Bid to save former Lancashire coal mine machinery

Efforts are under way to save a historical piece of industrial machinery at a former coal mine.

The Lancashire Mining Museum near Leigh wants National Lottery funding to restore its headgear and engine house.

Volunteers estimated about £2m was needed to restore the machinery at the former Astley Green Colliery, which closed in 1970.

It was feared the wrought iron latticework could rust and become unsafe unless there were repairs.

The structure, which was used to send miners underground, is the last surviving headgear in the former Lancashire coalfield.

An English Heritage report has said the machinery was at risk, adding, unless repairs and maintenance were carried out it was likely it would be lost forever.

The museum also has a collection of 28 colliery locomotives and an original Lancashire boiler which was used to power the mine.

Billy Hancock, a volunteer at the museum, said the site was "keeping the heritage of coal mining alive", with the help of school visits by hundreds of children each year.

The former miner, who worked at Cronton Colliery in Widnes and spent 25 years underground at various collieries in the Leigh area, said "we've got to keep the memories going".

The museum is run and maintained by volunteers with the industrial features at the site protected as a Grade II scheduled monument.

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