Hucknall Miners Memorial in Hucknall, England
When mining finally ceased in this Nottinghamshire town, the people wanted to install a reminder of a time foregone. This led to the creation of a magnificent sculpture depicting a giant Davy miner’s oil lamp with two figures of coal miners, one of which is inside the lamp as if working in a thin coal seam.
The body of the lamp is inscribed with images and words relating to the local mining industry.
The striking bronze sculpture crafted by Graham Ibbesson was completed in 2005 and was primarily funded by the County Council and the Tesco supermarket chain.
The sculpture depicts the modern version of a Davy lamp which contains a glass cylinder in the lower portions of the lamp. These were not used often for illumination in the mines during the late 20th-century as battery-powered helmet-mounted lamps were normally utilized. However, they were regularly used for testing mine atmospheres until mining largely ceased across the region.
