Hester Pit Memorial Garden
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Hester Pit Memorial Garden by Richard Webb as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Hester Pit Memorial Garden
Image: © Richard Webb Taken: 26 Jan 2019
The plaque reads "In memory of the 204 men and boys who perished in the disaster at the Hester Pit, New Hartley on 16th January 1862." Two shifts were trapped in the mine by the iron beam of the pumping engine broke blocking the only shaft. This soon led to a law demanding that all pits had at least two shafts and a new colliery was opened to the north. The gardens were opened by Joe Gormley in 1976. Probably the most heartbreaking thing I have found when out and about for this site. Old coalfields are fascinating places, but all too often you are reminded of the cost of coal. I am happy that I only married into a mining family and was never required to go down a pit myself.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
55.083956
Longitude
-1.514511