South Glos Mines Research Group - AGM and talk

The South Glos Mines Research Group are holding their AGM and what they jokingly refer to as a “Boring” Talk on Wednesday 7th March 2018 in the Miners (aka Coalpit Heath Village Hall).

The AGM is 7:30pm for a prompt 8:00pm start followed at about 9:15pm by a short talk by David Hardwick on Boreholes in South Gloucestershire. Non-members are welcome for a charge of £2.

Next mining talk

The next South Glos Mines Research Group talk will take place on Wednesday 10th January, 2018 at the Cricket Club, Serridge Lane, Coalpit Heath, BS36 2TT (7:30pm for an 8:00pm start). The talk by Jonathan Maisey will be about the history and exploration of Windrush Quarry, one of the underground sources of Cotswold Stone. Non-members pay £2 or you can pay £17.50 to become a member and attend the regular talks for free.

Two events in revamped hall

There are two events coming up in the revamped Coalpit Heath Village Hall (aka The Miners):

• From 12 noon until 3pm on Saturday 2nd December, the hall will be having its 90th Anniversary Celebration. There will be tea, coffee, mince pies, cake, and a ukele band. 
• On Wednesday 6th December (7.30pm for 8pm start) there will be a talk about the South Glos Mines Research Group archaeological excavation at Serridge. 

 Both events are a chance to celebrate the village's mining heritage.

Heritage Open Days

It's nearly for the Heritage Open Days, which give everyone a chance to find out about our local history.

Unsurprisingly given the importance of the industry locally, there will be several events where you can find out about our mining history. These include Brandy Bottom Colliery (Friday 8 September: 1000 - 1600, Saturday 9 September: 1000 - 1600, Sunday 10 September: 1000 - 1600), Ram Hill Colliery (Sunday 10 September: 1000-1630) and Oldwood Pits Coal Mine (Saturday 9 September: 1400-1700 and Sunday 10 September: 1100-1530, tours every half hour).

You will also be able to visit Winterbourne Medieval Barn (Saturday 9 September: 1400-1700 and Sunday 10 September: 1400-1700) and St Saviour's Church (Friday 8 September: 1100-1300, Saturday 9 September: 1100-1500 and Sunday 10 September: 1100-1100; Service 1000). For more details of these and other local events, go to the Heritage Open Days website.

Crowd funding for Winterbourne Medieval Barn

Last September Winterbourne Medieval Barn won Heritage Lottery Funding and they are now working hard to raise the required matched funding.

They've been chosen to take part in a "double your donation" project, which means that for every £1 you give, NESTA and HLF will match it. The fund is only available until 24th July. So take at look at  www.crowdfunder.co.uk/winterbourne - and share the link with your friends.

Mining talk

The South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group are holding a talk, "Now we know their names", on Wednesday 1 March at about 9:00pm (after the group’s AGM) in the The Miners (Coalpit Heath Village Hall).

The talk is by DP Lindegaard, author of the book “Killed in a Coalpit – Lives of the Kingswood Colliers”. The book is a useful reference for anyone whose family were employed in the South Gloucestershire and Bristol coalfields; the index has over 2000 family names.

Interested in our local mining heritage?

You may be aware that the Ram Hill area has a rich and fascinating industrial history, although this isn't always obvious to the casual observer. Sites include the historic remains of Ram Hill Colliery, the capped shaft of Ram Engine Pit, Serridge, New Engine, a ruined weighbridge and steam railway engine shed and the remains of a horse drawn dramway.

Steve Grudgings of the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group has offered to do a talk, with film/slides, possibly at Henfield Hall, if there is sufficient local interest. It could also be fascinating to hear reminiscences from local people who recall the end of mining in the area.

If you would be interested in such an event, please email Ian Wilkinson, the Ram Hill Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator.

Our local heritage - can you help?

On Wednesday, members of your Focus Team attended a heritage briefing in Yate. There were presentations from a whole host of local heritage projects of all sizes, including the £90 million Aerospace Bristol and ones even closer to home like Winterbourne Medieval Barn, Yate Heritage Centre and the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group. They are always keen to have new people involved so if you have an interest in local history, do get in touch with them.

The Know Your Place mapping project is currently asking for your help in two ways. Firstly, they'd like you to visit their site and give them feedback by answering their survey. Secondly, they are challenging all researchers, volunteers, museums and heritage organisations across the area to add 10 records on to Know Your Place in 10 days to help them build a rich, shared map of our local heritage.

We were also told about a project bringing QR codes to War Memorials. A QR (or Quick Response) code is like a 2 dimensional bar code that you can scan with your phone or tablet. The idea is to place QR codes next to each war memorial, which you can scan with your phone or tablet to take you straight to a website where they are gradually placing as much family and military history as possible about each person named. The research is being undertaken by volunteers from the various South Gloucestershire museums, heritage centres and local history groups. Anyone interested in helping should contact their local group or email museums@southglos.gov.uk

Discover festival launched

The Discover Festival is running again this autumn. It gives you a chance to discover and enjoy something new in our area.

This weekend there will be a series of Heritage Open Days. Over the coming weeks there will be over 280 events, many of them free, on the themes of Crafts, Nature, Learning, Heritage, Food, Arts, Active and Wellbeing.

To find out more visit www.southglos.gov.uk/discover or like www.facebook.com/discoversouthglos

Finding out about our mining heritage

The next Ram Hill Colliery Open Day will be held on Sunday 11th September between 10am and 4.30pm. Guided walks and refreshments will be on offer. Visitors are advised to take care under foot and children and dogs should be supervised. Donations welcome. If you have any queries, please call David and Marian Gooden on 0117 932 2602.

You can also visit Oldwood Pits at Tanhouse Lane, Rangeworthy (BS37 7PZ) this weekend. There is nothing accessible underground due to flooding, but you can see the mine office, mining artefacts and displays and as part of a guided tour you can see the pit shaft and drift mine entrance. Tours are every half hour between 2pm and 5pm on Saturday 10th September and 11am and 3.30pm on Sunday 11th September. No need to book in advance, you can book your tour on arrival. Any queries, please call David Hardwick on 01454 299053.

These events are part of the Discover Festival.

Friends of Ram Hill Colliery looking for volunteers

The Friends of Ram Hill Colliery are looking for volunteers to help them protect this important piece of local heritage.

They urgently need a web master. This post does not involve any work at the site, it can all be done in your own home. If you are interested please email David Godden or phone him on  0117 9322602 for further details.

They are also looking for more committee members, again please contact David or Marian Godden using the above details. The committee meets every two months at the Miners Institute for about one hour. On Work Days you can be on site any time between 10.00am and 4.30pm.

Could you contribute to local knowledge?

Historical maps of South Gloucestershire are now freely available online thanks to the Know Your Place West of England project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Know Your Place is a free digital mapping resource that enables you to explore your neighbourhood online through old maps, archive images and linked information. Historic Environment Record data is available alongside the maps and you will be able to upload and share your own information about the area.

Over the coming months, the project will extend to include the counties of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset, North Somerset and Bath & North East Somerset. More resources will be added, including enclosure and tithe maps, drawings and photographs from archive and museum collections

To start exploring South Gloucestershire’s maps and heritage information visit www.kypwest.org.uk.

Steam engine talk this Thursday

On Thursday 25th June at 7.30pm at the Miners Club, Coalpit Heath there will be a talk , "Steam Engines of the Coalpit Heath Collieries".

The event is being held by South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group to launch their new book “The History and Industrial Archaeology of the Steam Engines of The Coalpit Heath Colliery Company. “ The book covers Mayshill, Nibley, New Engine and of course Frog Lane Colliery and tells the story of the engines and the men that drove and maintained them

The author, Steve Grudgings will be telling the stories behind the pictures, many of which have not been published before and showing additional pictures that could not be included in the book. Bring your old pictures, documents and artefacts to show them - entry is FREE!

If you'd like a copy of the book but can't make it on Thursday, please contact Chairman Roger Gosling 01454 883607 or email chairman@sgmrg.co.uk

Discover Festival - plenty more to enjoy

Photo provided by Rich McD Photography

Last week Howard Gawler, Chair of Council, and Claire Young attended the launch of this year's Discover Festival at Winterbourne Barn. They joined volunteers from the barn, a belly dancer and a small but very lively furry animal!

The festival runs until the end of October so there is still plenty of time to enjoy the events, which take place all over South Gloucestershire and cover everything from sampling local food to exploring our heritage. For more information see the Discover Festival 2014 webpage.

Find out more about our mining past - and more

The upcoming South Glos Discover Festival includes several opportunities to find out more about our mining past.

On Saturday 13 Sept 2014 from 2pm to 5pm and Sunday14 Sept 2014 from 11am to 3.30 pm the South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group will be holding open days at Oldwood Pits, Tanhouse Lane, Rangeworthy, BS37 7PZ. There will be guided tours of the colliery site remains, a display of local mining artefacts and refreshments. For more information please contact: Mrs J. Humphris at Oldwood Pits Telephone: 01454 228160

Also on Sunday 14th September, from 10am to 4.30pm there will be an opportunity to tour the remains of Ram Hill Colliery, including the woodland area and the remains of the Dramway engine house and horse gin.

Nearby St Saviour's Church will be holding open days from 11am to 1pm on Friday 12th September, 10am to 3pm on Saturday 13th September and 10.30am to 3pm on Sunday 14th September.


For more events, covering creative, heritage, nature, health and food topics, please go to the Discover Festival pages on the South Glos website.

First World War exhibition launched

Last Wednesday, South Glos Council Chair Howard Gawler launched the ‘South Gloucestershire and the First World War’ project at Tesco in Yate.

Thanks to a grant of £60,000 under the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) First World War: then and now programme, the First World War Centenary project will see the council working with local community heritage organisations on a range of activities. These include a travelling exhibition that shows the impact of the war in this area and how it changed communities abroad that are now twinned with ones in South Gloucestershire.

After Yate, the exhibition will move to the Tesco store in Bradley Stoke and will then be available for other local venues. For more information visit www.southglos.gov.uk/ww1

Heritage trails online

Local walk booklets Hatters’ Trails in South Gloucestershire and Heritage walks in Frampton Cotterell and Coalpit Heath have now been made available on the South Glos website. Why not try out a local walk this Easter Bank Holiday weekend?

Friends of Ram Hill Colliery AGM

The AGM of the Friends of Ram Hill Colliery (FoRHC) will be held in the Miners Institute (aka Coalpit Heath Village Hall), 214 Badminton Road, BS36 2 QB on Wednesday 19 June at 7:30pm. The Ram Hill Colliery site itself is open to visit at all times and more info can be found at www.ramhillcolliery.org.ukThere will be an open day there on Sunday 15 September.

After the AGM the Chairman will be giving a talk about Woodchester Mansion, a grade 1 listed building near Stroud. Woodchester Mansion is an incomplete Victorian family house which means that it is possible to see things there that would normally not be visible in a stately home. For more info see www.woodchestermansion.org.uk

The Winterbourne Medieval Barn Trust, with the support of South Gloucestershire Council, is applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a £2 million grant to restore and regenerate the grade 2* listed barn and associated outbuildings at the Old Court Farm on Church Road, Winterbourne.

If you would like to have your say on the types of activities and events that would attract you to the site, please reply to the survey on the South Glos website. You have until 14th June to make your comments.

For more information on the Winterbourne Medieval Barn Trust, please go to www.winterbournebarn.org.uk

Time to Discover

Would you like to discover...

...our great outdoors by going on fossil forays or star gazing?
...our fantastic local food?
...our rich heritage, from Rolls Royce to Ram Hill Colliery?
...your creativity, with Chinese origami or writing "flash fiction"
...what's going on in your local area for older people?
...events for all ages, including Discovering Dinosaurs workshops?

Discover is a new festival of over 200 events being held throughout South Gloucestershire between 6th September and 4th November. It brings together a number of different events including the Celebrating Age Festival, Active Mind Month, South Gloucestershire Taste Festival, the Out and About in Nature Programme and Heritage Open Doors. You can find out more online.

Most events are free and are able to be booked on line at http://www.discoversouthglos.eventbrite.co.uk/. Why not see what you can discover this autumn?