FROM dress makers to entrepreneurs and campaigners, the previously untold stories of women in mining communities across Durham and Northumberland are being brought to the surface in a special exhibition, opening today.

Breaking Ground – Women of the Northern Coalfields is being launch at the Mining Art Gallery, in Bishop Auckland.

The temporary exhibition showcases the role women played in the regional coal mining communities of the 1800s, which has been largely overlooked.

Artworks, archive images and personal histories will highlight the tenacious spirit of these women, whether working at the colliery as Pit Brow Lasses or taking on multiple jobs to keep a roof over their families’ heads.

Among these is the story of Hannah Porter, a County Durham woman portrayed in an original glass negative on display in the exhibition. She established and ran a hardware shop from her home, took in lodgers, worked as a dressmaker and did all manner of jobs to earn a wage after her husband left for the newly sunk mines of the United States.

Commissioned at great cost at the very advent of photography, the hand-coloured image was sent to her husband overseas, perhaps as a message that the family were thriving in spite of his absence.

And yesterday, Hannah’s great-great-granddaughter, Margaret Hedley, visited the gallery to see the finished piece.

A local historian herself, Mrs Hedley came across Hannah’s story when she was researching her family tree in 1984 and contacted the gallery after a talk on the exhibition at her Wheatley Hill History Club.

She said she was “blown away” by the presentations and glad the women’s strories were being brought to life.

Hannah’s story is one of several that features alongside artworks by artists such as Tom McGuinness, David Venables and Archie Rhys Griffiths.

Angela Thomas, curator of the gallery, said: “With 2018 marking 100 years since some women in the UK were granted the right to vote, this is the perfect time to shine a light on the significant but often overlooked role of women in the northern coalfields.

“Their strength and fortitude was constantly put to the test, whether they were fighting to keep their jobs or determinedly keeping the home fires burning.”

The exhibition will run until March 24, 2019. Entry is £5 for adults, £4 for concessions and £1 for under 16s. Doors are open daily from 10am to 4pm, last entry from 3.30pm. For more information visit aucklandproject.org