Colliery Documents
When British Coal was privatised, its records were deposited in the National Archives at Kew, and local record offices. We have a blog post that discusses those records.
The main National Coal Board or British Coal material that is in private collections is mass produced material from individual collieries. We have digitised a 1989 Markham Newsletter, Bickershaw Colliery's from 1977 centenary brochure, and the brochures produced to mark the opening of a new drift at both Point of Ayr (1987) and Prince of Wales (1980).
These documents show how colliery management represented their pit and the mining industry, as well as providing information about the individual pits.
'Markham Forward', March 1989, p. 2, (Arthur May personal collection, Crown Copyright, digitised for this project under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence). Transcript
Bickershaw Centenary Brochure, (David Howell personal collection, Crown Copyright, digitised for this project under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence), Transcript
Point of Ayr Souvenir Brochure (Keith Gildart personal collection, Crown Copyright, digitised for this project under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence) Transcript
Prince of Wales Drift Opening Brochure, (Grace Millar personal collection, Crown Copyright, digitised for this project under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence) Transcript.
The report about the 1951 Easington Colliery disaster gives a different view of a colliery than the shiny brochures above.
Report into 1951 Easington Disaster, (Crown Copyright, digitised for this project under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence) Transcript