The hypertext links below are to the units which comprise sources of material intended to introduce young people to the history of coal mining and the ‘industrial revolution’. They have been written as sources of material and short articles accessible to all ages, but particularly pupils aged between approximately seven and eleven years (Keystage 2). We hope they cover interesting aspects of both the practical and the social history of coal mining, with some emphasis to County Durham, England.
In addition to the material written with students in mind, a separate set of links are to pages containing supplementary material, referred to as Teaching Notes which include more extensive information which may be of use to teachers during class discussions.
The emphasis of the pages linked to below is on the lives of working miners and their families, rather than those of the mine owners or the general social and economic history of this period. A number of the pages focus upon the rôles played by children in the mining industries, particularly during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
As far as possible, the imposition of an ordered structure to these pages has been avoided. That is to say, each page is intended to be self-contained and can be included or omitted without detriment to the understanding of other pages. Likewise, the pages linked to below are not written to be consulted or taught in any particular order, although some would perhaps benefit from having been preceded by others. In short, the individual pages may be regarded as self-contained and this site as a whole used in a ‘pick-and-mix’ manner. A number of short ‘activities’ sheets related to mining and coal mining in County Durham in particular are also included.
Any part of this site may be photocopied for personal research and distributed for teaching but not for commercial purposes without permission from Durham Miners Heritage Group. We only request that should you wish to copy and distribute any of the enclosed material you acknowledge its source and any changes which you may make.
We very much welcome feedback about the contents of this Package to enable us to develop further improvements. Please e-mail rkbooth@fsmail.net.