Wednesday 27th March 2024
7.30pm
Freshford Memorial Hall
2023 marked the 50th anniversary of the closure of the last colliery in Somerset and with it the end of a long history of coal mining in the Somerset area. But many clues remain in the local landscape today reminding us of the industry that shaped our local towns, villages and countryside.
Shane Gould’s Grandfather was a Somerset Miner which influenced his interest and passion for this subject. He has dedicated many years to researching the history of Somerset coal mining and the industrial archaeology of the area revealing the sites of long forgotten collieries, along with more recent, well known ones and the railway lines and canals that served them.
His talk will take us on a journey through history from Roman times when coal was found often on the surface or just below it by the Romans locally, right through to the height of the coal industry in more recent times up until the last coal mine, Kilmersdon Colliery, closed in 1973, with recent photos of some of the remains of the colliery sites that can still be seen today.
Members free Visitors £3.00 Everyone welcome