Posted by Caroline on 8/13/2005, 10:02 am, in reply to "Re: Locations of Mines around West Auckland" --Previous Message--
84.43.114.146
Hi Darren.
My Grandad has lived & worked in West Auckland & St. Helen's all his life (he is 89). Until his retirement his was the local coal man with his yard on the old pit heaps. He could probably give you information on the old mines & i know he knows about broken back (as mentioned in previous messages). He could also tell you about when Copeland Road school opened & the girl that came to sing there when it was opened (he decided to marry her after hearing her sing). Also during the war he pulled down the overhead cables (not sure if they were telphone or electrical) so he could get home, needless to say he got into alot of trouble from the home guards!
He has some great stories to tell so if you would like to speak to him let me know so I can arrange for you to meet as he can't use the computer. Thanks
: Thanks Keith for supplying the two
: links. when I created the page for
: the mines around West Auckland, I
: spoke to a number of people and
: found it very difficult to get an
: exact position of mines, and indeed
: what they were called. A lot of
: people would use St Helens colliery,
: to mean any of the colleries in St
: Helens. So some of the markers on my
: map were pure estimates based on
: what I had been told and others were
: placed using the coordinates given
: by the durham mining website. But
: thanks for the links, If anyone gets
: any more info on mines in our area
: please post here or email me. On
: another note does any one have any
: pictures of the mines. As I am only
: in my early thirties I remember the
: pit heap near lockies garage, does
: anyone have any photos of that.
:
: --Previous Message--
: My father and uncle used to talk of
: "Brocken Back". Probably
: "Broken Back Colliery which, if
: I remember correctly their
: "crack" was on the Warner
: site at St Helens. They were born
: and brought up in Dent Street at
: Tindale so they would have known.
: St
: Helens colliery is shown on your map
: on the opposite side of the road.
: Was "Brocken Back" a slang
: name for St Helens Colliery or was
: it
: different? The Durham County Mining
: Museum web-site hasn't this
: information.
:
:
:
:
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