‘Elsecar Building Bridges’ is a National Lottery Heritage Funded project supported by Barnsley Museums & Heritage Trust with the aim to develop connections with local community groups and individuals across the village of Elsecar and surrounding areas. In this article Gemma Clarke (Sector Specialist Elsecar Project) gives an overview of the project which is actually six mini projects that interlink to provide fantastic new resources, experiences for schools, community groups, former workers/miners, volunteers, villagers, families and visitors.
Elsecar People’s Archive
The first mini project is developing a people’s archive for Elsecar that includes oral history recordings, photographs and research collected from individuals.
The project has recorded the memories of miners who worked at Elsecar Main Colliery and workers who worked at the New Yard Workshops (now the site of Elsecar Heritage Centre). The collection also includes memories from people who have lived in the village for many decades, remembering shops, different houses and many stories!
In February and May, the project held two Making History Days in the Visitor Centre to share clips from the oral history collection with visitors and contributors. A massive thank you to the local people who attended and shared with the team their photographs and memorabilia. To thank the miners and workers who have been involved in the project, we opened and ran the Newcomen Engine as a special thank you back in May.
The Making History events were a huge success with many people attending from workers, miners to people who lived in the village and enjoyed reminiscing. Thanks also to the Friends of Hemingfield Colliery, Trevor from Electra Palace and Greg Nicholson for attending and creating displays for the event.
The oral history collection will be deposited with the Barnsley Archives and volunteers for the project have already started to transcribe some of the interviews. The Barnsley Museums podcast includes snippets from the People’s Archive with Cllr Mick Stowe
Cllr Stowe started work in the New Yard Workshops in 1971 at age 18. He recalls his memories of many strikes including the Miner’s Strike of 1984. Listen via the link above or search for Barnsley Museums in your usual podcast provider
Our second Barnsley Museums podcast with snippets from the Elsecar People’s Archive is from an interview with Gerald O’Brien who worked at the colliery from 1971 starting at the age of 15. He worked underground and clearly remembers the different buildings that were on the former site of Elsecar Main Colliery. Make sure you subscribe to the ‘Barnsley Museums Natters’ podcast which has regular episodes reflecting on the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike.
Barnsley Museums would also like to thank the workers and miners who have been involved in contributing their memories to the People’s Archive. The miners and workers recently came together as a focus group in the Visitor Centre to meet with Martin from Dextra Visual.
Martin is currently developing a 1980s version to add to the 1880 digital reconstruction of Elsecar with a focus on Elsecar Main Colliery. If anyone has memories or pictures from Elsecar Main, please get in touch by contacting the Visitor Centre on 01226 740203 or email elsecarheritagecentre@barnsley.gov.uk.
While this new video is in the development stage, here’s a reminder of the 1880 digital model.
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STEM Learning Workshop
Barnsley Museums continue to develop opportunities for young people to learn about the history and heritage of Elsecar. A STEM learning workshop co-designed to engage KS2 learners to understand the importance of science and technology has been developed through the Bridging project.
The workshop enables learners to understand the importance of the Newcomen Engine, how the engine worked and what was involved in pumping water from the mines. The engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, with Elsecar’s engine being built for the Earl Fitzwilliam in 1795.
The workshop includes a demonstration of our model steam powered Newcomen Engine and a range of activities to engage the group with the history and heritage of coal mining.
In addition, a new free storytelling trail has been developed as a self-led resource for school groups to explore the history of the site and the nature that surrounds this area. Pupils will use Elsecar’s rich industrial past to create their own stories and is available for both KS1 and KS2.
Pilots of the new STEM workshop were a success with the opportunity for schools to now book sessions. Please visit our website, www.barnsley-museums.com/schools or contact the Learning team for more information by emailing learning@barnsley.gov.uk
Echoes Through Time: An Elsecar Story
In collaboration with We Great Ladies and Next Big Thing, (Barnsley Museums young cultural ambassadors’ group) we have developed an interactive gaming trail, introducing a teenage audience to Elsecar by sharing stories about the impact of the miners’ strike on communities.
We Great Ladies and Next Big Thing worked with Barnsley Museums to research, create and write a script, produce eight short films with filmmaker John Slemensek, as well as design characters and produce trail panels with Script Media.
In the research stage, the project has helped young people to learn more about Barnsley and Elsecar’s coal mining heritage. Research visits included trips to the National Coal Mining Museum, Barnsley Archives and Elsecar Heritage Centre. Cllr Mick Stowe (Mayor of Barnsley 2023 – 2024) also attended a session with Next Big Thing to share his memories of working at the New Yard Workshops first hand with the young people.
The trail consists of eight trail points using QR Code technology to view different films produced and performed by Next Big Thing. The challenge consists of collecting a date or set of numbers from each video; to access the final video you use the first digit from each of the different numbers collected to secure your prize. The trail features characters Kit and Echo who experience a time travelling adventure with the challenge for young people to break codes and uncover the Black Diamond.
The trail launched on Wednesday 31 July 2024 running throughout the summer. Due, to the success of the trail, it has been extended to run until the end of October half-term. If you would like to try the trail, pop along to the Visitor Centre, collect a postcard and enjoy the performances co-created by Next Big Thing and We Great Ladies.
Quotes from Next Big Thing at the launch of the Echoes Through Time trail:
I enjoyed spending time with a lot of new people, making friends with a lot of the people and having an exciting time filming.
People will be learning more from the past now; it would inspire a lot of teenagers as well to go and see more about the past instead.
The best bit was learning so much about the history of Elsecar because I knew absolutely nothing about it from before I did the project and then the scripts came out and it was like we’ve got the 90s, the 80s and there was something happening in every decade and I could never imagined this much happening, it’s so much to learn about and I think it’s been amazing to learn about it.
I think the trail will draw young people into Elsecar and it’s good to have something with the phones and it’s also good to have it in a video fun format.
Developing New Sensory and Family Tours
Elsecar has a vast programme of tours from Newcomen Engine demonstrations, guided history tours around the New Yard workshops and former Ironworks, to walking hikes taking in the stunning architecture of nearby Wentworth and the follies commissioned by Marquesses and Earl’s.
Building on our heritage tour programme we have started to develop a sensory tour for visually impaired visitors to engage with the history and heritage of Elsecar. We have been working with the University of Leeds, Sense and the Barnsley Blind and Partially Sighted Association. In May we held a consultation day with members of the BBPSA, collecting great feedback, which we will use to further enhance the tour.
The geophysics department at the University of Leeds have also provided amazing resources to enhance the tour to help visually impaired visitors to understand where they are on site with raised line drawings of historic and present-day maps. In addition, the group were also able to interact with the geophysics data from a survey completed on Gasworks Field where the former Gasworks once stood with raised line drawings of the results.
Working with Lisa Difford from Fettle & Fable, we have delivered consultation days with local family centres to co-create family tours for children under 5 both at the Family Centres and at Elsecar Heritage Centre. The new session is called Giddy Up and Away and focuses on teaching young people stories about Elsecar’s coal mining history through the life of the pit ponies. Giddy Up and Away will be running at 11am and 1pm on Monday 28 October, £3 per child, booking essential through Art Tickets.
Elsecar Volunteer Programme
Elsecar Heritage Centre has seen a large amount of support over the years from volunteers and this part of the project was focused on piloting and developing new volunteer roles and sessions.
Weekly bio-blitz sessions started at the beginning of the project and have seen volunteers collect large amounts of litter from the Trans Pennine Trail that follows the Elsecar Canal. The team have worked to create new habitats and remove Himalayan Balsam, an invasive weed. They have also taken part in bird surveys to collect data on the nature/different species living in the area. The volunteers have worked hard helping with site maintenance tasks and restoration projects relating to the Newcomen Engine and benches on the Elsecar Site.
Training has been provided throughout the project for volunteers to gain skills in oral history recording and community reporting with two of our volunteers starting to interview members of the community.
To thank our volunteers for their hard work across Barnsley Museums on National Volunteer Week in early June, we hosted a volunteer celebration walk called Furnaces to Follies exploring the connections with Wentworth and the surrounding area. It was a fun celebration of their hard work and a great way to upskill our volunteers with knowledge of the local area.
For more information on volunteer opportunities please email museumvolunteering@barnsley.gov.uk.
Build A Bridge
The final aspect of the project is focused on celebrating the 200th anniversary of the building of two bridges designed by Marc Brunel and built by the Milton Ironworks. They were constructed for an Island in the Indian Ocean now called La Reunion (formerly Isle of Bourbon). The French government commissioned Marc Brunel a French and British engineer to design the two bridges that were to span the Rivière du Mât and the Rivière des Roches. A newspaper article from April 1823 reported that crowds of curious sightseers gathered to witness the test erection of these bridges.
The Milton Ironworks was established by Walker and Company of Rotherham and named after the Viscount Milton, the son and heir of the Earl Fitzwilliam. In the years after the ironworks was established, the area that we now know as Milton was also developed, with new houses built for workers and a network of roads and waggonways established, connecting the works to the ironstone mines at Tankersley and the canal basin at Elsecar.
Colonists from France began to settle in the Isle of Bourbon in the 17th century. At this point slave labour was brought in from East Africa to work on the plantations. Slaves were collected from different countries and exchanged on Bourbon Island. There was much resistance by slaves culminating in a revolt. However, when the two bridges were built 1822 – 23, slaves may have helped build the structures on Bourbon Island as slavery was not abolished until 20 December 1848. Even when slavery was officially abolished, things did not immediately change.
It is said that the bridge over the Rivière des Roches, often affected by floods, collapsed in 1838 under the weight of a herd of oxen. In any case, after repairs, it was shaken by cyclones including that of 1844 and 1850 which “overturned” it according to a report by Governor Sarda Garriga on the damage of the devastating “gale” of January 29, 1850.
The Bridge of the Rivière du Mât, whose solidity some praised, also revealed failures, such as that of an iron link which caused the death of a worker.
We have teamed up with artist Wayne Sables to create a light projection to be shown on one of the buildings on Wednesday 30 October from 5.30pm which will include, research, the sharing of stories from the Milton Ironworks, the transportation of the two bridges and the colonial links with La Reunion.
Over the last few months, we have started working with schools and community groups as well as local families to share the story of these two bridges. Young people have gained an understanding of how they can design a bridge and build their own mini masterpiece of a cardboard bridge. We have had some amazing designs and cardboard bridges!
Images below are taken from a family bridge building day with local community group (Mates of Milton) based at the former site of the Milton Ironworks, the Forge.
Young people have gained an understanding of the different materials such as iron that is needed to build a bridge. We have also looked at the different ways a bridge can be designed with shapes such as triangles for a truss bridge, piers for a beam bridge, cables or ropes for a suspension bridge with towers in the centre as well as an arch bridge.
Pictures above taken at our Family Bridge Building Days on 3 and 28 August at Elsecar Heritage Centre. Families and young people designed their own bridges, build their bridges using cardboard with the use of scru’s and scru-drivers to connect the cardboard together in a fun and interactive way.
Feedback included: “Building a bridge event today was brilliant, both my kids (aged 9 and 5) loved it! Very friendly staff and always happy to help. Great resources to build the bridge. Lovely event again, we have been to loads before and will continue to attend them.”
“It was great to learn about our local area in such a hands-on way, very informative and enjoyable.”
“Great to see so many children enjoying it!”
“We had a lovely time at the bridge building challenge. The Elsecar team were brilliant and very accommodating with my little boy who is autistic. Thank you for a lovely activity. What a brilliant way to spend a morning and celebrate Elsecar history in the process. Thank you!”
“A lovely event. My son was looking forward to coming and was eager to start his bridge. He would have happily stayed all day tweaking bits. The ladies were very helpful and informative. Thank you so much.”
“A really good idea and the kids really enjoyed it. Equipment supplied was very good and new to us even though we craft. Great learning experience, thank you, extremely, fun, ace!”
We hope you have enjoyed finding out more about the Building Bridges project, here are some further articles you may be interested in.
Barnsley Museums Blogsite 