Boldon colliery was sunk in the Durham coalfield by the Harton coal company in 1866. The pit closed in 1982 but its spirit lives on today, evidenced by the appearance in recent years of the colliery union banner at the historic Durham miners’ gala.

As this book’s author David Temple makes clear, Boldon was a militant and radical pit. It was often at odds with union officials in Durham but the militancy and radicalism was not confined merely to industrial action or even to long-term political ambitions such as the establishment of a genuine working-class political party to take on the Liberals and the Tories.

According to Durham Miners’ Association general secretary Dave Hopper in his foreword to the book, they “sought solutions to the day-to-day problems of their village. They looked after the unemployed, the injured and the widows and built the first aged miners’ homes in the country.