{"id":332262,"date":"2025-08-10T04:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T04:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/332262\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T04:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T04:34:10","slug":"look-photos-of-life-in-south-wales-mines-from-the-1980s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/332262\/","title":{"rendered":"LOOK: Photos of life in South Wales mines from the 1980s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  The coal was transported from Gwent Valleys to Newport Docks where Newport exported it internationally, contributing to the peak output of 36 million tons of coal in 1913.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  This year marks 40 years since the miners&#8217;\u00a0strikes in 1984 \u2013 1985.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Under Margaret Thatcher\u2019s government, the National Coal Board wanted to close 20 pits that it deemed unprofitable. The National Union of Mineworkers declared a national strike on 12th March 1984.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In March 1985, nearly 20,000 south Wales miners returned to work a year on from when the strikes started.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The number of coal pits fell from 35 in 1980 to just 5 in 1990. With that, the numbers of miners sunk from 28,000 to 6,000\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Alongside the closures to coal mines, the number of people unemployed rose to 86,000 in 1990 \u2013 the year that Margaret Thatcher left office.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  After the mines closed, it was estimated that 41 jobs were created for every 100 miners. The effects of the harsh mine closures are still felt in some communities today.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Take a look at some striking images of life working in the mines, from our archives, below.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"This year marks 40 years since the mining strikes in 1984 \u2013 1985\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>This year marks 40 years since the mining strikes in 1984 \u2013 1985 (Image: NQ) <img   alt=\"Poverty and despair increased the pressure for workers to go back to the mines.\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>Poverty and despair increased the pressure for workers to go back to the mines. (Image: NQ) <img   alt=\"Markham Colliery, Caerphilly was closed by the National Coal Board in September 1985. \" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>Markham Colliery, Caerphilly was closed by the National Coal Board in September 1985. (Image: NQ) <img   alt=\"Marine Colliery in the Valleys of Gwent closed in March 1989 by British Coal with the loss of 758 jobs. \" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>Marine Colliery in the Valleys of Gwent closed in March 1989 by British Coal with the loss of 758 jobs. (Image: NQ) <img   alt=\" Deep Navigation Colliery, Treharris closed in 1991, forcing 400 workers into unemployment. \" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>Deep Navigation Colliery, Treharris closed in 1991, forcing 400 workers into unemployment. (Image: NQ) <img   alt=\"After the mines closed, it was estimated that 41 jobs were created for every 100 miners. \" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>After the mines closed, it was estimated that 41 jobs were created for every 100 miners. (Image: NQ) <img   alt=\"Mining was at the heart of South Wales for many years\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>Mining was at the heart of South Wales for many years (Image: NQ)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The coal was transported from Gwent Valleys to Newport Docks where Newport exported it internationally, contributing to the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-332262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115002610297099569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}