Mining Department Heraldic Shield

Artist: Unknown maker
Date: 1920s
Medium: Stone
Research and Cultural Collections
Accession number: BIRRC-H0339
Location: Grounds near Sports and Fitness. To find this sculpture, you can either use its what three words location or use the campus digital map.

Mining was one of the earliest subjects taught at the University of Birmingham’s Edgbaston site. This reflects the centrality of the University’s civic mission, to train those at the forefront of industry in the region. Students were trained onsite in the University’s model mine, built in 1905. The mine consists of over a mile of mine galleries at different levels, and still sits below the Edgbaston campus. Students were trained in coal winning, ventilation and surveying. The words in Latin across the bottom of the shield, 'per ardua ad ima', mirror the University’s motto, and mean ‘Through great efforts, to the depths'.

Carved stone heraldic shield from the Mining Department

Close up detail of carved stone heraldic shield from the Mining Department

Carved stone heraldic shield from the Mining Department in context of University grounds

Visual description

This stone carved crest is set within a red brick plinth set back within the grass at a corner where two paths intersect. It is small and rectangular and features a circle shape in the centre surrounded by curling and leaf-shaped decorative motifs. It is a warm-grey natural stone tone in colour. Within the central circle, along an outer ribbon there is an inscription which reads ‘Birmingham University Mining Department’. Two tools, a spade and pickaxe, cross the centre of the circle and in the background there are three built structures which appear to depict a mining complex. At the very bottom of the crest there is an inscription which is partially damaged and eroded and reads ‘per ardua ad ima’.