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Digital Wales -- Modern Welsh History

This section contains digital projects, film clips of news events and online exhibitions from important events and periods in modern Welsh history.

Vision of Britain through Time
This website provides a vision of Britain between 1801 and 2001, including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions. It includes information about places throughout the UK, including Wales, that can be searched by post code, place name or an interactive map. It also includes census reports, historical mapping and travellers' tales.

Campaign!
'Campaign!' traces a century of political and social campaigning in Wales, using sources from the Welsh Political Archive at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. Themes within 'Campaign!' include:

  • Devolution
  • Welsh Language
  • Miners Strikes
  • Water Industry
  • War and Peace
  • Welsh elections

Sound and Video items from the National Library of Wales include:

  • Lloyd George visits Germany (1936)
  • Devolution Referendum (1979)
  • Miners' strike (1984)
  • Royal Welsh Fusiliers Recruitment Rally (1939)
  • Welsh Language Act campaign (1985, 1992)
  • Plaid Cymru Rallies (1992)
  • Funeral of David Lloyd George at Llanystumdwy (1945)
  • Tryweryn (1964-65)

Wales on Air
Wales on Air gives visitors the opportunity to watch and listen to the best moments from the BBC Wales archive and contains online clips on a number of events and famous figures from Wales from the past 80 years. RealPlayer plug-in is required to play these clips. The resource also provides details of other archive material available to view by appointment at the BBC.

The News and Events section contains clips of the following events:

  • Depression in the Valleys (1926, 1933)
  • Lloyd George's funeral (1945)
  • German prisoners of war escaping from Island Farm camp in Bridgend (1945)
  • Polish exiles in Carmarthenshire (1960)
  • The Welsh Language Society's first protest (1963)
  • Creation of the Welsh Office (1964)
  • Miners of the Rhondda (1965)
  • Aberfan disaster (1966)
  • Plaid Cymru first parliamentary victory in Carmarthen (1966)
  • Opening of the Severn Bridges (1966 and 1996)
  • Drowning of Capel Celyn and Tryweryn (1967)
  • Free Wales Army march (1968)
  • Former miners leader, Will Paynter (1969)
  • The Investiture (1969)
  • Britania Bridge fire (1970)
  • Carmarthen election (1974)
  • Welsh Assembly Referenda (1979 and 1997)
  • Death of Johnny Owen (1980)
  • Slate quarries in north Wales (1980)
  • Snow over Wales (1982)
  • Towyn floods (1990)
  • The miners strike (1994, 1995)
  • Sea Empress disaster (1996)
  • Offical opening of the National Assembly (1999)
  • John Charles

Gathering the Jewels
Gathering the Jewels is a collection of over 20,000 images of Welsh life, illustrating the natural and social history of Wales throughout the ages. Contents of images include historic letters, paintings, artefacts and photographs, gathered from museums, libraries, record offices and archives throughout Wales. Click on the Themes for more information on the events listed below.

  • Aberfan Colliery Disaster, 1966
  • Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg's first protest, 1963
  • Construction of the Newport Transporter Bridge, 1902-06
  • Ebbw Vale steelworks and the Garden Festival of Wales, 1992
  • Gresford Colliery Disaster, 1934
  • Protest in Liverpool against the drowning of Capel Celyn (Tryweryn), 1956
  • Swansea blitz, 1941

Gathering the Jewels also contains access to a number of film clips from the collection of National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales. There are over 25 films listed. The selection includes:

  • The Dolgarrog Disaster (1925)
  • Parliament for Wales Rally (1949)
  • Tryweryn: the Story of a Valley (1965)
  • Footage of Second World War evacuees arriving at Machynlleth (1939)
  • Life on the island of Bardsey (1953)
  • Royal Welsh Agricultural Show (1954)

The above is a brief summary of what exists on Gathering the Jewels. For a gateway to over 20,000 images relating to all aspects of Welsh life, visit the Gathering the Jewels site.

British Pathe
Pathe was a staple source of visual news between 1910 and 1970 and the British Pathe online database features 3,500 hours of footage from tens of thousands of stories, many relating to key historic and social events in Wales over the last century. All content is free of charge for use by UK Maintained Schools in the classroom. There are many News clips from Wales and include such items as:

  • Aberfan disaster (1966)
  • Many Welsh international rugby matches
  • Queen Mary's tour of Wales (1938)
  • Former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan unveiling a statue of David Lloyd George in Cardiff (1960)
  • Holidaymakers in north Wales
  • New animals settling in at Colwyn Bay Zoo
  • Blaenau Ffestiniog railway
  • Heyday of slate quarrying
  • The world's oldest working steam railway at Tal-y-llyn (1955)
  • Funeral of the Llwynypia Colliery Disaster victims
  • Portmeirion (1962)
  • Port Dinorwic (1962)
  • Welsh coal miners and their families in Caerphilly

South Wales Police Museum
South Wales Police Museum is located in Bridgend and tells the story and history of policing in south Wales. The museum is based at Police headquarters in Bridgend, and includes information about:

  • History of Merthyr Tydfil borough police
  • Merthyr rising (1831)
  • Pay and conditions in the 1840s
  • Rebecca Riots (1840s)
  • Merthyr - battle for 'China' (1841)
  • Laleston poisoning (1843)
  • Pc James James - a Victorian policeman
  • Policing Pontypridd in the 1850s
  • Glamorgan police at war
  • Senghenydd coal mining disaster (1913)
  • Island Farm prisoner of war camp
  • Samtampa tragedy (1947)
  • Llandow air disaster (1950)
  • Aberfan disaster (1966)
  • Policing Cardiff (1955-2005)

Subject specific collections include:

Cwm: Coalfield Web Materials
The CWM (Coalfield Web Materials) project covers the south Wales coal mining industry and digitises photographic and oral history (audio, video) material contained within the University of Wales' South Wales Coalfield Collection. The project covers a wide range of themes including events such as the many miners' strike in Wales, life in the coalfield (focusing on economy, society, religion and politics) and a short biography of people such as Aneurin Bevan, SO Davies and Keir Hardie. The website also has a search facility, guide on how to use the site and learning paths for use in education.

Welsh Coal Mines
The Welsh Coal Mines website is written by John Smith, a former collier. The site posts historical information on the coal mining industry in Wales, including photographs and brief history of many Coal Mines in Wales, poems and stories and bibliographical information on mining in Wales.

Slateside
Slateside provides digitised information and a range of learning materials on the North Wales Slate Industry and its associated communities. The project is a co-operative venture and contains details of quarrying techniques, quarrying history, pay strikes and living conditions, transport infrastructure and the effect the slate industry had on community life in North Wales.

Slate Industry of North and Mid Wales
The slate industry of North and Mid Wales website, created and updated by Dave Sallery. The site posts historical and geological information on slate mining in Wales. The site contains photographs and brief history of slate quarries, the railways used to transport the slate, remains and relics, and the industry as it is today.

Their Past Your Future: Wales
Their Past Your Future is a digitisation project that involves capturing digital images of all kinds relating to the Second World War. Digitised items could include photographs, ration cards, government leaflets, armed forces records, letters or postcards. The project will also record the stories associated with the photographs and concentrate on how the War affected Wales and Welsh people. It is based on the touring exhibition which will tour Wales commemorating the Second World War and explores its impact on people and places. The project is supported by the Big Lottery Fund and co-ordinated by the National Library of Wales. The digitisation part of the project is managed by Culturenet Cymru and digitisation days will be held at venues in Wales providing opportunities for items to be digitised. The website will also be developed as a lasting educational resource.

Their Past Your Future: UK
There is also exhibition is curated by the Imperial War Museum, and will be hosted by eight venues in Wales and will provide an excellent insight into what it meant to live in Wales during the Second World War. It will explore the lasting impact of the conflict on people and places across the UK and provide a range of learning activities to inspire everyone, from children to veterans. The website provides details of the touring exhibition and has a number of useful links relating to the Second World War.