On this anniversary we take the opportunity to to look back on the years under its control: an industry which gave many Wigan men work but which also took lives through accidents and coal-related illnesses, and which was sometimes in dispute over pay, conditions and closures.
13.
1th November 1974: Joe Gormley (centre), the leader of the National Union of Mineworkers visiting a coal mine in West Germany. (Photo by Terry Disney/Express/Getty Images)
14.
A rally sets off from Leigh Miners Welfare Institute in 1984 during the miners strike
15.
The demolition of the 200 feet high Mosley Common winding tower at Boothstown on Saturday 26th of January 1974. The pit had closed down in 1968.
16.
RETRO 1979 - Windy Arbour drift mine at Highfield Wigan