Miners' institute
Encyclopedia
Miners' institutes of South Wales
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...
of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, which by 1910 saw institutes built in most towns and villages. The institutes were of socialist
History of socialism in Great Britain
The History of socialism in the United Kingdom is generally thought to stretch back to the 19th century. Starting to arise in the aftermath of the English Civil War notions of socialism in Great Britain and Northern Ireland have taken many different forms from the utopian philanthropism of Robert...
and altruistic nature and would include small libraries and reading rooms, whose books would lean towards history and politics, in an attempt to allow the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
man to better himself. Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was a British Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1959 until his death in 1960. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people...
attributed his intellectual training to the Tredegar
Tredegar
Tredegar is a town situated on the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in south-east Wales. Located within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the Industrial Revolution in South Wales...
miners' library.
While the library and reading room took care of the intellectual needs of the population the larger institutes often catered for the social side by providing a billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
hall, a refreshment room, and a large hall which could be used for meetings or entertainment. The 'Stute, as it was popularly known, soon became the heart of the community.
The institutes were normally run by committee chosen by the workers, and a nominal fee was required from members to pay for the running costs, though some philanthropic coalowners would financially support the local institute. Following the Royal Commission for Coal in 1919, a Miners' Welfare Fund was established to provide amenities for the miners, such as communal baths, scholarships and welfare halls. This in turn led to the construction of welfare halls in the areas which to this date had no miners' institutes.
By the eve of the Second World War there were more than a hundred miners' institutes, those of note include 'Y Stiwt' in Rhosllannerchrugog, the Oakdale
Oakdale, Caerphilly
Oakdale is a large village in Caerphilly county borough, Wales, 9½ miles north of Caerphilly itself, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire...
Miners' Institute, the Parc and Dare
Parc and Dare Hall
The Parc and Dare Hall is a former Miners' institute but now serves as a large entertainment venue in the village of Treorchy, in the Rhondda Valley of Wales...
in the Rhondda
Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
and the Abercynon
Abercynon
Abercynon is a small village in the Cynon Valley in Mid Glamorgan, Wales. The unitary authority is now known as Rhondda Cynon Taff. It is composed of the village of Abercynon itself,Carnetown,Glancynon,Park View and Pontcynon. However, in recent years the sign to show motorists they are entering...
Miners' Institute. Most of the institutes survived into the 1970s but with the decline of coal many of the buildings were left to ruin. Slowly returning prosperity to former mining communities has witnessed a revival of some of the institutes, such as those at Blackwood, Llanhilleth
Llanhilleth
Llanhilleth is a village on the A467 road between Ebbw Vale and Crumlin in Blaenau Gwent, Wales.Two large mounds in the field behind the Carpenter’s Arms are the remains of the medieval Llanhilleth castle which originally had two large, stone-built towers....
and Newbridge, which have rebranded themselves as entertainment or arts centres.
The South Wales Miners' Library in Swansea keeps many of the collections from the institutes intact, and the Oakdale Institute has been reconstructed at St Fagans National History Museum
St Fagans National History Museum
St Fagans National History Museum , commonly referred to as St Fagans after the village where it is located, is an open-air museum in Cardiff chronicling the historical lifestyle, culture and architecture of the Welsh people...
.
England
- Thurcroft Welfare Hall - ThurcroftThurcroftThurcroft is a village and civil parish situated southeast of Rotherham in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. From 1902 to 1991, it was a close-knit, mining community. It has a population of 5,296....
, Yorkshire - Hamstead Miners' Institute - HamsteadHamstead, West MidlandsHamstead is an area of Birmingham, England, between Handsworth Wood and Great Barr, and adjacent to the Sandwell Valley area of West Bromwich. Historically it has its foundations as part of the Hamstead Colliery from the early to mid 20th Century with a lot of the housing have been built for the...
, West Midlands - Garforth Miners' Welfare Hall , GarforthGarforthGarforth is a town within the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, in West Yorkshire, England. The 2001 Census lists 23,892 residents in the Garforth and Swillington ward - 80.57% of which are homeowners, 20% more than the average for Leeds. Garforth itself has 15,394 of those people...
, West Yorkshire
Scotland
- Lochgelly Miners Institute - LochgellyLochgellyLochgelly is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is located between Lochs Ore and Gelly to the north-west and south-east respectively. It is separated from Cowdenbeath by the village of Lumphinnans. According to the 2007 population estimate, the town has a population of 6,834.-History:From the 1830s...
, Fife - Loganlea Miners Welfare - AddiewellAddiewellAddiewell is a former mining village in the Scottish council area of West Lothian. A new prison, HMP Addiewell, opened in 2008.-History:A small industrial village in West Lothian, Addiewell lies to the south of the Breich Water, 2 miles south of Blackburn. The village developed in association...
, West Lothian
External links
- BBC Coalhouse - Miners Institutes An excerpt from the BBC series 'The Long Street' first broadcast December 15 1965. Presented by William Whitehead.
- http://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/bmi/index.html Blackwood Miners' Institute
- http://www.newbridgememo.com/ The Celynen Collieries and Workingman's Institute and Memorial Hall, Newbridge
- http://www.llanhillethinstitute.com/ Llanilleth Institute