Landscape Legacies of Coal began back in 2018 as a small self-contained project commissioned by the Macrobert Art Centre  https://macrobertartscentre.org/ at the University of Stirling to support a community heritage initiative based around the theme of coal. The project explored the landscape history of two former colliery sites, the Devon at Fishcross, Clackmannanshire and Polmaise 3 & 4, Fallin, Stirlingshire, from closure of the pits through to present day. Together with a look at how the public engage with and value, if at all, these marginal and ambivalent spaces. The ..read more

I visited Australia in late February 2020 and spent a weekend in Lithgow, which is about three hours northwest of Sydney. I drove via Katoomba, the major tourist centre of the Blue Mountains which will be familiar to many visitors to Australia . Lithgow town and a view of the Blue Mountains Lithgow has a wonderful ruined blast furnace, and an excellent mining museum at the Lithgow State Mine, but there are sadly no underground tours. Images of Lithgow blast furnace The history of Lithgow was summarised elegantly at the mining museum: “Coal is the reason for Lithgows existence al ..read more

I am currently a student on the MSc Heritage, Environment and Policy course and am creating a new route as part of my final assessment. This new route is based in and around the village of Twechar in East Dunbartsonshire. An area that was transformed with the cutting of the Forth & Clyde Canal and the opening of the colliery. The route consists of 3 circular paths; a core loop around the village of Twechar itself, around 6km, with the option to continue onto the Kilsyth loop, 9km or the Auchinstarry loop, 7km. This story is centered around the coal baron William Baird. The Baird family had ..read more

I am a final year history student from the University of Stirling – a historian in training, so to say. My studies focus on Scotland and Europe during the early modern period but throughout the past year, as I started volunteering on the ‘Landscape Legacies of Coal Mining’ project, I have developed a deep interest in environmental and industrial history as well. Admittedly, I often struggle to explain what it is we do when going out to Clackmannanshire to trial routes with local community volunteers or take pictures for the Coal App. Instead of trying to break it down, explaining the premise a ..read more

Tucked away on Narrow Wynd, in the now picturesque former mining community of West Wemyss on the old coal coast in fife is a small industrial museum celebrating the history and heritage of local coal mining. Figure One: Museum entrance from Narrow Wynd, West Wemyss (2021) The Museum is housed in what was once a bunk house serving walkers on the Fife Coastal Path and initiated by Tam Moffat who still runs the museum today it began as a heritage centre ‘Old Wemyss Ways’ in July 2013. Given the local dominance of coal it soon evolved into a museum of mining and tells the story of the industry and ..read more

The white rows of Letham, (Greater Falkirk) stand proud on the carse lands south of the River Forth, visible from both the M876 and the A905. Located in a setting described by Jacques in his architectural guide to Falkirk and District ‘as Dutch or East Anglian in character…’. ‘Hedgeless fields and uninterrupted views across flat landscape…’   For some 12 years now, one way or the other, I have passed them by on my way to and from work. They are only just over two and half miles from home, around an hours walk and if wasn’t for my neighbours cherry tree I could probably see them from ..read more

On a very wet and windy morning in October just before the second English lockdown Catherine met with Susan Woodward from ‘Coal Mining in Leicestershire’ and retired mine workers Colin Harris and Nigel Mansfield at Bagworth Heath Country Park, the site of Desford Colliery.  Interpretation Board at the entrance Bagworth Heath Country Park site of Desford Colliery Desford Colliery was developed by E. Edward Bramell in 1900 for the Desford Coal Company. It was worked for house and steam coal. It survived nationalisation in 1947 and remained operational until closure in 1984. At its peak, 149 ..read more

In researching background information for the excellent Landscape Legacies of Coal project, Catherine and her students have spent many hours at the National Mining Museum Scotland’s library and archive. The chance to write this blog is an ideal opportunity to introduce you to our library collection. The aim is to give a brief history of our museum before highlighting examples from our diverse and wide-reaching collection. I hope in doing so you’ll be encouraged to pay us a visit (and of course take a walk around the area using the Newtongrange trail). Lady Victoria Colliery opened in 1894. Cre ..read more

I am a PhD student exploring how miners, and their families, represented their landscape (predominantly) through poetry. I will investigate depictions of the place of mining, the site itself, its situation within the local landscape and how it has changed in response to progression and decline of the industry. I intend to invite former miners and their families to participate in a series of interviews as I want to understand their experiences of living in these communities. Project Poster for Landscape, Literature and the Place of the Scottish Coal Mine: 18th Century to Present. Created by Jul ..read more