HIGH SPEN ARTIST MINER - ANGUS HOOD -
Closely interwoven with the history of Victoria Garesfield is the neighbouring village of High Spen which grew up around the 'Garesfield Bute' pit, High Spen as a mining village having been preciously and faithfully recorded in the works of local man, miner and artist Angus Hood.
Angus' family was one of three generations of local miners. His grandfather had started work at Garesfield Bute pit in 1853 at the age of 10. His life was, however, sadly claimed by the conditions in which he worked, when at the age of 70 he was killed by a fall of stone. Angus' father also spent the fifty years of his working life at the Garesfield Bute, starting as a fourteen year-old boy in 1898, retiring in 1948. Born in 1923, Angus himself followed in the footsteps of both his grandfather and father and began working at the Garesfeild Bute pit at he age of 14 in 1936 moving on to Marley Hill after the close of the pit at High Spen in the 1960s. Sadly departed in 2014, his pride in his heritage, his village and his mining background live on and are shared in the many priceless portrayals of 'scenes of the past' visible below. With thanks to Angus' wife Ruth and daughter Elizabeth for their kind permission to include copies of his works on this site. |