Heritage with ACE Cardiff

in Amgueddfa Cymru, Benjamin Price, Big Pit, Carboniferous, fossils, Heritage Lottery Fund, Last Voices of the Rhondda, National Museuem Wales, Participation and Interpretation Officer on

The Last Generation of Coal miners project is working alongside ACE Cardiff’s Learning Club. ACE have w been supporting young people in the Butetown and Grangetown areas of Cardiff for 10 years.

National Museum Wales’ Benjamin Price, who is Participation and Interpretation Officer at National Museum Wales (Big Pit), held a fascinating heritage workshop at ACE Cardiff where he introduced the formation and the importance of the South Wales Coalfield to the young people.

Ben Price, Learning, Participation and Interpretation Officer from Big Pit, Museum of Wales, at a workshops for “The Last Generation of Coal-miners” project with ACE Cardiff in Butetown, Cardiff.

Ben expalined how coal was formed from masssive plants 350 million years ago in Carboniferous geological epoch, when oxgen was abundant. Ben also explained the significence of the high quality Welsh coal, especially that from the Rhondda valley, in the Industrial Revolution. Ben also talked about the link of the 100’s of pits in the valleys to the Tiger Bay, Cardiff Port, that was once the coal-exporting busiest port in the world.

Young learners from ACE Cardiff look at a slide brought in by Benjamin Price of National Museum Wales, that links the Pits of the Valleys with the Port of Cardiff. ©VisionFountain

The young learners, most of whom, reside in the Bay area, were engrossed in the highly engaging talk, by one of Wales’ top heritage, learning and outreach officers, from Big Pit.