I was saddened but not surprised to learn from Harald the international nature of the desire of inhabitants of former mining areas to forget the undesirable parts of history. Around the time of closure of Murton Colliery in County Durham I asked the Dept.of Environment to List the Keope winding tower there which was still in use from 1923. After some six months investigation it was Listed and kept whilst the colliery around was demolished. Unfortunately Easington District Council decided that this preservation was likely to prevent the site being redeveloped for jobs and homes, so in due course the "...overhead winding tower...of German design and thought to be the only one of its type in the UK." was deListed, and demolished about 1994. As far as I know its site was undeveloped for several years while the immense waste heap nearby was cleared and is now Dalton Park, the latest in out-of-town shopping.
I am sure it was demolished so as to make the place look new and forward-looking instead of keeping a reminder of the bad old days of the past. Cynical you might say? About the same time there was a suggestion in the "Northern Echo", said to have come from a local historian, that the name of the nearby village of Easington Colliery should be changed to Easington-by-the-Sea or similar to make the place appear more attractive now that the colliery had been demolished. Needless to say, "Mr. Angry" here, wrote in to say his piece and the matter went quiet. The inclusion of "Colliery" in the village name did not prevent the filming of "Billy Elliott" there.
Unfortunately now many former mining villages are setting up wagons, tubs, headgears etc. covered in flowers and presented in a variety of colourful and socially acceptable ways whilst the real thing is still being destroyed or neglected. And before I climb down from this soapbox, the super new Archives building for Northumberland is to be erected at Woodhorn Colliery Museum as a most valuable resource for the county. To be located somewhere near the former boiler site and therefore close in to the original colliery buildings, will it merge in with them? Well my interpretation of the design is a bungalow hit by a tornado.
Constructive comments welcome! Simon.
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