Around the turn of the 20th century, St Helens was one of the most important towns in the north west.
St Helens was a powerhouse in the coal mining and glass making industries. At the height of production, the town was outputting over a million tonnes of coal per year.
Along with St Helens based Pilkington Glass becoming one of the biggest players in the glass making industry, collieries such as Sutton Manor and Parkside were producing vast amounts of coal, boosting the town's economy. The two industries went hand in hand, with coal mined from the various collieries used to heat the furnaces used in the glass making process.
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As coal mining began to decline as an industry, the borough's mines began to close from the 1950s. In 1968 Wood Pit (Haydock), Sutton Manor, Cronton and Parkside Collieries were all outside the St Helens boundary, as it then was.
Hence, the closure of Ravenhead Colliery in 1968, is seen as the last in St Helens. Local historian Stephen Wainwright said: "Ravenhead was, at that time, officially the last mine in the town to close. Ironically, the Burtonhead Road pit had broken its output record just weeks before it closed.
"The National Coal Board explained that Ravenhead was not shutting for economic reasons but because the coal seams were becoming exhausted. This is how the St Helens Reporter on October 5th 1968 described the decision to close the mine:
"The death sentence on Ravenhead Colliery – the town's last – will be executed on 18th October. The news was broken by the Mayor (Coun. T. Forshaw) at Wednesday night's monthly council meeting. Counc. Forshaw made the announcement in a 10-minute pre-debate speech, and paid tribute to the men who had worked in the mines for the last 500 years.
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"Ravenhead Colliery, he said, would cease production on 18th October, the last in a long line of collieries. This town has every reason to be proud of its miners and their achievements in the face of oppression, poverty and want.
“We recognise the passing of an industry which has been a hard taskmaster throughout the centuries but which, with all its defects, has engendered the community spirit and way of life which characterises not only St Helens, but other Lancashire mining towns,” he said.
"He paid warm tributes to the miners who had fought and died in their efforts to get better working conditions and improve the lot of the men who dug coal for a living."
