THE SOMERSET COALFIELD

Series

Series Name
Mining Review 17th Year

Issue

Issue No.
12
Date Released
Aug 1964
Length of issue (in feet)
900
Stories in this Issue:

Story

Story No. within this Issue
1 / 1
Summary
BFI synopsis: A single story issue on the Somerset coalfield, for its size (comprising five pits) the most highly mechanised in England. Local people give their views.
NCB Commentary - 1. North-East Somerset has been a mining district for something like 2000 years. The Romans mined lead from the Mendip Hills, and lead was still being won in the 19th Century.
Coal was dug around Redstock and Midsomer Norton in the 14th Century. The Industrial Revolution turned the district into a predominantly coalmining area.
The Somerset Coal-Canal had been built before 1800. So barges could carry coal right into the Thames Valley. The railway didn’t take over until a 100 years later.
2. But the men who lived around Norton-Radstock were still ex-miners and the sons of miners, and the Area was far from depressed.
During the last fifteen years, in fact, this has quietly become something of a boom area.
3. In fact, for it’s size, the Somerset Coalfield is the most highly mechanised group in Britain - 90% of the coal being cut and loaded by machinery.
4. The challenge is there to the Coal Board - to the Somerset miners, to the incomers. Judging by what has happened so far, they will win this round too, and they’ll play their part in the future of this booming Area of North East Somerset.
Keywords
Mining
Locations
England; Somerset
Written sources
British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The British National Film Catalogue   Vol.2 1964, p.55
The National Archives COAL 32   /13 Scripts for Mining Review, 1960-1963
Credits:
Producer
John Reid
Commentator
John Slater
Sponsor
National Coal Board
Production Co.
National Coal Board Film Unit
Cutter
Robert Vas

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