St Teilo's 12 March 2008 A selection of images from St Teilo's Church Decoration The screen from the west door. The carpenter’s signature, and the date the church was opened. It reads ‘XIIII Oct A.D. MMVII RJS fecit’. Translated from Latin, this means ‘14 October 2007 A.D. RJS (Ray J. Smith) made this’. This is a collection of all the so-called 'Passion', or Easter symbols. They tell the story of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, showing only the tools used. Aspects of daily life were reflected everywhere in this building in Tudor times. In our interpretation, we have added some local characters of our own. Here's Ray, the carpenter, again, surrounded by his tools! This is also a corrupted Pagan symbol. The hare, as symbol of fertility, is turned into a Trinity symbol. Their ears are all joined and the simple hare becomes a symbol of resurrection. Worshipper's lives in Tudor times were strongly linked to the natural world. As a consequence, symbols like the green man — the Pagan spirit of the forest — were acceptable in church. In the same way medieval church had many different functions, it also had many different messages and symbols conveyed through the building. This is a royal symbol, the Tudor Rose, bringing together the York and Lancaster roses. The apostles were painted by an artist called Fleur Kelly. She worked with our own historic painters to decorate the rest of the screen. The three saints hold an object in their hands, so that we can tell who they are. Philip was crucified for his beliefs, so he holds a cross. John was made to drink poisoned wine — and lived — so he holds a cup with a snake in it. Peter holds the keys to the gates of heaven, so he holds a key. Teilo's life is depicted in great detail on the loft. You can view it in full by clicking here . This panel shows the story of Teilo escaping from hounds, after trying to establish a community on the Count's land in Dol, Brittany. A closer view shows us how much is displayed on the Loft, too. Here are four of the twelve Apostles — Saints held in special view by Christians for their work spreading Jesus' message. Underneath is Teilo's life story, carved into oak. A closer look at the screen and loft. These fixtures would have been common all over Wales and England until the mid 16th century. The screen was built to separate the ordinary people from the priests who held the service. The loft on top was used for display, rather than as a minstrel's gallery or choir loft. Here's Ray Smith, Head Carpenter at our Historic Buildings unit, standing in front of the screen he made. The tools in his hand are what were used to make it — a hammer and chisels.
Foreign workers in the Welsh coalfields 6 March 2008 Post War miner shortage Group of Slovenians at Oakdale Training Centre 1948. Following the Second World War, the demand for coal was high and generally rising. Post-war recovery and growth demanded cheap and abundant energy that could only come from coal. There was an urgent need to recruit more miners. One source for these was among the thousands of Europeans who had to flee their home countries during the War. Although Britain desperately needed these men they were not always welcomed with open arms and there was much resistance from local National Union of Mineworkers' lodges. There was more disquiet when the recruitment of Italians began in 1951, and things were no better when the National Coal Board tried to recruit among Hungarian refugees after the 1956 revolution. By this time another group had already entered the coal field. In 1954 the German mining engineering group, Thyssen UK, came to work in south Wales, bringing some of their own countrymen with them. As with today's immigrants, these 'foreign workers' faced much initial suspicion, which arose partly from ignorance and partly from the fear of unemployment among the local population. These young men came to Britain after years of hardship, danger and tragedy. "All Poles" Nyk Woszczycki (2nd from left) in a group celebrating his friend Joe Hughes's retirement from Britannia Colliery Many left the coal industry as soon as they could, many even left Britain, but the ones who stayed earned a lasting reputation for toughness and hard work. Even though they came from many countries they tend to be regarded as 'all Poles' by the Welsh miner. They married local girls and settled down; on their living room walls can often be found photographs of their children and grandchildren, who have been brought up as Welsh. Many of these have gained university degrees; some have won sporting honours for Wales. In spite of their pride in their original homelands, most now regard themselves as Welsh. In turn, Wales should be proud of them and the part they have played in her history. This article forms part of a magazine in the series 'Glo' produced by Big Pit National Coal Museum. Download the complete magazine here:
Explore the Sea Floor moves once more! Lara Murphy, 1 March 2008 The Explore the Sea Floor exhibition has moved to Kettering Museum following a successful time at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum. There is plenty of display space at Kettering which has allowed extra specimens to travel with the exhibition this time. The exhibition will be on display from 7th March to 12th April. Click here for more information about Kettering museums.
Museum records largest earthquake in UK for 25 years 28 February 2008 A scan from the seismograph at National Museum Cardiff showing the Market Rasen earthquake on 27 February 2008 at 00:57.14 GMT. The shock waves were recorded by a seismometer located near Newport, south Wales, and transmitted to the seismograph at the Museum. The seismograph at National Museum Cardiff has recorded the largest onshore seismic event in the UK since 1990. The earthquake was recorded by the Museum's seismograph at 00:57.14 GMT 27 February. This has been identified as the Magnitude 5.2 earthquake detected by the British Geological Survey. The epicentre was initially reported as located just north of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, at 00:56.47 GMT. The earthquake waves took just 27 seconds to travel the 158 miles between Market Rasen and the Museum's seismometer near Newport, south Wales. This means that the earthquake's waves were travelling at approximately 5.85 miles per second. This is the largest onshore event in the UK since the Magnitude 5.1 earthquake at Bishops Castle in the Welsh Borderland on 2 April 1990. The Market Rasen event was felt by people as far afield as Newcastle, Yorkshire, London, Cumbria, the Midlands, Norfolk and parts of Wales. Damage to roofs, walls and chimneys around the epicentre area were reported and one person was injured in Wombwell near Barnsley, South Yorkshire as a result of falling masonry. Aftershock Earthquakes of this size are typically followed by smaller earthquakes or 'aftershocks'. A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded in the region just a few hours after the main event. A detailed investigation is required to establish the geological structure responsible for the main earthquake. The Geological Survey has already calculated that the quake occurred at a depth of around 18km. This suggests it most likely occurred along an ancient fault in Precambrian rocks, such as those that underlie much of Wales. The exact fault along which the quake occurred is unlikely to be exposed at the surface as younger Palaeozoic and Mesozoic rocks (Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic and Jurassic, for example) overlie the Precambrian rocks in the Market Rasen area. The magnitude 5.4 Lleyn Peninsula earthquake of 19 July 1984 remains the largest recorded onshore earthquake in the UK. Information from: http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/ http://www.emsc-csem.org/ http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/neic/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/
The National Coal Board in South Wales 25 February 2008 Post War BritainThe dismal history of the coal industry between the world wars, government control during the Second World War and the need for coal in post-war Britain made nationalisation of the British coal industry almost inevitable after the election of a Labour government in 1945.'Vesting Day', 1 January 1947, was largely welcomed in Welsh collieries when the south Wales coalfield became part of the South-Western Division of the National Coal Board (NCB). Assets taken over by the NCB in the UK included over 1,400 coal mines, 225,000 acres of farm land, 140,000 miners' houses, shops, offices, hotels, swimming baths, a holiday camp and a cycle track!Investment and DisappointmentNationalisation brought in considerable new investment for south Wales. Between 1948 and 1953, nearly £32 million was invested in the Cardiff region alone, with the reconstruction of Nantgarw Colliery cost £4.5 million. There was increased mechanisation at the coal face and drives to improve health and safety. However, by the mid-1950s, the NCB began to be seen as remote as any of the previous private coal owners. Investment had also often failed to bring results, with the expensive Nantgarw Colliery producing a disappointing 100,000 tons of coal a year.Closures and disastersEven from the early days of the NCB there was a tendency to close smaller, uneconomic pits and reorganise the larger ones. However, during the 1960s a deliberate rundown of the south Wales coalfield had begun. No other British coalfield suffered such closures - in 1960 there were 106,000 south Wales miners, by 1970 there were 60,000. The pace of closures only slackened off during the Middle East oil crisis of the mid-1970s.1960, an explosion at Six Bells Colliery killed 45 miners, and on the morning of Friday, 21 October 1966, a large section of the spoil heap of Merthyr Vale Colliery slid down the hillside onto the village of Aberfan, killing 144 people including 116 children.The 1960'sThe 1960s saw the development of new 'super pits' at Abernant, Brynlliw and Cynheidre Collieries as well as the reorganisation of existing collieries such as Coegnant, Deep Navigation and Merthyr Vale.The decade also saw all British mineworkers brought onto the same pay rate. Both management and trade unions broadly welcomed this agreement, although many men saw a substantial fall in their incomes.The Agreement forged a greater sense of unity between UK coalfields, which paved the way for the national strikes of 1972 and 1974, which were fought over wages, the latter dispute bringing about the fall of the Conservative government.The final yearsBy the early 1980s the British mining industry had become one of the safest and most efficient in Europe. However, a new Conservative government was in place and a new round of pit closures announced. The Welsh coalfields were especially vulnerable due to the age of the collieries and the difficult geology.Although closures had been reluctantly accepted in the past, the lack of alternative employment led to calls for industrial action. The last great miners' strike began in March 1984 and lasted a year. The defeat of the miners paved the way for the final destruction of the Welsh coal industry.The next ten years saw the end of coal as a nationalised industry. In 1994, Tower Colliery, the last remaining deep coal mine in Wales was closed by the NBC, (renamed British Coal). However, convinced that the mine was still economical, 239 miners bought the colliery with their own redundancy money and the mine remained operational until it's final closure on 25th January 2008, bringing to an end 200 years of deep coal mining in south Wales.This article forms part of a booklet in the series 'Glo'produced by Big Pit: National Mining Museum. Download here
