A MINING memorial has been unveiled in former pit community.

Durham County Council chairman Jan Blakey and Durham City MP Roberta Blackman-Woods officially launched the sculpture opposite the community centre on Front Street in Quarrington Hill on Saturday.

The £25,000 artwork was made out of stone and wood by Teesdale-based sculptor Phil Townsend and depicts miners at work.

Councillor Carole Hogarth, vice-chairman of Coxhoe Parish Council, which help fund the sculpture, along with section 106 money and a grant from the County Durham Community Foundation, said: “For a lot of the older people in the village it brought back a lot of memories and it is a testament to the history of the village.

“It is a lasting statement of how our village developed and where it came from.

“For the younger people it is educational and has an awful lot of information about the pit and what it was like to work there. It is a heritage piece.”

Most pitmen from the village would have worked at East Hetton Colliery before it closed in 1983.

The community centre hosted an exhibition of mining memorabilia and there was a buffet so people in the area could reminisce and mingle.

Councillor Blakey said: “The sculpture is brilliant. I have never seen anything like it before. It is very original.”