Miners’ Modernism – Pit Head Baths Symposium
Miners’ Modernism – Pit Head Baths Symposium
Tuesday 8 October 2024
10.00am – 5.15pm
The Gallery, 70 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ
‘Miners’ Modernism: Pithead Baths – Past, Present and Future’ is a new collaborative research project led by Twentieth Century Society and Queen’s University Belfast, with funding from the Mellon Foundation and the UKRI, and supported by the national mining museums of England, Scotland and Wales.
Described in 1939 by critic Anthony Bertram as ‘a colossal social experiment taking architectural form’, Pithead Baths – which allowed coal miners to wash at work before returning home – were a pioneering, progressive welfare programme, constructed in a European modernist language and predating the creation of the NHS by more than two decades. Yet their legacy is little known, and the potential heritage value of surviving examples remains underexplored.
This one-day symposium will present interim findings from the project, launch a new mapping survey, and bring together experts and speakers from across the UK and Europe to discuss innovative approaches to mining heritage.
Speakers include: Owen Hatherley, Alan Powers, Mike Ashworth, Bruce Peter, Herman Van Bergeijk (NL), Michael Farrenkopf (DE), Ewa Wojtoń (PL) and more.
In Person: C20 Society Members £10; Non-Members £15; Young C20 member + guest Free*; Student + guest £5 **.
*For Young C20 members, please email coordinator@c20society.org.uk to secure a place.
**For student pricing please select from the dropdown option next to ‘membership number’ on the booking form below.