"We are appalled and saddened": Thieving vandals strike memorial to miners killed in Derbyshire pit disasters

The Walking Together memorial on the Markham Vale business park was completed in 2022 as a permanent reminder of the site’s industrial heritage, forming a trail of metal ‘walking’ figures on the path to Duckmanton, created by artist Stephen Broadbent in collaboration with former miners and local schoolchildren.

The trail symbolise a miner’s journey to the Markham pit and back home again, and each of the 106 figures bore a circular bronze miner’s tag stamped with the name of someone killed in the three major disasters at the colliery in 1937, 1938 and 1973.

The memorial was created as part of a years-long social history project involving many parts of the community, so one of those most familiar with the site and its significance was shocked to discover this week that bronze medallions and plaques were missing.

Bolsover resident Keith Bowman, who helped raise funds for the memorial during his time as a district councillor, said: “My daughter-in-law was jogging around there on Monday [May 13], noticed they were missing and sent me a video of it.

“I was absolutely astonished and I’m bloody angry. For the life of me, I can’t understand why anybody would do this.”

He added: “The lads who were killed came from Duckmanton, Staveley, Bolsover and still have families living around here. I’m sure they’ll be up in arms when they find out.”

Derbyshire County Council, a co-developer of the business park, initially appeared unaware of the vandalism when contacted by the Derbyshire Times on Tuesday, May 14.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for the authority confirmed the details, saying: “We are appalled and saddened by the deliberate damage caused to around 60 of the steel figures which have been placed at the site as a memorial to miners who lost their lives at Markham Colliery.

“The memorial was a labour of love for more than ten years, with the county council working alongside the Markham Vale Heritage Group and artist Stephen Broadbent to complete the display.

“Individual bronze tags bearing the name of the miner, his age, occupation and the year of the disaster were removed from the figures and stolen, along with plaques detailing how the statues were funded.”

They added: “The memorial was made possible by funding raised through a combination of grants, donations and sponsorship, including from the families of miners who lost their lives, and this is very upsetting for the families of the miners and members of the local community, many of whom enjoyed walking along the memorial trail and whose heritage is rooted in the former colliery.

“We’re working with the police and reviewing CCTV footage to try to identify who is responsible for the damage and we would urge anyone with any information that might help to contact the police on 101, online at derbyshire.police.uk/contact/af/contact-us-beta/contact-us/ or via facebook.com/derbyshireconstabulary or X (Twitter) via @DerPolContact and quote the crime reference number 24000279846.

“Clearly there will be a cost to repairing the damage and we need to review next steps over the coming weeks.”

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