I see you have featured yet another sanitisation of England鈥檚 disappearing industrial heritage (Woodhorn Colliery, 26 August, page 10).

Fancy symbolism, wall-to-floor glazing, tables on the patio 鈥� but little sign of the old colliery. Too uncomfortable for the punters? It almost surpasses what the National Trust does to its historic houses.

It should be compulsory for all designers and their clients contemplating the creation of yet another theme park to visit Big Pit, Blaenavon. There they would see the sensitivity shown to the generations of miners 鈥� and the cruel and bleak existence they suffered 鈥� when turning this into a major and much-visited national monument.

Uncomfortable visiting? Yes, perhaps, but one leaves with a lasting impression of a repressive lifestyle undreamed of by most of the population. How long will most of the visitors to Woodhorn remember the miners of the North-east?

Postscript

Malcolm Taylor, Lancaster

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