Film Number

11372

Title

AGECROFT COLLIERY - THE LAST PIT IN THE VALLEY

Producer

Paul Kelly, Kay Phillips and Richard Searle

Date

2013

Gauge

.mp4

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Running Time

23 mins 20 secs

Description

Filmed as part of the Irwell Valley Mining Project and featuring Paul Kelly, an ex miner who tells the story of Agecroft Colliery and what it was like to work down the pit. He stands on what remains of the various pit shafts at Agecroft and using the Beetham Tower in Manchester as an example, shows the depth of the No. 3 shaft [2235 ft or four towers]. Paul then tells of the history of the colliery using maps, illustrations and stills. To show what it was like to be a miner Paul visits the National Coal Mining Museum in Wakefield in Yorkshire, where he descends in the cage to the pit floor and shows the various jobs that miners did and the conditions they suffered. The film ends with a visit to the Astley Green Colliery near Wigan and the unveiling of a memorial at the Agecroft site