A series of events are planned to remember the industry which built South Bristol
The Jolly Colliers pub on West Street in Bedminster(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
A seven foot tall metal silhouette of a coal miner is to be installed on a main road in South Bristol, to commemorate ten local men who were killed in one of Bristol’s worst pit disasters.
The installation and unveiling will be the culmination of a series of events, talks, activities and exhibitions to pay tribute to the coalminers and their families whose ‘courage and strength helped shape Bedminster ’.
The metal sculpture will be the first permanent memorial to the men and boys who worked, and sometimes tragically died, down the many coalmines that were dotted around Bedminster and Ashton for hundreds of years, and into the 20th century.
Aside from the names of some of the roads, and some pub names, there is precious little reminder of Bedminster’s important coal mining history – which is something the Bedminster Coalminers Heritage Group (BCHG) was set up to remedy.
A crowdfunder has already raised more than a thousand pounds towards the permanent memorial, and the BCHG is appealing for more support.
Throughout March the BCHG has a series of events planned. On Friday, March 13 and Tuesday, March 18, there will be workshops with local historian Garry Atterton and Sophie Evans, the heritage development librarian with Bristol’s Library Service.
The West Street area of Bedminster had two large coal mines – a heritage to be explored in the South Bristol History Festival in October 2024(Image: West Street Stories project)
“They will bring many archives and artefacts for discussion and memory sharing,” said a BCHG spokesperson.
Then, on Tuesday, March 24, there will be an audio-visual presentation about the Dean Lane Pit Disaster, which claimed ten miners’ lives on September 10, 1886.
One of those miners killed was William Garland, 29, who left a wife and four children when he succumbed to an explosion deep underground.
READ MORE: ‘Forgotten’ history beneath South Bristol’s streets will be brought back to lifeREAD MORE: Council chief to lead history tour of South Bristol’s old coal mines
Six generations of the Garland family in Bedminster worked in the coalmines and, over the decades, eight of them were killed in mine-related tragedies.
Less than five years after the 1886 disaster at the Dean Lane colliery – whose pithead is now covered by the central area of Dame Emily Park in Bedminster – another disaster killed ten miners at a different pit.
The West Street area of Bedminster had two large coal mines – a heritage to be explored in the South Bristol History Festival in October 2024 – pictured, a sketch of the Malago pit(Image: West Street Stories project)
Ten miners were killed at the Malago Vale pit, just off West Street, on August 31, 1891.
The final event of the month’s commemorations will take place on the morning of Saturday, March 28. At 10.30am a 7ft tall metal miner will be installed outside the Jolly Colliers pub in West Street, Bedminster. The metal miner has been supplied by the Somerset Miners Welfare Trust.
It will be accompanied by a ceramic commemorative plaque on the wall of the pub. “The unveiling will be followed by a celebration in the Jolly Colliers from 11am,” said a BCHG spokesperson. “We are hoping that families with connections to Bedminster’s coalminers will attend.”
READ MORE: The long lost history of South Bristol’s coal mines to be told in new festivalREAD MORE: Bristol’s forgotten mine disaster leads South Bristol History Festival
“The plaque was produced by Ned Heywood of Heritage Ceramics in Chepstow,” he added. “The plaque commemorates the ten miners killed on the August 31, 1891 at the Malago Vale Pit disaster. One of those killed was Thomas Bolt who was the great-grandfather of Michael Beese. Michael is a former Bedminster resident who has given great support to the project,” the spokesperson added.
The BCHG is appealing for anyone with information or family memories of Bedminster’s coalmining past to get in touch. If anyone wants to find out more, or share information, then they should contact Garry Atterton, Tina Huckle or Stef Brammar via the email bedminstercoalminers@gmail.com.
The South Liberty Lane coal mine was the first to open in 1748, and the last of 25 mines to close in the 1920s
All the talks and exhibition events are taking place at Bedminster Library between 10.30am and noon on each day, and throughout March there will be a display in the library foyer.
Anyone wishing to go to any of the events should either email Bedminster Library’s supervisor Jackie Campbell on Jackie.Campbell@bristol.gov.uk, or call in to add your name to the list.