THE AMMAN VALLEY
A PICTURE IN STATISTICSStatistics, as most people are only too painfully aware, can be a powerful tool in the right hands, or a powerful sleep-inducing drug in the wrong ones. They can reveal a valuable picture of a whole community, or seem like a miracle cure for insomnia. And of course matters become even worse once politicians get their grubby hands on statistics; then, the endless columns, pie-charts, line-charts, bar-charts, scatter-charts and the like can easily be turned into a sound-bite and used to prove that black is white and up is down, while a politician from another party can take the same figures and demonstrate the exact opposite.
This website was not designed to bamboozle readers in order to gain devious political advantage, nor to bore them into a blissful slumber, so what follow are some neutral statistics for the Amman Valley, showing population changes over the years within a changing mining industry. Most of these statistics are to be found in other pages of this website, but are gathered here in one place to assist school pupils in a research project, or to satisfy the curiosity of the general reader. In order to place the Amman Valley in the context of the rest of Wales and Britain, there are some figures for the whole country as well.
2001 Census
The tables of statistics that follow are historical; that is, they show the Amman Valley as it was in the long-lost past. To see the latest census figures taken in 2001 click HERE for Carmarthenshire County Council's website. All you need to know about population and other changes in Carmarthenshire over the past ten years can be found here.1. POPULATION STATISTICS
Table 1
Population Change in Betws and Llandybie Civil Parishes, 1851-1911In the first half of the nineteenth century Ammanford (known as Cross Inn until 1880) was a tiny corner of the much larger parish of Llandybie, whose southern boundaries went right up the the river Amman. Until 1903, when the status of Urban District Council (UDC) was conferred upon Ammanford, it was always included for statistical purposes in the parish of Llandybie.
. Betws Civil Parish Llandybie Civil Parish Census Year
Change %
Change %1851 * 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911** *In 1851 Cross Inn was part of the Parish of Llandybie. Its 59 houses accommodated 282 inhabitants.
**Because Ammanford UDC was recorded as a separate district in 1911, the figures, particularly for Llandybie, under-represent the true rate of growth.
Table 2
Population Change in various parts of the Amman Valley, 1901-1971
. Ammanford
Urban DistrictCwmaman
Urban DistrictBetws
Parish *Llandybie
Parish *Quarter Bach Parish Year population growth
%population growth
%population growth
%population growth
%
population growth
%1901 1911 1921 1931 1951 1961 1971 *The figures for Betws and Llandybie parishes are computed on the basis of 1911 boundaries, and hence differ from the figures in Table 1. Betws parish lost population to Cwmamman in 1912. Note: Quarter Bach is the Cwmllynfell/Ystradowen area of the Amman Valley.
Table 3
Population of the Amman Valley & District 1861 - 1971
Census Year Population of Amman Valley and District Population change over previous decade (%) 1861 4,395 n/a 1871 4,636 + 5 1881 5,349 + 12 1891 6,805 + 27 1901 10,185 + 50 1911 18,584 + 82 1921 21,325 + 15 1931 22,313 + 5 1951 20,424 - 8 1961 19,412 - 5 1971 18,325 - 6 Note: These figures are for Llandybie Parish, Ammanford Urban District Council, Betws Parish and Cwmaman Urban District Council. There was no census in 1941 due to the war. Table 4
Census Population figures for Carmarthenshire, 1901 - 2001.
Census Year Population 1901
1911
1921
1931
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001135,328
160,430
175,073
179,100
172.034
168,008
162,562
164,000
166,834
173,635Note: There was no cenus in 1941 due to the war.
As these figure clearly show, the rural county of Carmarthenshire experienced a steep population decline after 1931, losing 15,000 people in just 40 years. This is a significant de-population trend, caused when people emigrated in search of work. From the 1970s, however, the decline has been reversed and the county's population is now rapidly increasing. This seems to be due to a recent population phenomenon which has been described as a flight from the cities, and with increasing numbers of the incomers arriving from England.
Table 5
Pattern of Housing Tenure in 1971
Wales England & Wales Table 6
Percentage Unemployed 1920sThe specialist nature of anthracite coal in steel-making and other industries protected the Amman Valley to a limited extent from unemployment during periods of depression elsewhere. But while the Rhondda and other Glamorgan Valleys were hit far harder than the Amman Valley, we should't let this blind us to the genuine hardship that mass unemployment creates. It makes interesting reading to compare unemployment figures for the Amman and Rhondda Valleys with the rest of the nation during the 1920s. (Here, too, is another instance where mere statistics don't reveal the reality of a situation; the 36.4 percent unemployed in the Rhondda for 1930 is only an average: there were individual villages, dependent on one coal mine, where that figure rose to over 80 percent whenever the pit closed, and similarly for the Amman Valley.)
Area 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 Amman Valley 0.06 3.3 8.6 - 33.0 27.7 14.0 14.2 Rhondda Valleys 1.2 4.4 20.1 - 34.2 29.5 25.0 36.4 National Average 2.1 6.9 21.0 - 30.3 31.8 21.9 26.6 NOTE: The unemployed figures for 1926 cannot be calculated as miners throughout Britain were on strike for seven months during the general Strike. 2. COAL MINING STATISTICS
Table 7
Britain's Coal Mines in 2004By the end of 2004 there were just 9 deep mines in production in the UK, producing about 10 million tonnes of coal a year. Of these 8 were owned by one company – UK Coal Plc., who had been handed the entire coal mining industry in England on privatisation in 1993 – or what was left of it. The 9 pits were:
Mine Manpower Annual Output
(million tonnes)Thoresby, Edwinstowe, Notts Welbeck, Nr Mansfield, Notts Daw Mill, Nr Coventry Ellington, Nr Morpeth, Northumbria Harworth, Nr Doncaster, Yorks Rossington, Nr Doncaster, Yorks Maltby, Nr Rotherham, Yorks Kellingley, Knottingley, West Yorks Tower, Aberdare, S Wales TOTAL Table 8
Surace Mines (Open Cast) in 2001Surface mine operations in the UK produced 12.1 million tonnes in 2004, with UK Coal Plc., being the biggest single company. In 2004, 35 major sites were in operation with 4 more in development.
The regional production and manpower breakdown for 2001– 2002 was as follows:
Region Manpower England 1,149 5,111,000 The deep mining industry wasn't alone in being run down by successive governments; the open cast method of extracting coal from seams close to the surface seemed to threaten the livelhoods of deep miners at one point. But the government's policy of a 'dash for gas' has resulted in fewer and fewer open cast mines over time as well. Here are the open cast figures over the years since a Tory government privatised the entire mining industry in 1994:
Table 9:
Surface Mines (Open Cast) Coal production since 1994
1995/96
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/00
2000/01
2001/02
2002/)3
2003/04
16.1
16.2
16.3
15.0
14.9
13.3
14.5
13.1
11.6
85
85
83
63
61
48
50
44
43
3,700
3,800
3,500
3,200
2,800
2,600
2,700
2,600
2,100Pit Closure Programme
Around 1913 there were about a hundred collieries in the Anthacite District of West Wales, mostly very small-scale, family operated drift mines. (The Anthracite District was made up of the Amman, Gwendraeth, Tawe, Neath, and Dulais valleys). Between the two wars one company — the Amalgamated Anthracite Colliery Ltd (AAC) — had bought up most mines in the area by 1928, owning about 80 percent of what was left. In 1926 there were still 71 mines in the five anthracite valleys:
Table 10
Anthracite District Mines in 1926 (71)Amman Valley & District:
Great Mountain, Rhos, Ammanford No. 2, Park, Emlyn, Brynhenllys, Gellyceidrim, Cross Hands, Caerbryn, Gwauncaegurwen, New Cwmgors, Tirydail, Black Mountain, Pantyffynnon, Llandebie, Wernos, Amman Valley, Cwmllynfell, Raven, Lamb, Rhosamman, Blaenhirwaun, Coedamman.Other Valleys:
Tirbach, Pontyberem, Trimsaran, Pentremawr, Crynant, Hendreladis, Pwllbach, Ponthenry, Blaenywaun, International, Dillwyn, Cawdor, Abercrave, Gwaunclawdd, Gwendraeth, Llwynon, Gurnos, Gilwen, New Cwmmawr, Ystradfawr, Carway, Diamond, Brynteg, Maesmarchog, Tarreni, Ynysgeinon, Dulais, Ynysdawela, New Dynant, Gwys, Seven Sisters, Onllwyn, Saundersfoot, Pontyclerc, Rock, Hook, Sylen, New Brook, Duke, Ystalyfera, Rhiw, Cwmnantmoel, Brynderi, Cwmtawe, Lower Cwmtawe, Mynydd Bach, Glantwrch, Gorsgoch.In 1947 the entire British mining industry was nationalised by a newly returned Labour government. There were shocks in store for those who expected the nationalised industry to expand its operations, when the government embarked instead upon a massive pit closure programme. The scale – and speed – of the local pit closure programme after nationalisation in 1947 can be seen from the following tables:
Table 11
Colliery Manpower in Carmarthenshire by Valley (selected years, 1913-1981)
Valley/Area 1913 1935 1947 1961 1981 Men Pits Men Pits Men Pits Men Pits Men Pits LIanelli/Burry Port 1642 18 368 6 634 2 415 1 – – Gwendraeth Valley 4124 14 7224 16 2946 8 1478 3 1121 1 Amman Valley 7900 35 7112 4422 13 2555 5 693 1 (From: Carmarthenshire, A Concise History, Dylan Rees, University of Wales Press, 2006, page 150.)
Table 12
Pit Closure Programme in the Amman Valley after Nationalisation
Collieries in the Amman Valley & district Date of Closure Approximate manpower before closure Maerdy, Tairgwaith Glanamman Saron Brynhenllys * Gelli Ceidrim Llandybie Blaenhirwaun * Cwmllynfell Steer Pit, Tairgwaith Mount (Butchers) Great Mountain * East Pit, Tairgwaith Cross Hands * Cwmgors Wernos Pantyffynnon Total manpower Note: Collieries marked * are strictly speaking outside the Ammanford and Amman valley area but provided employment for a considerable number of men in the area. Table 13
Growth of the Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries Ltd. (AAC)The local owners who opened the first Ammanford collieries in 1890 operated on a very small scale compared with the major capitalisation that took place in the coal fields of Glamorgan and Monmouth. Then, takeovers in 1923 and 1927, and a final merger in 1928, brought a much greater player onto the stage – the Amagamated Anthracite Colliers Ltd (AAC) who operated 80 percent of deep mines until nationalisation of the entire British mining industry in 1947. The following comparisons show this development:
Year Coal Owners Collieries Operated in Carmarthenshire 1890 Henry Herbert Bodyst Isaf 1890/91 Ammanford Colliery Company Ammanford No 1 & No 2 1918 Ammanford Colliery Company Ammanford No 1 & No 2, Pontyberem,
Pontyberem Clynhebog1945 Amalgamated Anthracite Collieries Ammanford No 2, Emlyn No 1 & No 2, Carway, Great Mountain No 1 & No 2, Pantyffynnon, Llandybie, New Cross Hands, New Dynant (Tumble), Pentremawr No 1 & No 4, Pontyberem, Great Mountain No 3, Wernos
In addition, the AAC owned considerably more collieries in Glamorgan where the rest of the anthracite valleys were situated.
Source: http://www.cmhrc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Table 14
Run-down of South Wales Collieries after Nationalisation
Year No of Collieries Manpower Output (tons) 1949 1959 1969 1979 Source: NCB, South Wales Area, (quoted in 'The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century', Hywel Francis and Dai Smith, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1998) Table 15
Run-down of Ammanford Colliery after NationalisationHere are the official NCB coal output and manpower figures for Ammanford Colliery after nationalisation in 1947.
Year Manpower Tonnage 1948 188 25,000 1953 298 87,049 1956 399 100,470 1961 470 73,936
(Source: Betws Mas o'r Byd (2001)
Table 16
Annual Manpower and Output for South Wales 1890 - 1978
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926 GS
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
116,624
117,713
117,989
124,655
126,199
125,205
126,802
128,813
132,682
147,652
150,412
154,571
159,161
163,034
165,609
174,660
190,263
201,752
204,984
213,252
220,593
225,213
232,800
221,545
202,147
213,674
219,225
218,554
257,002
271,161
232,043
243,015
252,617
250,065
217,809
156,381
194,100
168,269
178,315
172,870
158,162
145,709
142,900
139,806
29,993,000
31,207,000
30,155,000
33,418,000
33,040,000
33,868,000
35,806,000
26,724,000
39,870,000
39,328,000
39,209,000
41,306,000
42,154,000
43,730,000
43,203,000
47,056,000
49,978,000
50,227,000
50,364,000
48,700,000
50,201,000
50,116,000
56,830,000
53,880,000
50,453,000
52,081,000
48,508,000
46,717,000
47,552,000
46,249,000
30,572,000
50,325,000
54,252,000
51,085,000
44,630,000
20,273,000
46,256,000
43,312,000
48,150,000
45,108,000
37,085,000
34,874,000
34,355,000
35,173,000
257
265
256
268
262
271
282
207
300
266
261
267
265
268
261
269
263
249
246
228
228
223
244
243
250
244
221
214
185
171
132
207
215
204
205
130
238
257
270
261
234
239
240
252
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960 FD
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973 S
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
126,233
135,901
134,824
128,774
128,470
111,647
114,181
114,274
112,343
110,057
107,624
108,000
108,000
106,000
102,000
102,000
104,000
104,000
103,000
101,000
100,000
101,000
99,000
93,000
84,000
81,000
79,000
77,000
72,000
64,000
58,000
53,000
48,000
40,000
38,000
36,000
34,000
31,000
31,455
30,483
29,997
28,965
27,384
33,886,000
37,773,000
35,293,000
35,269,000
32,352,000
27,426,000
26,723,000
25,116,000
22,393,000
20,470,000
20,950,000
22,712,000
23,913,000
24,209,000
24,314,000
24,669,000
25,012,000
24,963,000
25,059,000
24,227,000
24,140,000
24,269,000
22,822,000
21,192,000
19,537,792
18,398,540
19,349,697
19,367,201
18,827,020
16,771,135
16,384,535
15,746,000
14,505,748
12,788,223
11,685,478
9,665,305
10,808,839
7,349,729
8,631,767
8,437,237
7,785,000
7,445,560
7,624,876
268
278
262
274
252
246
234
220
199
186
195
210
221
228
238
242
241
240
243
240
241
240
231
228
233
227
245
252
261
262
282
297
302
320
308
268
318
237
274
277
260
257
278
..
..NOTES TO ABOVE:
..GS – General Strike of 1926; output was reduced due to the seven month lock-out
..FD – Final closure Forest of Dean coalfield.
..SS – Final closure Somerset coalfield.
..(Source:'The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century', Appendix IV, ..Hywel Francis and Dai Smith, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1998)
..Table 17
UK Coal Production and Stocks 1970 - 2004
PRODUCTION (1,000 TONNES) STOCKS Year Total Deep-mined Opencast Imports Exports Total 1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
19791980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
19891990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
19992000
2001
2002
2003
2004
147,195
153,683
126,834
131,984
110,452
128,683
123,801
122,150
123,577
122,369130,097
127,469
124,711
119,254
51,182
94,111
108,099
104,533
104,066
99,82092,762
94,202
84,493
68,199
49,785
53,037
50,197
48,495
41,177
37,07731,197
31,930
29,989
28,279
25,096
136,686
136,478
109,086
120,030
99,993
117,412
110,265
107,123
107,528
107,775112,430
110,473
106,161
101,742
35,243
75,289
90,366
85,957
83,762
79,62872,899
73,357
65,800
50,457
31,854
35,150
32,223
30,281
25,731
20,88817,187
17,347
16,391
15,633
12,542
7,885
10,666
10,438
10,123
9,231
10,414
11,944
13,551
14,167
12,86215,779
14,828
15,266
14,706
14,306
15,569
14,275
15,786
17,899
18,65718,134
18,636
18,187
17,006
16,804
16,369
16,315
16,700
14,315
15,27513,412
14,166
13,148
12,126
11,993
79
4,241
4,998
1,675
3,547
5,083
2,837
2,439
2,352
4,3757,334
4,290
4,063
4,456
8,894
12,732
10,554
9,781
11,685
12,13714,783
19,611
20,339
18,400
15,088
15,896
17,799
19,757
21,244
20,29323,446
35,542
28,687
31,891
36,153
3,191
2,667
1,796
2,693
1,865
2,182
1,436
1,835
2,253
2,1753,809
9,113
7,447
6,561
2,293
2,432
2,677
2,353
1,822
2,0492,307
1,824
973
1,114
1,236
859
988
1,146
971
761661
549r
537
542
621
20,630
28,664
30,460
27,886
21,807
31,159
33,115
31,444
34,475
27,90837,687
42,253
52,377
57,960
36,548
34,979
38,481
33,246
36,166
39,24437,760
43,321
47,207
45,860
26,572
18,730
14,905
18,588
17,167
18,33113,651
16,537r
16,185r
13,572
13,518
Note: For the figures in bold, see the Comments below. Source: Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), January 2005. Comments: The 1984/85 Miners's Strike
It's in this table of coal production and stocks that interpretation of statistics comes into its own, where we can see coal stocks for some of these years actually foreshadow the traumatic Miners' Strike of 1884/85. By 1970 wages in the mining industry had fallen badly behind other manufacturing sectors, and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) sought to correct this imbalance with two national strikes in 1972 and 1974. The Tory government could only stand by and watch as the NUM succeeded against the National Coal Board, with disastrous political consequences for them, and in particular for their leader and Prime Minister, Edward Heath. During the 1974 strike the government declared a three-day working week across the whole of British industry, with repeated power cuts for the whole country. The NUM won the strike, and Heath called a general election on the issue of 'Who runs Britain?' The electorate decided that whoever it was, it wouldn't be the Tories, and Labour were returned to power. The Tories immediately called a leadership election which saw Edward Heath defeated by Margaret Thatcher, who became the first ever woman leader of the Conservative Party. Ominously for the NUM, Thatcher proved to be made of sterner stuff than Edward Heath, and would soon show she wasn't one to stand on the sidelines and let political events like miners' strikes pass her by. Instead, she used her time in opposition to draw up a secret plan to defeat the NUM once the Tories were returned to power. The secret document was known as the 'Ridley Plan', after the shadow Trade and Industry Secretary Nicholas Ridley who drew up the document in 1977.Thatcher soon had her chance to put this plan into action when the Tories were re-elected in the 1979 general election. Within two years the police and armed forces saw their wages doubled, during which time coal stocks were quietly, but rapidly, built up ready for a confrontation with the NUM. This came in March 1984, when the government started to close coal mines in Yorkshire in deliberate provocation of the NUM. The resulting year-long strike over pit closures, in which the NUM were finally defeated, proved the turning point for Thatcher and her government, leaving them free to systematically butcher the British mining and manufacturing industries over the next ten years. There were 170 deep pits pits when the strike began in 1984, employing 181,400 men, and producing 120 million tonnes of coal a year. The nine pits at the close of 2004 employ just 3,909 men and less than 10 million tonnes will be produced.
A closer look at the coal stocks for critical years in the above table tell the story all too clearly. Coal stocks in 1971, just before the 1972 NUM strike, were at 28.66 million tonnes. Stocks in 1973 ahead of the 1974 strike were similar at 27.88 million tonnes. But from 1980 however, the first full year of Thatcher's government, we see a steady and remorseless rise in stocks – 37.7 million tonnes in 1980; 42.25 million tonnes in 1981; 52.37 millions tonnes in 1982; and finally in 1983, the year before the strike, coal stocks stood at 57.96 million tonnes, their highest level ever, and more than double the 27.9 million tonnes in 1979 when the Tories came to power.
A fuller picture of the strike can be found in the website of the National Justice for Mineworkers Campaign. This contains a full history and chronology of the strike, the story of the Women's Movement, the post-strike pit-closure programme, the assault on civil liberties during that momentous year, and the tale of the victimisation of NUM members during and after the strike. Compelling reading for one of the most important periods in Britain's twentieth century industrial history.
Table 18
Manpower and Coal Mines since nationalisation in 1947
(Nationalised Deep Mines Only) Year 1947
1950
1955
1960
1965/66
1970/71
1973/74
1974/75
1975/76
1976/77
1977/78
1978/79
1979/80
1980/81
1981/82
1982/83
1983/84
1984/85 MS
1985/86
1986/87
1987/88
1988/89
1989/90
1990/91
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95 PR
1995/96
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/00
2000/01
2001/02
2002/03
2003/04
187.5
205.6
211.3
186.8
177.0
135.5
98.7
116.9
114.5
108.5
106.3
105.5
109.3
110.3
108.9
104.9
90.1
27.6
88.4
88.0
82.4
85.0
75.6
72.3
71.0
61.8
42.7
32.0
35.2
32.1
28.1
23.8
19.6
17.4
18.1
15.8
14.7
958
901
850
698
483
292
259
246
241
238
231
223
219
211
200
191
170
169
133
110
94
86
73
65
50
50
17
60
65
59
53
37
31
33
28
24
19
703,900
690,800
698,700
602,100
455,700
287,200
252,000
246,000
247,100
242,200
23,900
233,600
231,800
230,700
218,800
208,000
191,700
171,400
138,500
107,700
89,000
80,100
65,400
57,300
43,800
43,800
22,000
15,000
15,100
13,900
11,200
9,800
8,200
8,600
8,100
6,600
6,000
Notes:
From 1966, the figures are to 31/3 each year.
MS = The year of the Miner's Strike, with coal production much lower than usual.
PR = This year all mines were privatised. Figures for the former nationalised mines are merged with those for the former licensed (ie private) mines. Source: The Coal Authority.Table 19
The great landowners of Carmarthenshire in 1873Until the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century wealth was acquired chiefly through land ownership. The major landowners of the day received their often vast income by renting out their land to farmers and other tenants. A portion of the best land was usually retained for themselves, tradionally bearing the name of Home Farm, but the bulk of their wealth came from rental sources. Here are the leading landowners in Carmarthenshire for the year 1873, along with their income and land acreage. The 1873 income has been converted for this website using the Bank of England estimate that £1 in 1873 was equivalent to £81.05 in 2003.
Name of Land Owner Address Land in Carmarthenshire (acres) Estimated annual rental in 1873 (£s) Value in 20039 (£s) x £81.05 Lord Ashburnham
Lord Cawdor
A. H. S. Davies
Sir J. H. Williams-Drummond
Lord Dynevor
A. J. Gulston
J. W. M.Gwynne-Hughes
A. H. C.Jones
Morgan Jones
C. W. Mansel-Lewis
David Pugh
H. L. Puxley
Sir J. S. Cowell-StepneySussex
Golden Grove
Pentre, Pembs
Edwinsford
Llandeilo
Derwydd
Tre-gib
Carmarthen
Llanmilo
Stradey
Llandeilo
Llethr Liesti
Llanelli5,685
33,782
3,702
6,900
7,208
6,744
6,797
7,662
11,030
13,139
6,198
6,522
9,8413,548
20,780
3,118
5,096
7,253
10,976
3,990
4,610
5,867
4,265
3,569
4,969
7,047
From: Carmarthenshire, A Concise History, Dylan Rees, University of Wales Press, 2006, page 84. The estimated rental incomes of 1873 have been converted using the equivalent for the pound in 2009 of £81.05 (Bank of England. Figure).
Date this page last updated: October 1, 2010
