Dr Miles OGLETHORPE
Sixty years ago, over 90% of Scotland's energy was provided by a domestic coal industry that employed over 100,000 people. All the industries for which Scotland was famous were utterly dependent upon this energy. Collieries were so much a part of the landscape in the central part of the country that they were almost invisible.
From the 1960s, however, this position of supremacy was eroded at an accelerating rate, and by 2002, Scotland's 200 collieries had shrunk to zero, and the physical remains of the industry had also receded in the face of major environmental programmes that cleansed the landscape of recognisable evidence of industrial activity. Significant parts of the country had therefore entered a phase of denial in which the fundamental role of the mining industry in the history and culture of communities was deliberately overlooked.
This paper will briefly explain the chain of events that led to the destruction of the coal industry, describe what has disappeared, and then discuss the conservation challenges that remain for the significant mining heritage sites that have survived.