Thurcroft rediscovers its mining soul as it unveils stone to honour workforcer

Thurcroft Main Colliery closedin 1992, ending an industrial and cultural tradition dating back to 1909.

On Wednesday, campaigners finally succeeded in unveiling a stone and plaque to honour the workforce, some of whom gave their lives underground.

The Parish Council, along with locals Fred Gething and Pat Fortune, had campaigned on and off for almost 20 years for the township's heritage to be marked for all to see.

And the £1,700 monument to the past now stands proudly on the Woodhouse Green route into the village.

Fred had felt that the community should know where it originated from – there were just farmsteads in the area before mining took over.

And with the younger generation knowing little or nothing about their forefathers, he and others of a certain age wanted the memorial in a prominent site.

Fred told the Advertiser: "It was a proud, satisfying moment to see it there.

"I think we have done a good job with this one.

"The monument is stone from a quarry in Ulley and looks right, there."

So did the 80-year-old former pitman have a tear in his eye when he looked back at the pillar representing the mine he worked at for 35 years?

"No. It is all about finding something else to do now!" he replied.

Thurcroft Main reached its peak production levels in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly after nationalisation in 1947 when it came under the National Coal Board.

At its height, the colliery employed around 2,000 men – although it was dwarfed in scale by Maltby Main.

Annual output in the late 1950s was often over 500,000 tons of coal.

The pit was known for producing high-quality coking coal used in steel production, especially valuable during the post-war industrial boom.

By the 1980s, despite modernisation attempts, production had declined due to geological difficulties and national cutbacks in the coal industry.

Exactly how many miners lost their lives underground at Thurcroft is open to debate to this day.

Some archives suggest the documented toll stands around 18, while locals and historians feel the figure was as high as 62.