Warning Notice

Copy of this notice was on display in the station’s control room.

Pat Robertson

Mining Was Not Like This in Our Day

Brayton Domain Colliery

Also known as Aspatria Colliery - 17½ miles [28 km] N.E. of Whitehaven

More information about Brayton Domain Colliery at Durham Mining Museum

Pat Robertson

Whitehaven Mining Memorials
Pat Robertson

Whitehaven’s Child Miners Remembered

The Children’s Mining Memorial in St Nicholas’ Gardens (Photo courtesy of Mike McKenzie).

6th March 2017 a memorial to children who lost their lives working in Whitehaven’s coal mines
has been enhanced by restoration work.

Whitehaven Heritage Action Group received £900 towards the project from the Cumbria Endowment Grassroots Grants Fund. The memorial stone, in St Nicholas’ Gardens, Whitehaven, had its lettering re-gilded by a local stonemason.

Installed in the 1980s and bears the names of 77 children who died while coal mining in the town. Some of the children were as young as 8 years old. Ray Devlin, 83, a local mining historian and ex-miner, unveiled the revitalised monument. Mr Devlin was at the original unveiling in 1985 and has written a book entitled ‘Children of the Mines’. The brother of his great, great grandmother is named on the monument.Mr Devlin said: “I am delighted the Heritage Group has undertaken this work to help keep alive the memory of these children.” Margaret Crosby, Secretary for Whitehaven Heritage Group said: “This project has ensured that the children who worked and died in the local coal mines at a time when child labour was the norm, are not forgotten. “Their young lives, spent in dark, miserable conditions were cut short by the rigors of heavy industry and this monument is a reminder of how much society has progressed.”

Dedication to Whitehaven Mining Dead (South Shore)

Mining Gallantry Awards

End of an era* Mines Rescue Brigades man foreground

Stone Cairn – King Pit

Candlestick

A plaque on the wall below the chimney commemorates all the “Men, Women and Children”
of the Whitehaven District Collieries who lost their lives in the local pits.

Mosaic in front of Candlestick

And the Harbour

Headstock Wheel