Wigan Album

Would they be the pit brow lassies, lassies who knew the meaning of hard work, and I would think for little wages? How many lassies would do that today, not many.

The little girl in the middle of the front row looks so tired,bless her.

They're holding hands bless 'em

Clogs were very beneficial as footwear, especially to combat aching feet. These ladies, and the ones that followed in their footsteps, would be on their feet all their working day. I wore clogs down the pit. It would be much easier to get your foot out of a clog, if trapped, by the foot, than a laced boot. Followed my dad's advice.

My Auntie Sally was a Pit-Brow lass.

My Granma was one, her photo is in the photo section. They were stopped from working when the mines were Nationalised - the NUM persuaded the Government to get rid of them.

We had pit brow girls at Stones pit in Garswood. They were all issued with green bib and brace overalls and they all wore clogs, as did most miners those days. As Albert pointed out, if you got your foot fast it was easy to get it free. When the Pit Head baths were built at Stones, the clogs dried out and the welting nails came loose, so a lot of men started to wear boots

Maggie. There were still pit brow girls in the late forties, and I know, into the early fifties, at the Maypole Colliery, Abram. I am not sure if they were still there into the late fifties, when the Maypole closed down.

I watched the pit brow girls at work on the sorting belts from a gantry above them, around 1948 at the Vic Pit in Standish, a mate of my dads was a blacksmith there and he organised the visit, not a pretty sight for an 8 year old, i must say.

They were working on the screens,sorting the dirt from the coal in 1954 at Nook Pit when I started.

Lily Heyes from Stubshw & another girl were still working on the screens at Golbourne in the 60s,

And people say , the good old days, not many good days for this class of people by the look on there faces, not much to smile about, hard dirty work with very little pay.

I may be wrong in my assumption. Did not someone devise a way of removing the dirt from the coal, by the coal, and the dirt passing through a liquid, and the dirt being heavier than coal, sank to the bottom of the screen. If I am way of beam, what did replace these "Salt of the Earth" ladies?.

Even though these girls were dressed in a very rough fashion because of the nature of the work, they still appear neat and tidy. Perhaps the photo was taken before the shift started. I wonder were they told to hold hands or was it because of the bond between them. After all it took a while for the photographer to complete the task and they didn't have much to smile about. They say the camera never lies and the faces betray every emotion from tiredness to dignity in the work they did. In other words they just 'got on with what had to be done' it would have been no use complaining because they would have been replaced swiftly. That's my opinion anyway.

Your quite right Veronica,as I said in my statement above not a lot to smile about,my grandma was a pit brow lass she told us when we were young how dirty. Tiring the job was her shirts she wore for work were cast offs from her father and grand father her clogs had bits off old bicycle tires nailed to the soles for grip ,by the look how clean there aprons it was proberly the start of their shift, they certainly wasn't that colour when they finished.

Sam my dad's favourite mantra was ....'you don't know you're born'..... It still rings in my ears even after all these years. How very true and now I understand!

No one has, of yet, given any sort of answer, nor their opinion, in relation to the question that I put in comment. If they were replaced by men.In this day, and age, I shouldn't think that would be tolerated. It would be classed as sexism. It was a far different kettle of fish, for just men to work down the pit. Although I seem to remember reading, somewhere, that many years previously, females were employed down the pit.

I would imagine it was machinery Albert that replaced the women. In much the same way that people are replaced these days with technology. I know women were stopped from working underground in the 1840's due to a scandal that erupted which claimed women were working 'topless' alongside naked men. Whether these claims were true or not I know not! "Germinal" by Emile Zola is a book to read about activities underground in the mid 19th century set in France.

The young women working on the screens when I worked at the same pit were nothing like the ones in the photo,the lads had to be wary near them,we were a bit scared of them in a funny way.

I would imagine they would have been formidable women doing the job they did. They wouldn't have stood any messing from young whippersnappers Maurice. They would think they were any man's equal anyway. I expect they were warned about fraternising - but humans being human would have still found time for a laugh now and again! It wouldn't have been all doom and gloom!

Veronica/Maurice. I remember Billy MacFarlane throwing a newspaper parcel onto the screens, and shouting down to the girls. "Lift that jackbit off". Although it wasn't jackbit, was it. It contained something really quite unmentionable. They chased him all over the upper gantries. Although Billy was a big lad. If they had caught him, they would have skinned him alive, but that was Billy Macfarlane, always up to something, or other. I always enjoyed working with him, in the very late forties, and very early fifties, at the Maypole.

If those women were on piecework/bonus they would be like devils on horseback I bet Albert! When I worked at the ROF the women never stopped working - all they thought about was the bonus. Having said that they were on a lower rate of pay than the men and doing the same job.

Yes it was hard i know I was one at Wigan junction colliery best job i ever had