Trainees at Hartshay Training Centre Working in a Gallery

Following the closure of Upper Hartshay Colliery in 1934, the buildings lay unused until the outbreak of the Second World War, when the site was turned into a training centre for Bevin Boys.

Bevin Boys were young men who were conscripted to work in coal mines rather than in the armed forces during the Second World War. Many of them came from backgrounds where coal mines weren't prevalent. This meant they required extra training than youths from the local areas. Hartshay was used as one of these sites until 1948.