New Book Says Welsh Coal Miners 'Were a Wonderful Breed of Men'
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THE BLACK MYSTERY
By Ronald Rees
Y Lolfa Cyf.
ISBN:
9780862439675
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By EIFION WILLIAMS
"Men do not with impunity tear the guts out of the earth" said one time South Wales Miners' leader Dai Dan Evans, commenting on the dangers faced by miners working underground.
The line is quoted in a new book by historian Ronald Rees, The Black Mystery, a history of the anthracite coal mining industry in the western valleys of South Wales, specifically the Neath, Dulais, Swansea, Amman and Gwendraeth Valleys.
Anyone familiar with these valleys will hardly need reminding of the often dreadful consequences to the men and, in earlier times, women and children, who worked in the mines.
They faced constant danger from collapsing roofs, explosions, flooding, poison gas and, perhaps worst of all, the death sentences imposed on thousands of men whose lungs were destroyed by inhaling coal dust. Wages were kept low and conditions underground generally ignored by predatory mine-owners.
Ronald Rees describes how these green valleys were transformed in a relatively short time into areas producing the best anthracite coal in the world. Anthracite is the hardest and slowest burning of coals, but it was only when a process was discovered to use it to fire blast furnaces for smelting iron that it became in great demand around the world.
The expansion of the coal industry was followed by a frenzy of canal and railway building to transport the coal to busy ports like Swansea, Neath, Burry Port and Briton Ferry. Those who grew up in these valleys will recognize the names of the various mines mentioned in the book as well as their mostly absentee owners.
The little Dulais Valley mining town of Seven Sisters, for example, grew up around a coal mine owned by David Bevan of Neath, who named the mine after his seven daughters. Bevan will be more familiar to many as one of the partners in the Evan Evans and Bevan Vale of Neath Brewery.
The story of the anthracite coal valleys is not all doom and gloom. Ronald Rees devotes much of his book to the rich cultural life of the valleys.
Unlike the coal-mining valleys to the east, the western valleys remained overwhelmingly Welsh-speaking and chapel-oriented. He chronicles the important part played by the eisteddfod, the gymanfa ganu, the Sunday Schools and the many choirs in enriching the lives of mining families.
Yet the miner's life did not centre exclusively on the chapel for in most villages pubs outnumbered the chapels.
There were also the hard times in the valleys, when strikes and lockouts were common occurrences and when union solidarity and community bonds were important. As labour leader James Griffiths, later to become a Labour Cabinet Minister, wrote, "People clung together fiercely, sharing a fellowship of common danger."
The mines are now long gone and the last generation of miners is gradually disappearing. Despite the scarring of the landscape, the poor living and working conditions, and the constant danger under which he worked, the Welsh miner never lost his pride and dignity.
In a chapter entitled "A Wonderful Breed of Men," Ronald Rees describes how the Polish artist Josef Herman, who lived briefly in Ystradgynlais, portrayed the miners as strong individuals: "In their warm humanity and their expressive occupational poses, the way they walk and hold themselves, I find the embodiment of labour."
Ronald Rees was born in Skewen, South Wales. He taught historical geography at the University of Saskatchewan and later became an adjunct professor at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. He currently lives in St. Andrews, New Brunswick.
The Black Mystery, Coal-mining in South-West Wales can be bought online at www.ylolfa.com in the politics and history category.
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