Miners’ Memorial Garden Lives Lost Lives Lived

It would be most fitting to create this memorial Garden at the NCMME, in an area where generations of the local community have worked in coal mining: in Wakefield and Dewsbury parishes alone there have been 422 working collieries. The garden is envisaged as a place where visitors can sit and have space to reflect on the mining industry, not least lives lived and lives lost. It will be located in an outdoor area 350 metres from the busy Museum looking out over the rural landscape still marked by coalmining references. The Garden design will reflect its coal mining context and be circular in shape, reflecting various aspects of the mining industry (coring machines, pitwheels, lamps), creating an intimate, reflective space, nestling in the existing landform. it will include an iconic gateway featuring a Pit Wheel (from the collections): corton steel sculptural panels to create spaces and ‘corridors’; seating; and a central commemorative feature.