Suchergebnisse

Accidents of personal biography are perhaps not the most sensible way by which to select topics for historical research, yet it was a fortuitous move from Cardiff to Durham which created an initial curiosity about the character of the coalfields in the two areas. No one could miss the difference of landscape between, on the one hand, the linear communities stretching along the deep and narrow South Wales valleys, amidst soaring mountains and spoil heaps and, on the other hand, the sprinkling of nucleated pit villages within the drab, undulating topography of County Durham. The belief that a comparison of these areas might be a topic of more than purely personal interest arose from two considerations.