Coal

The history of Wales over the last 150 years has been dominated by the growth and the later decline of the coal industry. Because of the demand for Welsh coal, new communities grew in previously sparsely populated areas in both north and south Wales. There have been around 3,000 collieries working in Wales over these years. By 1913, three quarters of the Welsh population lived in the coalfield areas, including, in 1921, a quarter of a million mineworkers.

This selection of images show just a small cross section of the collections.