Bersham Colliery, Wrexham
On equal footing with sheep farming, rugby and faggots, coal mining has been a key feature of modern Wales. Events such as the 1966 Aberfan disaster and the 1984-85 Miners Strike are seared into the memories of those living in the old coalfields and have been integral in the foundation of how the Welsh view themselves. However, unlike their sporting traditions and cuisine, the coal industry has all but disappeared in Wales with its last deep mine, Tower Colliery, closing in 2008.
Despite its lack of such events taking place at Bersham, the experience of the miners and the local community during the strike was extremely unique. While there may have been pitched battles at other mines, with striking miners were attempting to stop ‘scabs’ from going to work, footage from the 16th week of the strike shows a strangely quiet site at Bersham. A union official at the site claimed “there’s no need to put pickets up because we’re out in total in Bersham, there’s no man trying to go back in”. While quiet and calmness are hardly qualities attributed to historical significance, in this case it showcases the commitment of the miners to the strike at a time when it was ripping other communities apart.
If you were to be any doubt concerning the significance of King Coal in Wales, you would only need to take a glance at the extensive focus given to it within the writings of Welsh history. However, anyone scrolling through the subject’s breadth of literature would soon come to strange realisation. Considering the gigantic reading list of histories concerning the coalfields of South Wales, there is very little relating to the history of those in the north. In fact, the only substantial materials you will find on the North Wales coalfields will be George Lerry’s 1969, “The Collieries of Denbighshire” and Keith Gildart’s 2001, “North Wales Miners: a Fragile Unity 1945-1996”. Despite a lack of historical record, the North Wales coalfields are brimming with history and Denbighshire’s, Bersham Colliery gives a great insight into what the industry meant to the people of North Wales during the 20th century.
Opened in 1870, Bersham’s workforce was comprised of workers from the surrounding areas between the towns of Chirk and Mold. At its peak in 1956, Bersham employed 1,011 workers, a number which gradually declined to just 480 by the time it was closed 1986. The colliery’s union had traditionally never had a radical membership, something which was unique among coal mines in the setting of decades such as the 1980’s. Relations between the workforce and management were held on the principle of mutual respect, an attitude which was maintained during the most turbulent time of the British coal industry, the 1984-1985 Miner’s Strike.
Bersham Colliery
Being one of the largest industrial disputes in Britain’s history, the Miner’s Strike between Arthur Scargill’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government lasted almost a year and nearly brought the country to its knees. After the economic turmoil of the 1970’s, Thatcher claimed the countries coal industry was “uneconomic” and needed to be drastically scaled back. In opposition, the miner’s union argued that the destruction of the industry would bring with it the destruction of many working-class areas. This prophecy has since rung true, with high unemployment and a lack of well paid, secure employment opportunities being key features of ex-mining towns across Britain.
Some have described the strike as being the most ‘bitter industrial dispute in British history’ with Historian Jeremy Deller going so far as to describe it as a Civil War. With this in mind it can be easy to focus on easily dramatized events such as the Battle of Orgreave which saw thousands of miners clash with police officers. Equally, within media depictions of the strike, probably the most memorable would be the scene from the 2000 film, Billy Elliot in which miners are chased and beaten by mounted police with the Clash’s London Calling playing in the background.
Billy Elliot
The strike effort at Bersham was further bolstered when Leader of the union, Arthur Scargill visited the site in 1984, claiming that if the strike was to fail, Bersham was certain to be one of the first pits to close. However, in order to dismantle the strike, the government asserted that they had no plans to shut the mine and in fact pledged half a million pounds to help develop the mine for the future. With this, the strike in Bersham did eventually crumble, with the first miners going back to work in November of 1984. With the threat of Bersham abandoning the strike, miners from across Wales and England flocked to the site to picket, knowing that the loss of a previously solid pit would be detrimental to the strike.
Despite these efforts the strike soon completely collapsed at Bersham and although 15 miners stayed out for the remainder of the strike (the last in Wales to go back), the strike at Bersham ended after eight months. The fact that the strike eventually collapsed at Bersham shouldn’t be taken as a sign that the miners did not support the strike. The atmosphere at Bersham was that everyone, including those who went back to work, had done their bit and were proud of the fact that most had stayed out for as long as they had done. Despite the comradery that existed at the pit after the strike, it was only to be short lived. The governments promise of re-development at Bersham turned out to be an empty one, with the mine closing only a year later in 1986.
Miners at Bersham in 1986
The end of the Miners Strike in 1985 marked a significant moment in British history. The coal industry quickly receded after that, to the point where it now hardly exists. Mining offered many communities in Britain a place where people could receive life long secure careers, something which is dearly missing from Britain’s modern economy. These working-class communities were built upon such industries, however it isn’t just the jobs which have disappeared. In the early 2000’s Wrexham Council attempted to open Bersham up to the public as a museum, however the project was quickly scrapped due to a lack of public interest. With the industrial landscape of Britain in rapid decline, the cultural foundation and heritage of towns like Wrexham is quickly disappearing.
It was always wet and it was very cold,It was where young men very quickly grew old,The Coal Board announced the “lids going on!”And it’s quite sad now that the old pit has gone,It was cold, it was wet,It was noisy and rotten,But I cherish the memory, of Bersham pit bottom.- Bersham Pit Bottom by Keith Hett.
Jordan Harris
References
Wrexham County Council, ‘The Last One Standing: The Tale of
Bersham Colliery’, Wrexham County Council,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7200432.stm
G.G. Lerry, The Collieries of Denbighshire: Past and Present
https://www.wrexham-history.com/bersham-colliery-wrexham-2/
K. Gildart, North Wales Miners: A Fragile Unity 1945-1996
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214790X17300965
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/12/newsid_3503000/3503346.stm
J. Deller, The English Civil War Part II: Personal Accounts
of the 1984-85
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUkIb9ZV9NQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVkHZ229ORs&t=405s
http://www.wrexham.com/news/five-year-extension-granted-for-removal-of-bersham-slag-heap-97759.html
J. Hemming, ‘Artist 'heartbroken' after vandals trash
sculpture honouring fallen miners’, North Wales Daily Post, 13 December 2017.
BBC, ‘Appeal to fix Wrexham's Bersham Colliery miner
statue’, BBC News, 6 January 2017.
Wrexham Council News, ‘You might walk past this Wrexham
landmark every day… but do you know the story behind it?’, Wrexham Council
News, 12 June 2018.
https://nwmat1.wixsite.com/nwmat/original-bersham-trust
North Wales Miners Association Trust Ltd., ‘The Original
Bersham Trust’, North Wales Miners Association Trust Ltd.
Kelly, Ithel, The North Wales Coalfield: A Collection of
Pictures (Bristol, 1990)
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