Work on the memorial to the workers of the Prince of Wales Colliery in Pontefract begins this week after long campaigning by Prince of Wales former miners and Yvette Cooper MP.

The memorial is to be made from Coreten steel and stone and will stand over five metres tall at the entrance to the Prince of Wales redevelopment opposite Pontefract racecourse on Park Road.

The redevelopment of the Prince of Wales site, being undertaken by Harworth’s estates, who are also funding the memorial, includes new homes, community facilities and parkland for the local area.

Since the pit closure, former Prince of Wales miners, NACODs and NUM representatives, local MP Yvette Cooper and local councillors have been campaigning for a memorial to all those who worked at Prince of Wales.

The artist Harry Malkin who worked at Fryston Colliery until it closed in the mid 1980s has designed the memorial and will lead the build, he said,
“Twenty years ago I walked about the Prince of Wales Colliery yard trying to capture the legacy of the place as it closed. The colliers had cut their last coal and were winding everything down. After much campaigning for a memorial, Harworth’s approached me for a design. It is based on the cage that conveyed the men up and down the shaft, using profile cut panels of steel it will give it a sense of direction and drama – conveying the sense miners were ‘caged’ safe, yet also trapped in an underground life we fought for so long to keep.”

Yvette Cooper MP said,

“Pontefract miners worked at Prince of Wales colliery for over 130 years. Mining was such a vital part of our history and so many of us have mining families – that is why we have been campaigning for many years to get this proper memorial for Prince of Wales colliery and for all the miners who worked here. It is great news that work is finally starting. Former Prince of Wales miners have been involved with Harry in deciding on the design. Now we want people for the next 130 years to be able to see how important that mining history is. So it is significant that the memorial will stand not only at the old entrance to the colliery but also one of the main entrances to Pontefract.”