The Media Archive for Central England is the public screen archive for the East and West Midlands. An independent charity and company based at the University of Lincoln, MACE acquires, catalogues, preserves and makes widely available moving image materials that inform our understanding of the diverse cultures and histories of communities between the Lincolnshire coast and the Welsh border.
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Baggeridge Colliery
Out of the darkness into the light. A farewell to the men and ponies of Baggeridge Colliery in Sedgley as coal mining in the Black Country comes to an end.
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Overview
"If a man looks after his pony he's got a real good friend". These are the words of the unnamed miner who is caring for the ponies underground at Baggeridge Colliery in Sedgley. The pit was the last mine operational in the Black Country, an area once synonymous with coal, the driving force of the Industrial Revolution. Those pony 'friends' are seen emerging into the sunlight from their dark world facing an uncertain future on the pit bank.
Baggeridge Colliery was sunk in the late nineteenth century on land owned by the Earl of Dudley. Since its closure the site has been redeveloped into Baggeridge Country Park.
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