This dynamic painting by artist Paul Waplington (b.1938) shows men returning to the surface and going home after a shift at Snibston Colliery in Coalville. Coal mining has been an important Leicestershire industry since before the Tudors, entire new communities have developed around coal mining and moving.
This painting captures the community spirit of miners, who are heading across the Ashby Road, away from the pit baths and towards their homes. The distinctive headstocks of Snibston still stand as Scheduled Monuments.
The large grey building in the picture is the coal processing plant which was demolished after the mine closed in 1983.
