spearheading the campaign for a memorial at Pendleton...
"People aren't going to museums as much as they used to, so we're taking the museum to the people and are setting up wherever possible, in schools, Gateways, anywhere we can get in" says George Tapp of IVMP "We've just done an exhibition in Ordsall and one 36 year old had never seen a coal fire and never seen coal, it was an eye opener. Young people really enjoy it. They know about the Dirty Old Town and the smoky city but say they never knew how much a part coal played in the industrial revolution."
The exhibition at Pendleton Gateway was also to highlight the upcoming closure of the last deep mine pit in the country, Kellingley Colliery in Yorkshire... "It's the final nail in the coffin for the industry" says Paul.
To donate to the Irwell Valley Mining Project's Pendleton memorial see website – click here
IVMP Tour...
Eccles Gateway 7th-12th December 10am-6pm
Walkden Gateway - 11th-15th January 10am-6pm
Swinton Gateway - 7th-12th March 10am-6pm
For details of the Agecroft Colliery and Clifton Hall Colliery memorials see previous Salford Star articles – click here and click here
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