South Wales Coalfield

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About South Wales Coalfield

An archive for photos that document the SOUTH WALES COALFIELD



This group aims to build as wide-ranging an archive as possible to document the South Wales Coalfield - from those old b&w photos of collieries & mining communities tucked away in your family collections; to the changing face of the coalfield in recent years as South Wales has moved into the era beyond coal.

In the world post-1984 the entire South Wales Coalfield entered the inconceivable territory of pit villages without their pit ! The succession of pit closures over the following decade, up to the privatization of the British coal industry in 1994, marked the final end of an era for coalfield communities across the South Wales Valleys.



SOUTH WALES COALFIELD


[ Rhondda ]


* add any recent pics & rummage through your old photo collections!
* add your photos to the Flickr map.
* use the SEARCH box (top of page) to search this group for places & subjects.

Post as many photos to the group as you like, for whatever subjects you feel are relevant, eg:



Industrial landscapes

* pit villages
* working collieries
* abandoned collieries
* photos of miners at work; underground
* docks, railway, coal






[ Merthyr Vale ]






[ Aberfan ]



Mining communities

* Miners Halls & Institutes
* Miners Welfare Parks
* industrial disputes, Miners Strike
* village marches to commemorate pit closures
* Memorials to the mining industry




[ Risca ] [ Albion ] [ Senghenydd ]




[ The Miners Strike ] [ Taff Merthyr ] [ Penallta ]



Post-industrial landscapes

* land reclamation; new landscapes of regeneration
* former colliery sites become country parks
* retail & leisure & business parks
* "mining museums"
* mining & public art






[ Tower ]



"And I loved and loved the mountains
Against the cloudy sky,
The sidings , and the slag-heaps
That sometimes hurt the eye.
[ Idris Davies, I was Born In Rhymney ]









Oh what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney.
Is there hope for the future?
Cry the brown bells of Merthyr.
Who made the mine owner?
Say the black bells of Rhondda.
And who robbed the miner?
Cry the grim bells of Blaina.
[ Idris davies, Bells of Rhymney (Gwalia Deserta ) ]







Of related interest on Flickr

* Welsh Coalmines
* Tower Colliery, South Wales
* Deep Navigation Colliery, Treharris, South Wales 1873-1991





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