Iron ore mining in Devon and W. Somerset (IA Section)

To be held by Zoom video conferencing

A talk by Dr Mick Atkinson. Full title: “Iron ore mining in Devon and West Somerset and its links with the South Wales iron and steel industry”.

Whilst the tin and copper industries of the south west have attracted a lot of attention in recent decades, the iron ore mining industry has not. Yet, at least for a short period of time, the extraction of iron ore in Devon and West Somerset was of some national importance, not because of the scale of extraction but because of the qualities of the ore. What drove this was the demand from the South Wales iron and steel industry and this talk will aim to explain the factors behind this as well as giving a description of the mining industry itself in the two counties.

Mick Atkinson is an industrial historian whose University of Exeter PhD thesis covers the iron ore mining industry in Britain in the nineteenth century. Relevant to this talk, he worked at University College, Cardiff writing a book on the South Wales iron industry and two articles on its raw material supply. He has a keen interest in the industrial history of the South West.

(Note: this talk was originally scheduled for 22 May)

Important notes

If you would like to join this meeting, please contact the Organiser (details below). You will in due course be sent instructions on how to log in etc. Please don’t worry if you are not familiar with the Zoom software. It is quite straightforward to use and does not involve any expense. You will be able to log in a few minutes before the start of the lecture.

If you would like to make a donation for this talk (either before or after the event) please click the yellow button below. All donations are handled via PayPal. Credit cards and debit cards are accepted even if you don’t have a PayPal account.