October 19, 2018 - Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the closure England's Ravenhead Colliery, which brought to an end five centuries of coal mining in St Helens, writes Stephen Wainwright.

That statement will no doubt raise the eyebrows of many former workers at Bold, Parkside, Sutton Manor, Wood Pit Haydock and Cronton!

The plaque in the Town Hall dedicated to St Helens’ miners

However those collieries were all situated outside of the boundaries of the borough at that time.

At a Town Council meeting just before Ravenhead’s closure, the Mayor of St Helens, Councillor Tom Forshaw, gave a stirring tribute to the mining industry: “This town has every reason to be proud of its miners and their achievements in the face of oppression, poverty and want.

“We recognize the passing of an industry which has been a hard taskmaster throughout the centuries but which, with all its defects, has engendered the community spirit and way of life which characterizes not only St. Helens, but other Lancashire mining towns.”

Councillor Patrick Gill called for a memorial to be created “in memory of the debt we owe the miner” and a plaque was created which currently hangs in the Town Hall.

It reads: “THE MINER – The closing of the Ravenhead Pit on 18th October 1968 was the end of five centuries of hewing coal in this county borough. Honour the miners whose toil produced the coal on which the industries of Saint Helens were founded.

“And which added so much to the wealth of the nation.”

Coal had been mined in the Ravenhead area since the 1760s but the modern colliery in Burtonhead Road only began production in 1866.

It was also known as Groves Colliery and soon after its shafts were sunk many poor people were being sent to prison for stealing coal from railway wagons or waste heaps.

In September 1868 a lad of about 11 called John McGreevy was sent to jail for seven days for taking coal. Two months later the same harsh punishment was imposed on Bridget and Mary Dolan.

They appear to be mother and daughter, with the child only aged seven or eight.

Then in mid-February 1870 Margaret Ryan was charged with stealing just 24 pounds of coal from Ravenhead Colliery.

Her husband had been out of work since Christmas and Margaret said she wanted to make her children warm.

Despite an unblemished record, she was still given a week in prison.

In 1876 Ravenhead merged with the St Helens Colliery owned by Pilkingtons and by 1900 was employing about 700 men.

This had increased to 1,000 after nationalization in 1947 when the mine was producing 260,000 tons of coal per year.

One of the most important innovations in mining during the 20th century was a coalcutting machine called the Anderton Shearer Loader.

This was invented by James Anderton and was first used at Ravenhead. A commemorative monument on the St Helens Linkway celebrates it.

Curiously Ravenhead broke its own output record just weeks before it was set to close, making it briefly one of the most productive collieries in the country.

However the National Coal Board pointed out that the mine wasn’t closing for economic reasons but because the coal seams had been exhausted.

All of the 450 men employed at Ravenhead were supposedly offered work at other collieries, although I’m told that some had redundancy imposed on them.

It wasn’t until 1993 when Parkside Colliery near Newton-le-Willows closed that it really was the end of an era for mining within the St Helens’ district.

However the plaque in the Town Hall still serves as a memorial to the blood, sweat and tears of a remarkable breed of men.