PIt Boot Men

Pit Boot Men: Beneath the Four Provinces is a developing national cultural-heritage initiative centred on the songs, poetry, storytelling, oral history and family memories of the people connected with Ireland’s six principal coalfields: Leinster, Slieveardagh, Arigna/Connaught, Tyrone, Ballycastle and Kanturk/Duhallow.

The project is being promoted from a deeply personal generational perspective. Its promoter is the first generation of his family not to have worked as a miner. This places the initiative at an important point of transition: close enough to the mining era to have inherited its stories, language, traditions and memories, while recognising how quickly that heritage could now be lost.

We believe many contributors may come from this same “bridge generation” — the sons, daughters and descendants of miners who did not work underground themselves, but who became custodians of songs, handwritten poems, photographs, recordings, family stories and memories passed down through generations.

The project will seek out, record, preserve and share this material, alongside newly created work inspired by Ireland’s mining communities. The planned collection will comprise 18 works: 12 songs and six poetry, storytelling or spoken-word pieces, with each coalfield represented through its own people and experiences.

Heritage Week provides an opportunity to invite participation. We especially wish to hear from former miners, mining families, musicians, singers, poets, writers, storytellers, historians, community groups and anyone holding relevant memories or archive material.
We also welcome interest from heritage bodies, artists, broadcasters, sponsors, funders and other partners who may wish to help preserve and carry this heritage forward.