Miner and Son

We have past this sculpture many a time without investigating but today we were on foot, returning from a walk along the disused railway line from Loanhead, East almost as far as the bypass. (Don't rush to go there, it resembled miles of dog latrine).

A passer-by named several local pits, all now closed. He told us that the sculpture, by the artist Alan Heriot and unveiled on 10th April 1987, represents the miners who took their young sons into the pit with them to work, raising the family income. The father would dig the coal and the boy load it onto trucks to be pulled to the lift shaft. Apparently this horse is incorrect, being too large; it should be a pit pony, which lived underground and hauled the trucks .