Is Bit Pit an accurate representation of work and life in mining communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

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Is Bit Pit an accurate representation of work and life in mining communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

The Big Pit was first developed in the mid 19th century to provide coal to the Blaenavon Ironworks, and then later provided steam coal for the domestic and export.

Big Pit was originally called Kearley’s Pit. It got its nickname, ‘Big Pit’, from the size of its elliptical shaft, which at 5.5 by 4.6 was the first in the area that was wide enough to wind 2 trams side by side.

The numbers of men working in Big Pit grew rapidly, and by 1908 there were 1,122 men employed. This number gradually decreased until by 1970 the workforce numbered as low as 494 men. Steam coal was in high demand in London, and the North Western Railways were regular customers. Steam coal was also exported world wide. In 1945 Bit Pit became part of the National Coal Board.

The last coal face stopped work in November 1979, and the colliery closed in February 1980 due to being uneconomic.

The purpose of Big Pit being opened as a museum was to show how the coal was mined and aspects of community life. An advantage of trying to represent the past would be they can give a clear representation of how life would have been in those times and how it has changed; though a disadvantage would be no one could re-create what life would have really been like.

Bit Pit represents life in mining communities very accurately

The sources suggest that Bit Pit does give an accurate representation of life in mining communities in the late 19th/early 20th century.

Source 1 was written by Richard Sykes, Chairman of the Judges of the Gulbenkian Prize which is given each year for the best British museum. He says that Bit Pit gives an “exceptional, emotional and intellectual experience,”

A negative aspect of the source may be that Sykes made the statement to justify giving the prize to Big Pit, though it is similar to the idea’s expressed by the curator of Big Pit in source 2.

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I consider source 5 to be a valid source in finding out about the accuracy of Big Pit. It shows how important wash day was in the coal field society, and the preparations that the miner’s wives had to make. The source says “It took all day to wash years ago. Because they had to boil the water in a boiler didn’t they! A tub, a dolly stick and a rubbing board. And then if it wasn’t dry, they’d have to dry indoors, didn’t they?” There would be disadvantages of drying clothes indoors such as having a house full of ...

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