Durham Coalfield
John Davies
Photographic
A survey documenting the coal mining landscape of County Durham, exploring the impact of industry on the a working coalfield.
The Last Days
Aidan Doyle
The Last Days
Aidan Doyle
Aidan Doyle’s photography documents the final coastal collieries of the North East in the early 1990s, as coal mining in the region came to a close.
- Photographic
- Communities
- Northern Documentary
- Place
- UK Documentary
- Work & Unemployment
- 1990 – 1999
- County Durham
- Northumberland
- UK
Photographed in the early 1990s, The Last Days is Aidan Doyle’s exploration of the final working collieries along the Durham and Northumberland coastline. As the closure of Ellington marked the end of deep coal mining in the North East, Doyle documented a landscape and a way of life on the brink of disappearance. The work captures a sense of transition, where the physical signs of industry, such as pitheads, spoil heaps and rail lines were vanishing - taking with them a shared understanding of place and purpose.
Doyle wrote: “With the closure of Ellington, coal mining in the North East is finished. The scars in the landscape, through which any community recognises its history, are rapidly disappearing, but for mining they only ever indicated a world of work carried out in unseen places.” His photographs reflect this contradiction, recording not only the fading industrial infrastructure but also the persistent invisibility of the labour it once signified.
The project was exhibited at Side Gallery in 2005, standing as a visual farewell to the North East’s coalfields. Grounded in observation and reflection, The Last Days forms part of a broader photographic engagement with the region’s post-industrial change.
All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Easington, County Durham, 1993
- Date: 1993
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Ellington, Northumberland, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Ellington, Northumberland, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Ellington, Northumberland, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Ellington, Northumberland, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Ellington, Northumberland, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Ellington, Northumberland, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Ellington, Northumberland, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Ellington, Northumberland, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Ellington, Northumberland, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Ellington, Northumberland, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Loco Driver, Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Wearmouth Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Westoe Colliery, 1990s
- Date: The Last Days: Westoe Colliery, 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Westoe Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: The Cathedral, Westoe Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Vane Tempest Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Vane Tempest Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Blenkinsopp Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Blenkinsopp Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
The Last Days: Andrews House Colliery, 1990s
- Date: 1990s
- Artist: Aidan Doyle
- Copyright: All images © Aidan Doyle.
Related Works
Seacoalers
Mik Critchlow
Photographic
Photographed between 1981 and 1983, Seacoalers documents life on Lynemouth Beach, where Mik Critchlow gained rare access to a tight-knit community harvesting coal from the shore.