Joy of working with Northumberland pit ponies

Posted by The Journal on Jul 27, 11 09:37 AM in Nostalgia

By John Dawson of Six Townships Community History Group

Last pit pony out of Cambois in 1968 What a shame to read about Tony, said to be the last pit pony alive to finally die himself.

Having worked with pit ponies underground myself, I was one of the chosen few to get a glimpse of their life underground.

I remember Tony very well as I do the others that left underground at Ellington in Northumberland, which was the very last deep mine to close in the Northumberland coalfield.

They were Sparky, Pike and Carl and I worked with them all and many more. It was a hard life for them but they were well looked after too. However, they retired and were brought to the surface in March, 1994.

I was transferred from Whittle Colliery near Alnwick in early 1982 and on my first shift underground was allocated a pony called Tap. A little pony and a good age it was too.

I went home after my shift and told my wife that there were ponies underground at Ellington and that I had a pony to pull the girders and props up to the coal face where I was working in the number three pit, the Grangemoor it was also called.

What they did was fantastic and us miners loved them.

We even took food in for them and when it was my bait time, it was for the ponies too.

They were used in the early days for pulling coal tubs out from the coal face to the shaft bottom, and some of the conditions were terrible. Just imagine it, wet muddy, dirty and slippery, among other things.

The ponies were used for salvage work too, pulling the girders from the old workings to be used again elsewhere underground. They had many jobs to do underground and I am pleased to say I was privileged to work with them.

Our group has completed a DVD - The Coal Miners Best Friend. It is full of archive footage, from both underground and on the surface, at various collieries in our area; Ellington, Bedlington Dr Pit, Seaton Burn, Wallsend Rising Sun in North Tyneside and many more collieries in the country.

Witness first-hand the role of the pit pony in some of the rarest scenes ever seen underground as we pay out tribute to the coal miners' best friend. Visit our website at www.sixtmedia.org.uk to order the DVD, which is priced at £4.99.

Pictured: Last pit pony out of Cambois in 1968

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