Categories: uncategorized
Date: 25 January 2008 12:39:45
Today marked the final closure of the last deep mine in Wales.
Tower Colliery in Hirwaun was the last of the Welsh mining industry. 30 years ago almost every village or town in the vallies had a coal mine. King Coal was the biggest employer throughout the vallies and wales was righly called the Cradle of the Industrial Revolution. Millions of pounds were made by mine-owners prior to nationalisation in 1948. Almost every family had a member who worked down the mine.
Those days ended almost 25 years ago, following the miner's strike. We were warned that the government wanted to shutdown our mines once and for all. We were told that our coal was too expensive compared to foreign coal. There was no future in our own coal industry.
To a certain extent they were right but time has shown that there was still a place for our coal industry. Tower Colliery was bought by its own miners and has shown that it was still possible to profitably mine Welsh coal.
Many people who worked down the mines were glad to see the back of them. They were dark, noisy, dangerous places that were also a hazard to your health; if a cave-in didn't kill you then the dust probably would. It was not an industry that promised a long life.
So today we say goodbye to 200 years of Welsh history. Some of the workers are off to work in drift mines but the days of deep mining in Wales are gone - maybe not forever but who knows.