Last edited 16 Apr 2024

Main author

Miners' strike

• Animation indicating the decline of the coal industry in the UK. [1]

Sources: Northern Mine Research Society, Government data

"In 1983, Britain had 175 working pits, all of which had closed by the end of 2015. "
Wikipedia

On the 5th of March 2005, twenty years to the day after the miners' strike ended, the Guardian published an article entitled 'Why King Coal had to die', which contained a major truth, namely:—

"... that the miners' strike closed an epoch. It defined the end of the coal-based industrial economy..."
(Will Hutton)

• Pit-head baths, Bolsover Colliery - click to read more.

1 FOREWORD
2 INTRODUCTION
3 Why have I chosen the particular news articles from the web?
4 • Wikipedia Contributors (2024) '1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike'
5 • Wikipedia Contributors (2024) 'Coal mining in the United Kingdom'
6 • Harris, J. (2023) 'Almost 40 years on, the miners’ strike still casts a long shadow over UK politics today'
7 • Bartholemew, J. and Skopeliti, C. (2024) '‘People have lost faith’: life in former mining towns 40 years on from strike'
8 CONCLUSION
9 Notes
10 References
11 Further reading
12 Related articles on Designing Buildings

[edit] FOREWORD

This article is about the Miners' strike in the UK in 1984-1985. It accepts:—

... that successive governments had been closing coal mines since the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946.

"...the days of pit-head baths are numbered."
(Cedric Price, 'Life-conditioning', Architectural Design, October 1966)

[edit] INTRODUCTION

When I first started my slot as Designing Buildings' Guest Editor I searched the site using the term 'Miners' strike'.

The results of my search on the site stated:—

"This page does not exist. Click here to create the page "Miners' strike"

I therefore created the page "Miners' strike" on 23 March 2024. It was based on an assumption, namely:—

... that the term "Miners' strike" refers to the strike action taken by some miners in the United Kingdom from March 1984 to March 1985.

My next step was to search the web using the same term.

Below are my reasons for having chosen particular news articles about the Miners' strike.

[edit] Why have I chosen the particular news articles from the web?

I have chosen the following Wikipedia articles because there are no articles about the Miners' strike on Designing Buildings - The Construction Wiki.

Wikipedia Contributors (2024) '1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike', Wikipedia;
Wikipedia Contributors (2024) 'Coal mining in the United Kingdom', Wikipedia;

I have also chosen two other articles from the web:—

Harris, J. (2023) 'Almost 40 years on, the miners’ strike still casts a long shadow over UK politics today', 27 August,The Guardian;
Bartholemew, J. and Skopeliti, C. (2024) '‘People have lost faith’: life in former mining towns 40 years on from strike', 7 March, The Guardian.

[edit] • Wikipedia Contributors (2024) '1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike'

The main article draws my attention because it tops the list of search results and its source is Wikipedia. It states:—

"The 1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike was a major industrial action within the British coal industry in an attempt to prevent colliery closures."

Learn More

• 'Support the Miners March' Camberwell Road, SE5, London. 1984

• Coal mining employment in the UK, 1880–2012

• Table indicating votes for strike action by area - click to view

• Table indicating variation in observing the strike - click to view

• Images from the Wikipedia article

[edit] • Wikipedia Contributors (2024) 'Coal mining in the United Kingdom'

The second article draws my attention because it supplements the main article. It states:—

"In early 1984, the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher announced plans to close 20 coal pits which led to the year-long miners' strike which ended in March 1985."

Learn more

It also provides a link to a list of coal mines in the United Kingdom, sorted between those operating in the 21st century and those closed earlier, namely:—

"List of coal mines in the United Kingdom"

• Annual UK coal production (in red) and imports (black), DECC data

• These coal mines closed in the 21st century or still operate - click to view

• These coal mines closed before the 21st century - click to view

• Screenshot of menu listing UK collieries - click to view. [2]

nb The lists of coal mines on Wikipedia (left) are incomplete.

• Images used to illustrate the Wikipedia articles

• Table 1: Two articles from Wikipedia.

[edit] • Harris, J. (2023) 'Almost 40 years on, the miners’ strike still casts a long shadow over UK politics today'

This article draws my attention because it discusses some of the long-term effects of the miners' strike and possible ways forward.

• Coalfields Regeneration Trust - click to visit website

"...our old coalfields – where 5.7 million people live, slightly more than the entire population of Scotland – are still places where you will find a real community ethos and no end of social activism."
(John Harris)

• Report commissioned by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust

"(the report) shone light on the bleak position of former mining areas, where there were only 55 employee jobs per 100 residents of working age, compared with a national average of 73. Median hourly earnings in such places were 8-10% below the national average, and more than a third of their adult residents reported health problems lasting more than a year."
(ib.)

• Images related to John Harris' article

John Harris concluded:—

"Those findings (of the report commissioned by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust) were significant in themselves, but they also told a story about what the coalfields’ fate meant for the working class as a whole: [...] these places’ brutal treatment and subsequent decline amounted to the dismantling of a whole social order’s foundations.
Put simply, the miners’ defeat began the era we are living in and left deep wounds that have been left to fester on. It is a hugely significant aspect of a country so tangled up in its past: millions of people still reeling from the events of 40 years ago, partly because those events remain so overlooked. Here, surely, lies one key reason why Britain feels so full of ghosts and guilty secrets."
(ib.)

[edit] • Bartholemew, J. and Skopeliti, C. (2024) '‘People have lost faith’: life in former mining towns 40 years on from strike'

This article draws my attention because it discusses some of the long-term effects of the miners' strike and possible ways forward.

• "Many families had worked in the mines for generations." Photo credit: Alain Nogues/Sygma/Getty Images

• "Warehouse (right), sitting atop the site of the former colliery in Great Houghton." Photo credit: Anne Woolford/Guardian Community

• "National Union of Mineworkers Kent Area ceramic plate, 1984." Photo credit: People's History Museum

Learn More

• "A striking miner faces a line of police officers without identification numbers at the Orgreave coking plant, June 1984." Photo credit: Don McPhee/The Guardian

• Images from the Bartholemew and Skopeliti article

• Office for National Statistics - click to explore

• Map showing how household income varies across the UK - click to view

• Screenshots of the ONS website

• Table 2: Two news articles from the web with links to reports

[edit] CONCLUSION

Firstly, this article concludes:—

... that, in 1966, Cedric Price correctly anticipated the slow death of the coal industry.

Furthermore, in the same year, he proposed in its place:—

"A plan for an advanced educational industry in North Staffordshire'
('Potteries Thinkbelt', Architectural Design, October 1966)

Secondly, this article also concludes:—

... that successive British governments have put nothing comparable in its place. [2]

Thirdly, this article shares Cedric Price's conclusion:—

"The possibility should not be ignored of Great Britain's becoming an increasingly imbalanced community primarily involved in servicing other countries and providing facilities for hardy historiophile holidaymakers."
(Cedric Price, 'Life-conditioning', ib.)