Pit village

A pit village, colliery village or mining village is a settlement built by colliery owners to house their workers. The villages were built on the coalfields of Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution where new coal mines in isolated or unpopulated areas needed accommodation for the incoming workers.

Pitfield Street sign, Pit Village, Beamish Museum

Examples

The 1939 film The Stars Look Down, based on the 1935 novel by A. J. Cronin is set in the fictitious pit village of Sleescale. The film was partly shot on location at St Helens Siddick Colliery in Workington.

How Green Was My Valley and the subsequent film were based in a fictional pit village in the South Wales Valleys, as was The Proud Valley starring Paul Robeson.

Billy Elliot, set in a fictitious pit village during the miners' strike of 1984-1985 was shot on location in Easington Colliery.

Brassed Off was set in "Grimley", a thin veil for Grimethorpe. The depopulation of Fitzwilliam, West Yorkshire was the theme of a song by Chumbawamba and David Peace's novel Nineteen Seventy Four.

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References

Citations

  1. Sharlston Colliery Model Village, Heritage Gateway, retrieved 13 August 2015
  2. Howe Bridge, Atherton Conservation Area Appraisal (pdf), Wigan Council, p. 10, retrieved 13 August 2015
  3. Davies 2010, p. 97
  4. Historic England, "The Model Village (929805)", PastScape, retrieved 13 August 2015
  5. Historic England, "New Bolsover Model Village (613327)", PastScape, retrieved 13 August 2015
  6. Historic England, "Newstead Colliery Village (1038798)", PastScape, retrieved 15 August 2015
  7. A study of Woodlands Model Colliery Village 1907-1909, Royal Institute of British Architects, retrieved 13 August 2015

Bibliography

  • Davies, Alan (2010), Coal Mining in Lancashire & Cheshire, Amberley, ISBN 978-1-84868-488-1
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