Four Phases: 2006; 2012; 2014; 2017

This memorial is to ensure local heritage – the coal industry – and those who worked within it are remembered

 CHAPS committee members formulated the concept of a memorial to be funded by members of the public buying a brick with the name of a miner or someone who’d worked within the Cannock Chase Coalfield along with the colliery they were most associated with.  The focal point was to be a Davy Lamp which measured 3.45 metres in height – members Mike Mellor who designed the memorial and Jack Sunley, a former Colliery manager, travelled to South Wales to arrange for a lamp to be made, transported and fixed. The lamp has a perpetually shining light.

1,130 bricks were sold and put into a wall surrounding the lamp. In 2006, an emotional dedication service was held, it was led by the Rt Revd Michael Bourke, Bishop of Wolverhampton. This was followed by many more requests for bricks!

In 2012 a further 1,491 bricks were laid – this time around the grass areas surrounding the Town Clock. Several of these bricks were purchased by families who had emigrated to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA. Paving slabs engraved with names of all the local collieries and funded by Parish and Town Councils as well as Historical groups were laid as a link between the two sections of the memorial.   Over 2,500 people attended the Dedication Service, led by the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester and former bishop to the miners.      

Two books were published and launched on the same day: ‘A Lasting Tribute’ and ‘Memories’.

Interest and requests for named bricks continued, this resulted in 913 bricks being laid in phase three in 2014 and 500 in phase four, 2017. The Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch presided over each of these Dedication Services too, each attended by over 2,000 people. 

The names of 4034 people who worked within the Cannock Chase Coalfield – most of them miners – are now commemorated forever, as are the names of the collieries within the coalfield. Hednesford Town Council has willingly accepted the role of guardian of the memorial in perpetuity; local volunteer groups keep the area looking beautiful. There are regular visits to the memorial by those wishing to remember their loved ones; flowers are often left as a tribute.

It is a well known landmark in its own right but also used to direct to other locations or establishments, using terms such as ‘the giant davy lamp’ or ‘the miners’ memorial’.