WHEN we think of the riches beneath our feet, we tend to think of coal and iron and the Industrial Revolution, but mining has a 4,000 year history and has shaped the destiny of Britain ever since the Phoenicians visited Cornwall to trade for tin. Former mining engineer Geoff Coyle is just the man to outline our rich geological heritage, its industrial, economic and political and social events, but he also delves into the human cost of exploiting nature’s cornucopia. His tale of miners’ lives and miners’ conditions show the hardship and grinding toil which had to be endured, while the whole story is punctuated by disasters such as those at Easington Colliery and Aberfan. Riches did indeed come out of the earth, but at what cost?
Steve Craggs
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