IN another 18 years Astley Green Colliery will have been closed for as long as it was open.

But when that day comes those who respect England's industrial heritage hope that the pit village's historic headgear will still be a familiar landmark.

Because the steel lattice headgear - the last standing in the once great Lancashire Coalfield - needs a £½million overhaul and has been placed on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk register.

The old colliery museum site off Higher Green Lane is home to the Red Rose Steam Society whose chairman Geoff Jones explained the situation.

He said: "Although the headgear is Grade 2 listed and a scheduled monument this in no way guarantees its future existence and we consider it would be tragic if, for safety reasons, it required demolition at any time in the future.

"After canvassing English Heritage to include it on their Buildings at Risk Register, they have finally done it."

The 120 ton, 98 feet tall headgear was erected by Head Wrightson and Co of Stockton on Tees in 1911 and according to Red Rose experts is one of six left in the country and by far in the most original condition.

The pit site belongs to Wigan Council, but a lease condition means Red Rose volunteers have responsibility for it and the site’s upkeep.

Mr Jones highlighted problems facing the group: "Being a purely volunteer operated organisation and a registered charity we cannot afford to fully restore the headgear but we have protected the base steelwork up to a level within safe limits of working.

"The objective of attaining inclusion in the Risk Register was to act as a focus when financial and practical support can be afforded to it, either by grant applications, or by canvassing support from mining communities.

"We are currently applying for a grant from Viridor, the Whitehead landfill operators who are on the other side of the canal from our site. They have been extremely supportive of our other activities in the past. The grant will only be for a professional structural survey to be conducted but this should indicate if any short term work is required for the structure to remain safe and then longer term preservation and conservation requirements inclusive of costs.

"We have four estimates from local structural engineering companies for this work.

"Of course we do realise that the current financial climate, especially with regard to local councils, is not conducive to full restoration support from such, but we will endeavour to progress funding from all possible sources.

"It belongs to the people and is surely worth saving."

Several years the estimate for refurbishment was £500,000. When the pit closed the National Coal Board had painted the headgear with bitumen but this blistered. In places you can still see the red paint which was a feature of Manchester Collieries (successors to the Pilkington Colliery Co) who were the pit owners until nationalisation in 1947.

Wigan Council's environmental services director Steve Normington said: "The report reflects the problems that the development industry is facing nationally in terms of the preservation of Listed Buildings and as reduction in funding opportunities. The Council does pro-actively work with English Heritage, developers and property owners to mitigate any risks to the integrity of such buildings and wherever possible seeks to secure solutions.

"However, there are limitations prescribed within legislation that has an impact on the extent to which the council can intervene and, in a climate of reductions in funding streams, the report does acknowledge the risks that a lack of resource will have. "Nonetheless, the Council will use its best endeavours to minimise the risk to such sites but this has to be in the context of limitations imposed by legislation and reduced funding opportunities."