British coal mining was a rough, tough and exceptionally dangerous occupation, writes Emily P Webber.
In The Road to Wigan Pier, his 1936 account of the industrial North of England, George Orwell presented a hellish vision of the conditions miners faced underground, with “heat, noise, confusion, darkness, foul air and, above all, unbearably cramped space”.
Memorials to lives lost in the pursuit of black gold are scattered across Britain’s former coalfields. Explosions at the Oaks Colliery in Barnsley in 1866, Blantyre Colliery in 1877 and at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd in 1913 were the worst in England, Scotland and Wales respectively, collectively claiming more than 1,000 lives and leaving many more bereft and impoverished.
Yet, despite the industry’s extensive rap sheet, that’s not the whole story. Webber spoke to more than 100 former miners who once made their living toiling in the dark bowels of the earth – and all remembered it with fondness. Several men earnestly told her that if the pits were to open again tomorrow and they were younger, they would be first in the queue. Indeed, the year-long strike between 6 March 1984 and 3 March 1985, during which more than 140,000 miners came out against pit closures, was the most powerful defence of the industry, in the face of those who sought to hasten its demise.
40 years on from the miners’ strike, Big Issue reflects.
What else is in this week’s Big Issue?
André Rieu and his lifetime quest for joy
As an unhappy child André Rieu dreamt of bringing joy to people with music. He still can’t think of a better thing to do.
