The Story of Wales
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- Episode
- Episode Four - Furnace of Change
- Broadcast Info
- 2012 (59 mins)
- Description
- It’s one of the most remarkable comebacks in British history. Wales is transformed from a backwater into a cauldron of economic and political activity. The country is energised and enriched. The process is crucially assisted by a rise in literacy. The circulating schools put us ahead of England and the rest of Europe. The Welsh Bible produces a huge Methodist awakening with meetings of up to ten thousand people. The Welsh are ready to participate in the new wealth of the Industrial Revolution. From Swansea to Amlwch, from Bersham to Dowlais and Blaenavon, the copper kilns and iron furnaces light up the sky. Wales becomes an industrial nation. The wealth generated stays largely in the hands of incoming entrepreneurs and masters who drive their profits hard. The popular response is a political radicalism that seeks a fair share of the wealth. In the 1830s and 1840s, Wales makes trouble for the British state in the risings at Merthyr and Wrexham, in Chartist marches and the Rebecca Riots. But Wales is also a place of magic and romance for nineteenth century tourists who love its mountains and its ancient bardic culture.
We end with a Wales settling rather smugly into Victorian respectability and about to be shaken up by King Coal and his rambunctious subjects.... - Genre
- History; Social Science
How to cite this record
The Open University, "The Story of Wales". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/82592 (Accessed 11 Jan 2025)