I am currently working on a home restoration programme, where we are following both the restoration of a home, but also the social history of the house and those who have lived there in the past.

One of the houses which we are working with is a lovely old Miners cottage in Howe Bridge, Atherton near Wigan.  The owner is a lovely guy who has a lot of miners in his family tree. His ancestors worked in mines in Ripley, Garforth and Eastwood.  I was looking at your fantastic website, full of so much research and I was wondering whether you might be able to help redirect me in the best direction as to try and find either pictures of miners from these mines or the mines themselves?  And the best way to progress to find out anything about the miners themselves?

The mining ancestors I know of came from Eastwood Colliery I think, Ripley (Hartshay?) and Garforth Yorkshire

I was also wondering who might be able to help me further with terms such as Contr, Holer and Ganger meant, which all follow 'Coal Miner, Hewer…' on the census documents we have located? 

I hope you might be able to help me,

Kind regards,

Jo

Jo Avery
Researcher - Home Truths

BBC Bristol has just embarked on producing a brand new series (for UKTV) called HOME TRUTHS. This series will be fronted by NICK KNOWLES (from DIY SOS) and will feature homeowners who are just about to renovate their house to it's former glory, charting its history in the process, and helping them to find inspiration and original features in order to achieve their goal.

If you’re about to restore one room, or even the entire house to its former glory – whether it’s a Tudor cottage, a Georgian townhouse or a 1970s duplex - we’d like to hear from you.

Click Here

Joe Henshaw Replies

Top

Help Page