All Mine Types

• Boulton & Watt Papers – 1,100 letters 

• British Geological Survey - Useful downloadable publications with some historical information.

• Archives Network Wales   Web access to allow easy searching of archival resources held by Record Offices, Universities, Museums & Libraries in Wales.

• Slate and Stone Consultants: Roofing slate  

• Gazetteer and Bibliography of the Mines and Quarries of North Wales - As originally compiled by Jeremy Wilkinson.

• 'History of The Cardiganshire Mines...'  by Absalom Francis

• Casglu'r Tlysau / Gathering the Jewels

• Gwynedd Archive Services

- Go to their searchable 'On-line' Catalogue (Over 12,000 pages !)
- Visit the 'Slatesite' [English version] quarrying collection.

• Mines rescue UK - Phillip Cliffords Web-pages

• The Institute of Quarrying - Sources for the History of Quarrying

• Searchable archives of postings to the ‘Mining-History’ Discussion Group, as managed by Peter Claughton.

• GENUKI: Wales - Genealogy info organised on a County by County basis.  Contains vast quantities of on-line data including 1851 Census data and Samuel Lewis's 1833 work 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales'.

• UK Births, Marriages & Deaths

• University of Wales, Aberystwyth - On Line Library Search : English - Welsh

• RCAHMW - On Line Data Bases
• CARN  Accesses the Core Archaeological Record iNdex, an index to information (NPRN's) held by archaeological organisations in Wales.
• COFLEIN  Provides more detailed info (including maps) on some of the NPRN's
Name derived from the Welsh 'cof' (memory) and 'lein' (line).
Click here to learn all about how to use Coflein.

• RCAHMW - Uplands Archaeology Initiative
• Project Summaries : 2007 - 08
• The First Ten Years of the Uplands Initiative

• NAMHO Research Guide

• British Library Home Page Search their on-line manuscript catalogue.

• Sources of printed primary resources as listed by Peter Claughton.

• The National Archives (Previously the Public Record Office), Kew, London.   Go to their 'on-line' searchable database of over 11 million references to records.
Checkout their research guides:
Mines & Quarries
Coal Mines
The relevant categories for mining companies are:
BT41 - Pre-limited liability
BT31 - Registered limited liability companies
BT34 - Liquidators reports (late 19th and 20th centuries)
Other relevant categories include:
COAL and MUN for the British Coal Industry and Ministry of Munitions (1st WW) respectively.

• The National Library of Wales Search their on-line index of books, journals, maps etc.

• Details of County Record Offices and other archival resources in Wales

• Welsh Family History Archive - Categorised by surname, then search on mine name or just 'mine' for those involved in mining.  A search on the nearest town can also prove worthwhile.

• Mining History and the Internet An excellent starting point to those getting on the web for the first time or those struggling to find what they want in the mining history arena.

• Location maps of South Wales Collieries, 1950

Coal Mines

• South Wales coalfield web resource

• Collieries Of The United Kingdom At Work In 1869 South Wales

• Coal Authority - Mining Records  They have copies of over 100,000 coal mine abandonment plans, dating back to 1872.

• Swansea University Historical Collections - including :
  South Wales Coalfield Collection  - Established in 1969 as an attempt to preserve the documentary records of the mining community of South Wales. 
  Also click here to find out how this resource was developed.

• Coal Mining History Resource Centre  Includes a list of 55,000 names of people who died in UK mines from 1850 to 1904.

• Public Record Office - Coal Mining Records

• Monmouthshire Coal Mines - 1908

Maps - OS

• Landmark Information Group have usefully placed copies on-line of 1st Edn. 6" O.S. Maps (1846 - 1899), and later, plus some larger scale ones, covering all of the UK.

• Ordnance Survey 1:10,560, 1st Edition (Wales) 1:2,500, 1st Edition (Cardiff area only). British History Online - Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust.

• Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'New Popular Edition' maps for the UK - those most recently out of OS copyright (i.e. at least 50 years old; 1940's - 1950's). Limited resolution and variable quality.

• Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Popular Edition' (and earlier) maps for the UK.
  Click on the map to zoom in on the area of interest, then select map of interest from selection beneath this (will open in a new window). Excellent resolution/quality.

• Ordnance Survey current revision maps down to 1:25,000.

• Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'New Popular Edition' maps for England and Wales - 1945-1947.
  These maps are included in the National Library of Scotlands on-line resource, which includes maps for all (yes all) of Scotland from small scale down to 25" to the mile. Perhaps the National Library of Wales will follow this initiative at some point ?!

• Six Inch Ordnance Survey maps for Northumberland and Durham, from 1800's to 1990's.
  Click on 'Local Histories', select the initial letter and then the name of the place of interest, and click 'Location on a map' (usually towards the foot of the page). Finally click on 'Historical Maps', and select the data range of interest, noting that older maps are only available at a 'Map scale' of 10000 and less, not that this changes the scale as such, just the level of magnification.

• Index to on-line resources of maps (non OS) of Wales

• More 'Online Map Sources', with a focus on those covering the North East of England.

• Six Inch first (1880's) and second (1900's) edition OS maps for the county of Somerset.

On-Line Publications 

• Barber, J.T. : 'A Tour throughout South Wales and Monmouthshire', 1803 [HTML]

• Beringer, Cornelius and Beringer,John Jacob : 'A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines' [HTML]

• Borrow, George (Ed. Watts-Dunton, Theodore) : 'Wild Wales', 1906 Ed'n [HTML]

• CBA Research Reports

• No. 40 (1981) 'Medieval Industry', D.W. Crossley (Ed.) [PDF]
• No. 79 (1986) 'Welsh Industrial Heritage: A Review', C. Stephen Briggs (Ed.) [PDF]

• Evans, Rev.J. : 'The Beauties of England and Wales, or, Delineations, topographical, historical, and descriptive, of each county' - Vol.XVII, N.Wales, 1801 [Read on-line or PDF (44.6MB)]

• Evans, Rev.J & Britton J. : 'The Beauties of England and Wales, or, Delineations, topographical, historical, and descriptive, of each county' - Vol.XI, Monmouthshire, 1810 [Read on-line or PDF (38.6MB)]

• Giraldus Cambrensis : 'The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales', 1912 Ed'n [HTML]

• Hittell, John S. : 'Hittel on Gold Mines and Mining', 1864 [HTML - No plates]

• Hoover, Herbert C. : 'Principles of Mining Valuation, Organization and Administration', 1st Ed'n, 1909 [HTML]

• Johnson, J. C. F. - F. G. S. : 'Getting Gold',  [HTML - No plates]

• Multhauf, Robert P. : 'Mine Pumping in Agricola's Time and Later', 1909 [HTML]

• Nicholls H. G. : 'Iron Making in the Olden Times as instanced in the Ancient Mines, Forges, and Furnaces of The Forest of Dean', 1866 [HTML]

• Rees, Thomas - FSA : 'The Beauties of England and Wales, or, Delineations, topographical, historical, and descriptive, of each county' - Vol.XVIII, S.Wales, 1815 [Read on-line or PDF (84.6MB)]

Bibliographies & Indicies

• List of Publications (including their contents & indicies) covering metalliferous mining in Ceredigion.

• List of news reports covering metalliferous mining in Ceredigion.

• Index to 'The Cambrian' Newspaper - Courtesy of Swansea Library Service 

• Index to Charles Close photographic collection - The National Library of Wales 
  Includes images of the dismantling of the Van mines railway, Gwynfynydd gold mine, slate quarrying...

• Search the library of The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers - The oldest mining institute in the world, who hold the UK's largest mining library.

• Indicies to the PDMHS Bulletins, NMRSoc & NCMRSoc Memoirs and Transactions

• Index to Industrial Archaeology Review - The publication of The Association for Industrial Archaeology (Subject Index : Vols. I To XXVII : 1976-2005)
  Abstracts can be found here
  

• Welsh Geology, Metallogenesis & Mineralogy Bibliography

• Download John Masons bibliography of references to minerals and mines in Wales.

• GENUKI: Wales - Bibliography relating to occupations in Wales.

• A 'List of indexes to Welsh Periodicals and Newspapers' - In .PDF format.  Right click and 'save as...' to download.

• National Library of Wales : Search their collection of four million items, covering books, maps, etc. - A real treasure trove !

• Mining History Network Bibliography:  Central & South Wales.

• Mining History Network Bibliography:  North Wales & Merioneth.

• A huge bibliography of published works relating to mines and quarries working minerals  (principally other than fuels or metalliferous ores) in the British Isles - includes many in Wales, prepared by Andy Bowman and Paul Sowan - Subterranea Britannica 1995 - 2007. Download the 2.4 Mb 'zip' file  or open the HTML page - huge file, takes ages to open...

• Basic bibliography on Welsh Mines

• South Wales Caving Club - Newsletters for download - inevitably some cover mines

Book Suppliers

• Tony Oldham's 'Page of Books'

• Mike Moore Mining and Caving Bookseller  (Books on Mines in Wales)

• Landmark Publishing

 

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