Profile of a Welsh county coalfield - The Denbighshire Coalfield, 1850-1914

Jones, Bethan Lloyd 2008. Profile of a Welsh county coalfield - The Denbighshire Coalfield, 1850-1914. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.

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Abstract

During the nineteenth century the British coal industry fuelled industrial growth to such an extent that Great Britain was acknowledged as the most powerful industrial country in the world. Although the coal industry was dominated by the larger regional coalfields, e.g. south Wales, the smaller coalfields also made an important, albeit largely local, contribution. This contribution has, however, often been ignored most histories either concentrate on the larger coalfields or, if examining small coalfields, they have centred on a particular event or town rather than on examining the contribution of each coalfield as a whole. This thesis will partly redress this imbalance by undertaking a 'case study' of a small, county coalfield, Denbighshire. For official purposes, Denbighshire was never considered a coalfield in its own right, it was merely recognised as part of the north Wales 'coalfield'. It is, however, argued in this thesis that geological factors and its significance within the north Wales coalfield, mean that Denbighshire warrants consideration as a small coalfield in its own right. This thesis attempts to develop, for the first time, a definitive history of the coal industry in Denbighshire, 1850--1914, through the use of an archival approach. Source material, including company records, newspapers, personal letters and official statistics, was examined. The thesis considers not only the performance of the coalfield in terms of productivity and profitability but also the various stakeholders in the coalfield, i.e. those people who, either directly or indirectly, influenced, or were influenced by, the development of the Denbighshire coal industry. Apart from establishing that Denbighshire should be treated as a small coalfield in its own right, it is concluded that the performance of Denbighshire was comparable to that of other 'small' coalfields and that, although affected by similar influences to other coalfields, the extent of their impact could be different.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
ISBN:	9781303184567
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	02 Apr 2025 13:54
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/55770

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