Smith Art Gallery & Museum | Details | Stirlingshire Collieries Commemorative Plate

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Actions Displays	Stirlingshire Collieries Commemorative Plate Remove from selection Add to selection Reproduction Download mediaDownload as zip file Object number20898.04 TitleStirlingshire Collieries Commemorative Plate CreatorEdwardian Fine Bone China (manufacturer)‎ DescriptionThe miners’ Davy safety lamp stands in pride of place on this plate, shoulder to shoulder with some of Stirling’s most recognisable landmarks. It celebrates Stirling’s mining heritage, listing all the pits that worked with King Coal, and commemorates the founding of the National Coal Board in 1947. It is fitting that this plate was made around the time of the closure of the area’s last deep coal mine, Polmaise No.3 & 4 Colliery, in 1987. The opening of deep mines around the turn of the 20th century saw many miners and their families from smaller collieries in Lanarkshire and from Ireland coming to the area to work. They brought with them a belief in the fight for social justice – that men should earn a living wage, have decent housing conditions and a safe working environment. The colliery villages were places where workmates were also neighbours and friends, where communities worked together, supporting each other through uncertain times. The National Coal Board was created on 1st January 1947. It took control of Britain’s mines (1,647 of them at that time) and became responsible for the land on which they stood, their equipment, resources and of course their workers. It set out to increase coal production whilst improving miners’ working conditions and pay. Initially supported by the National Union of Mineworkers, this relationship turned sour in the 1980s when the Thatcher administration encouraged the closure of unprofitable pits, making mineworkers redundant. British Coal announced the closure of Polmaise on 15th July 1987. As the gates were closed for good two days later, 112 men were left without work. This plate symbolises their story as well as that of all the other miners who worked in Stirling’s collieries. Production date 1987 - 1997 Object namePlate, Commemorative Plate mining MaterialClay TechniqueMoulded Dimensions whole Diameter: 270 mm whole Height: 17 mm

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Download mediaDownload as zip file

Object number20898.04

TitleStirlingshire Collieries Commemorative Plate

CreatorEdwardian Fine Bone China (manufacturer)‎

DescriptionThe miners’ Davy safety lamp stands in pride of place on this plate, shoulder to shoulder with some of Stirling’s most recognisable landmarks. It celebrates Stirling’s mining heritage, listing all the pits that worked with King Coal, and commemorates the founding of the National Coal Board in 1947. It is fitting that this plate was made around the time of the closure of the area’s last deep coal mine, Polmaise No.3 & 4 Colliery, in 1987. The opening of deep mines around the turn of the 20th century saw many miners and their families from smaller collieries in Lanarkshire and from Ireland coming to the area to work. They brought with them a belief in the fight for social justice – that men should earn a living wage, have decent housing conditions and a safe working environment. The colliery villages were places where workmates were also neighbours and friends, where communities worked together, supporting each other through uncertain times. The National Coal Board was created on 1st January 1947. It took control of Britain’s mines (1,647 of them at that time) and became responsible for the land on which they stood, their equipment, resources and of course their workers. It set out to increase coal production whilst improving miners’ working conditions and pay. Initially supported by the National Union of Mineworkers, this relationship turned sour in the 1980s when the Thatcher administration encouraged the closure of unprofitable pits, making mineworkers redundant. British Coal announced the closure of Polmaise on 15th July 1987. As the gates were closed for good two days later, 112 men were left without work. This plate symbolises their story as well as that of all the other miners who worked in Stirling’s collieries.

Production date 1987 - 1997

Object namePlate, Commemorative Plate

mining

MaterialClay

TechniqueMoulded

Dimensions

whole Diameter: 270 mm
whole Height: 17 mm