New statue to honour nineteen miners

Nineteen miners who tragically died in a colliery accident could be remembered with new public artwork on the site.

The men were killed on October 10, 1932, when a mine-shaft elevator fell at Bickershaw Colliery, with just one person surviving.

Now, house builder Taylor Wimpey wants to erect a memorial to the men on the site, which has become the Pennington Wharf development.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Plans have been submitted to Wigan Council and, if approved, the statue could be in place early in 2020.

A spokesman for Taylor Wimpey Manchester, said: “We have submitted a planning application for a piece of public artwork to be installed at our

Pennington Wharf development off Plank Lane, which will connect the scheme to its past life as the former Bickershaw Colliery.

“The work will act as a memorial for the lives lost in the Bickershaw Disaster on October 10, 1932, when a mechanical fault resulted in the deaths of 19 miners, after the cage lowering them into the mineshaft became detached.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The sculpture, entitled Shadows, has been created by North West artist Colin Spofforth, with plans for an unveiling in the New Year.”

Mr Spofforth said: “I was struck by just how different and dangerous working conditions were for miners in those days. No protective clothing, breathing apparatus or even headgear. These men literally worked at the coal face in their normal clothes and flat caps!

“Imagine the terror of being lowered into that deep, freezing pool of black water? No way of communicating with those above?

“Shadows represents the distant memory of those 19 local men. A ghost that appears and disappears as you pass by the memorial. A fleeting glimpse of a time and people long gone.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“A shadow of a once very real community who lived and worked in this place. A place where real tragedy struck on that fateful day all those many years ago.”

The Pennington Wharf development already has a memorial to a war hero who died while working at Bickershaw Colliery.

A sculpture of Pte Alfred Wilkinson, created by artist Andrew Burgess, was unveiled there last year in a partnership between Taylor Wimpey, Wigan Council and Homes England.

Pte Wilkinson won the Victoria Cross for bravery shown during the Battle of Selle in Marou, in northern France, in October 1918.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Four runners were killed attempting to deliver a message across No Man’s Land, but he volunteered to relay it and succeeded, despite the journey involving exposure to heavy machine-gun and shell fire for 600 yards.

He survived the war and returned to his home town of Leigh, where he got married, opened a sweet shop and went to work at the colliery.

He joined the home guard in the Second World War and continued working in the pit, where he was killed in 1940 by gas poisoning.

A street at Pennington Wharf - Wilkinson Park Drive - has also been named in his honour.