STABLES for seven pit ponies were opened at a County Durham museum during a weekend of events to celebrate the North-East’s mining heritage.

Richard Evans, director of Beamish Museum, near Stanley, and former pony keeper, Bill Tubman carried out the official opening on Saturday.

A grand parade from The Town to The Pit Village marked the occasion, featuring brass bands, miners’ banners and a host of people in costume, as well as invited guests and Beamish visitors.

The procession gathered outside the Edwardian Masonic Hall and Bank before continuing the parade to the stables in The Pit Village, accompanied by rousing brass band tunes.

Mr Evans said: “This is another piece in the jigsaw of our rich mining heritage and the stories we tell at Beamish.

“Pit ponies are among the most iconic and emotive symbols of mining life, we’re proud to honour the story of their contribution to the Great Northern Coalfield.”

Ferryhill Brass Band marched with the parade and banners included those from Bowburn, Deaf Hill, Easington, Felling, Heworth, Murton, Quarrington Hill, Shotton, Silksworth and Wardley.

The new occupants, Flash, Aurora Borealis, Briar, Maygold, Milkyway, Silver Lining and Tippet are all pedigree Shetland ponies, a breed commonly used throughout the Durham coalfield.

Visitors to the stables will be able to meet the ponies, find out how they were cared for and trained for their work underground and learn more about their contribution to the area's mining heritage.

The Beamish pit pony stables demonstrate the role of horses in a North-East colliery in the years leading up to the First World War.

They show the daily routine of stables that were home to pit ponies working underground and colliery horses, who carried out a range of tasks on the surface, from delivering coal to pulling the colliery manager’s carriage.

Objects and documents are on display, such as the horse keepers’ paperwork, regulations from the 1911 Mines Act and a medicines cabinet.

The stables are based on a block located between High Spen and Greenside, near Rowlands Gill, which served the Victoria Garesfield Colliery.

They have been built using reclaimed bricks, similar to those of the original block, which are exactly right colour and imperial size.