Why is it there? What is happening now?

1. Why is it there? What is happening now?

2. By the end you should understand… • the reasons for the development of coal mining in south Wales • the effect of industrial development on population growth and settlement • the reasons for the decline of coal mining in south Wales • some of the problems caused by the decline of the coal industry • coal mining in south Wales today

3. South Wales in 1860 • Coal had been mined on a small scale in south Wales for centuries, but the area was still mainly rural until the start of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s. • South Wales had three very important raw materials that could be used to make iron. Firstly it had iron ore (a rock containing iron), secondly it had coal that was used to heat the iron ore and make it molten so that the iron was separated from the rest of the rock. Finally, it had limestone that was used in iron making to speed up the whole process. • These three important raw materials were found close to each other. This was a tremendous advantage given the high cost of transporting heavy rocks.

4. Click on the link : http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/south_wales_coalfield/eng/SouthWalesin186and go to the bottom of the page and there you will see a map just like the one on your worksheetIf you click on each items in the key – start with coal – and you will be able to show where each item is on your map

5. Pit head Some of the early coal could be taken from the valley sidesBut soon it became necessary to dig deep into the valley bottom

6. Mining was a dirty and dangerous job and in the early part of the 1800s women and children worked underground alongside the men. The work was done by hand with a pick and shovel. • Pit ponies dragged the coal back to the shaft to be brought up to the surface. The ponies spent all their working lives underground, only being brought to the surface when they were too old to work. • Accidents were common, either from roof collapses or gas explosions. • On several occasions hundreds of miners were killed. Spending money on safety sometimes seemed less important for the coal companies than making good profits. • Around 3,000 miners died in accidents between 1850 and 1914. • The coal seams in south Wales are quite narrow and at different levels. The mine shafts had to follow the coal seams as they went up and down.

7. At first coal was used mainly in the iron industry. But south Wales coal was of such high quality that it became popular all over the world. By the middle of the 1800s two major developments in transport provided a great boost to the industry. In the early 1800s canals were used to transport coal from the valleys down to the dock. But when rail replaced canals the industry really took off. Railways from the Rhondda valley and other coal-mining valleys ran fairly short distances down to the booming docks at Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. Look at the map of South Wales and notice how the river valleys naturally provided routes down to the coast. By 1870, 50% of the coal was being exported overseas.

8. Why were the river valleys important in the growth of Cardiff docks?

9. A rail network was built throughout Britain and Europe - the steam trains ran on coal and south Wales coal was in much demand. • The rail network made it easier to transport coal to the rest of Britain. Railways in far away British colonies such as India and in Africa used coal from Wales. • Ships switched from sail to steam power. As early as 1851 the British navy decided that Welsh coal was the best coal for its ships. Navies and merchant ships around the world used coal from south Wales. • The basic physical geography of south Wales had given the region a great advantage over other coal-producing areas. The river valleys gave transport routes and the steep valleys made it easy to mine down to the coal.

10. Why was there a population explosion in the valleys?

11. Why was there a population explosion in the valleys? • Coal mining depended on hard, physical labour. • The industry was hungry for workers. • The boom in the south Wales coal industry attracted people to move to the area from the rural parts of Wales, but also in great numbers from Ireland, Scotland and England. The English speakers far outnumbered the Welsh speakers. The south Wales coalfield became a "melting pot" of different cultures and people. • The Rhondda valleys became the centre of the coal industry. • In 1860 they had a population of around 3,000 people. • This had jumped to 160,000 by 1910.

12. Why was there a population explosion in the valleys? • The mining valleys developed their own unique culture. • Strong communities grew up with people sharing the hardships that mine work brought. • By and large the coal companies did little to help their workers. • There were frequent disputes over pay and conditions. • The miners formed unions to try and look after their interests and improve their pay and conditions. • The mining communities of the south Wales valleys became famous for their strength, and for their choirs, chapels, clubs and rugby teams! • With the colliery on the valley floor, terraced housing was built close by for the workers. The shape of the valley meant that there was little flat land and the houses had to fit in where they could.

13. Go to this link http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/south_wales_coalfield/eng/Populationexplo/ Drag and drop the coloured squared to help you label your diagram How was the growth of coal-mining settlements influenced by relief (the shape of the land)? What was the mining village like?

14. Coal was important to industry and very important to South Wales • A government report said in 1919 that: "The prosperity of south Wales is entirely dependent on the export trade in coal." • The industry relied on exporting 70% of its production. • The whole area, mining settlements and the docks, depended on coal. • But demand for coal was falling and there were few other industries in south Wales. • Iron and steel making, and the manufacture of other metals, were also in decline because other countries had developed their own industries.

15. Coal was important to industry and very important to South Wales • The 1920s and 1930s were decades of economic depression and poverty in the coalfields. • There were long strikes and bitter disputes between the company owners and the miners. The companies wanted to keep up their profits but often at the expense of miners' wages and jobs. • In 1934 unemployment rates of 60% were recorded in parts of the south Wales coalfield. • People started to move away. • Between 1931 and 1939, 160,000 people migrated from south Wales to look for work in the new industries being developed in other parts of Britain. • To modernise the industry, machines were needed instead of manual workers. Many of the coal seams in south Wales weren't suited to the use of modern mining machinery.

16. Why were these reasons likely to lead to a decline in the coal industry? • New light industries • Ships • Coal seams • Transport • Other countries • Politics • Lack of government support • Coal for electricity • How people warmed their homes

17. What was the impact of mine closures? • At its peak nearly 300,000 miners had been employed in the coal industry. In 1945 there were 125,000 miners working in 135 pits in south Wales. By the early 1980s that had shrunk to 22,000, and by the early 1990s to below 1,000. • Whole communities were devastated when their pit closed. Families lost their income and without the miners' wages, shops and businesses lost trade. • People moved away to look for work, and those who stayed found it hard to find a decent job. • Ever since the 1930s the government has been trying to attract new industry to the valleys. • The Welsh Development Agency continues this work today. But the valleys offer few attractions as a location for modern factories.

18. What was the impact of mine closures? • New companies setting up in Wales over the last 20 years or so have chosen locations near the M4, rather than in the narrow, built-up former mining settlements such as the Rhondda valley. • Today, the visible signs of the coal industry have largely been removed. Collieries have been replaced by supermarkets and small industrial units; the old slag heaps of waste rocks have been landscaped and planted with grass and trees. • But the scars on the community are slow to heal, and most former mining communities face a range of social and economic problems.

19. Do you remember … • ….when we talked about development – before Christmas – that we said money being made by a community was important, which was measured by its GDP because without it not very much could improve • But that the standard of living and the quality of life of individuals that really showed how developed a country was. • Not all of a country has the same level of development – in fact some parts of most countries have a lower level of development that the rest

20. .. About what it is like if you have a good quality of life? Thinking about these things, what do you think has happened to the quality of life of people in the valleys of South Wales? So what can you remember .. • Do you think, in terms of development, that South Wales is • (a) lower than quite a lot of the UK? • (b) has got worse in recent time?