Well painted original watercolour by listed Yorkshire artist Eric Hill (1921 - 2021), painted circa 1980.

Titled "Going on Afters" depicting West Yorkshire miners going to sign in for the afternoon shift at (by repute) Wheldale Colliery at Castleford. 

Signed lower right and with the artist's original exhibition label on the back board, giving the title, his details and the medium 'ink and watercolour'.

Provenance; from the artist's estate.

Watercolour, gouache and felt tip pen on heavy wove paper. In a stained wood frame with new conservation mount.

Watercolour in excellent original condition, with fresh strong colour (see photo). Frame with some very slight nicks and scratches, mount new (see photos). 

Image 21.5cm x 32cm, frame 31cm x 41.5cm.

One of a small collection of the artist's work I have listed.

Comes with our Certificate of Authenticity - guaranteed authentic and original.

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Eric Hill 1921 - 2021

British townscape, landscape and figure painter in watercolours.

Eric Hill was born in Hellifield, North Yorkshire in 1921, moving with his family to Royston near Barnsley when he was seven years old. After leaving school, Hill went to work as a painter and decorator for the National Coal Board, where he was to work for the rest of his life except for a period of six years when he served in the Army as a driver during the Second World War.

It was on his return from service that Hill first discovered his love of art and his talent for painting. As well as deriving inspiration from the Yorkshire landscape, Hill documented the streets of his hometown as well as the collieries that were the hub of the West Yorkshire mining communities. He exhibited in numerous art galleries, including the Cooper Gallery in Barnsley, and he has paintings held in the collections of the National Mining Museum for England and the Doncaster Arts and Museums Society.

A member of active local art societies, Eric Hill also entered numerous competitions organised by the National Coal Board and the British Watercolour Society, in which he won several prizes.

Wheldale Colliery was a coal mine located in Castleford, Yorkshire, England which produced coal for 117 years. It was accessed from Wheldon Road.

The colliery was founded in 1868 when two shafts, both 13 feet in diameter, were sunk to the Beeston coal seam at a depth of 564 yards. Production started in 1870. One of the main investors was a Dr Holt, and so for many years the colliery was known as the "doctor's pit".

In 1972 Wheldale was the last colliery in Yorkshire to use pit ponies. In 1982 Wheldale produced a record-breaking output of 500,000 tonnes. That year it was the last colliery in the UK to use a steam locomotive on its sidings. In 1985 there was once more a strike of the coal miners. Wheldale colliery closed in October 1987. Equipment was salvaged, and then the site was then cleared, but the shafts were not filled. After closure, the site was used to gather coal-bed methane for conversion into electricity.