Colliery Scene, Lancashire

This print depicts a scene of a colliery, that is of a coal mine and its structures, in Lancashire. The Lancashire coalfield was one of the most prolific in England and the number of shafts sunk to gain coal number in the several thousand. Coal mining continued to be a key factor for industrial development into the twentieth century, with the Lancashire Coalfield attaining a record output of some 26 million tons of coal in 1907, which was extracted from a total of 358 collieries. The demand for coal began to decline after the First World War, however, and the collieries on the Lancashire Coalfield struggled to remain economically viable in an increasingly competitive market. Despite significant financial investment after the Second World War, and nationalisation of the industry in 1947, the National Coal Board began to close collieries in the 1960s. Only 20 collieries remained open by the end of that decade, with the last working deep mine on the coalfield, Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows, closing in 1993.