By the mid-1990s, there were more Welsh mining museums than working deep mines. Following the defeat of the National Union of Mineworkers, mines began to close on a regular basis. In March 1984 the last major strike began and continued for twelve months. In 1960, 45 men died in Six Bells Colliery, 31 died in Cambrian Colliery in 1965 and, perhaps most tragically of all, 144 people died when a tip collapsed on Aberfan, including 116 children.īy the 1980s the threat of mass pit closures arose.
There was now a greater emphasis on safety, but the coalfields were still dangerous places. The industry was nationalised following the war and experienced tremendous changes with the introduction of new techniques and equipment. The numbers of miners fell from 270,000 to 130,000. However, following the humiliating defeat after the 1898 coal strike, there arose a need for unity and in 1914 the South Wales Federation became the largest single trade union with almost 200,000 members.įrom the early 1920s until WW2, the Welsh coalfields suffered a prolonged industrial recession due to the changeover to oil by shipping and the development of foreign coalfields. In Glamorgan and Monmouthshire half of all adult male workers were directly involved in the coal industry, while in places such as the Rhondda and Maesteg, the proportion could be as high as 75%.īecause of the peculiar geology and geography, south Wales was slow to unionise. Villages were virtually single occupation communities. In 1962, 40.7% of all south Wales miners were suffering from the disease.Ī close relationship grew up between coal mining and the local community. However this large coal was coated with fine dust which was the prime cause of pneumoconiosis, a disease which was more prevalent in south Wales than all other UK coalfields.
This made the coal relatively easy to work as the coal fell in large blocks. South Wales steam and anthracite coal differ from other coal seams due to the presence of numerous partings (‘slips’) which lie at an angle of about 45 degrees between floor and roof.
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North Wales was largely free of major disasters but, in 1934, an explosion at Gresford Colliery killed two hundred and sixty-six men, the third worst disaster in Welsh mining history. Between 18 alone there were 27 major UK mining disasters, thirteen of which occurred in south Wales including the 1913 explosion at the Universal Colliery, Senghenydd where 439 men died – the largest loss of life in a UK mining disaster. Between 18, one third of all mining deaths in the UK occurred in Wales. The deeper seams are also very ‘fiery’ leading to numerous disasters. Loose jointed and friable roof conditions were more commonplace in south Wales than other UK coalfields which resulted in numerous accidents from falls of roof and sides. They had a wide range of uses: domestic, steam raising, gas and coke production and the smelting of copper, iron and steel. The south Wales coalfield is famous for its variety of coal types, ranging from gas and coking bituminous coals, steam coals, dry steam coals and anthracite. The total area covers some 1,000 square miles. It forms an elongated syncline basin extending from Pontypool in the east to Ammanford in the west, with a detached portion in Pembrokeshire. The south Wales coalfield is more extensive than that of north Wales. The last colliery in the area, Point of Ayr, closed in 1996. By 1913, it was producing around 3,000,000 tons per annum but went into a slow decline afterwards. North Wales produced mostly high volatile, medium to strong caking coal, and the coalfield has a long history of production. There are two major coalfields in Wales, one in the north-east of the country and one in the south. This was almost entirely due to the effects of coal mining: either directly through the creation of colliery jobs or through industries reliant on coal as a fuel (eg. Between 18 the population of Wales quadrupled from 587,000 to 2,400,000. Continuing the international year of the periodic table of chemical elements, for September we have chosen carbon, the element which – in coal - has arguably had the most influence on the shaping of the built landscape and culture in Wales.įor around 150 years the coal industry has dominated the industrial, political and social history of Wales.
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