Monday, July 22, 2024

End of an era

Four decades after it began, the Miners' Strike has understandably been the subject of many a feature this year. But of course mining wasn't the only heavy industry that collapsed around that time, the repercussions of which were felt as acutely in South Wales as anywhere else.

Six years earlier, in 1978, the imposing East Moors Steelworks closed, and all that now remain are the rubble and tangled metal on Splott Foreshore and the memories - plus this remarkable set of photos taken by Huw Powell chronicling the site's final day, recently published on Inksplott.

Workers are pictured raising a can to the steelworks, but, as with Mik Critchlow's photos of Woodhorn Colliery winding down, there's also a poignancy to the images, with many employees evidently suffering from shellshock and wounded pride, anxious about the uncertain future lying ahead.

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