Geography at the British Association

Abstract

AFTER the presidential address by Mr. J. Macfarlane the proceedings of Section E began with a paper by Mr. D. Lleufer Thomas on some geographical aspects of the distribution of population on the South Wales coalfield. The main coalfield of South Wales comprises about 780 square miles. It is chiefly an elevated plateau with an average altitude of 1000 ft., rising in North Glamorganshire to some 2000 ft., and is deeply scored by narrow, declivitous valleys. These valleys open by narrow gaps to the coastal plain. The result of these conditions is that the population, which is mainly dependent on the coal outcrops, is pent up in the valleys and somewhat removed from the outer world. Another determining factor in the location of population was the occurrence near the coal of raw materials valuable in manufactures, such as iron, or sites offering special facilities for the assembling and treatment of imported materials, such as Swansea, which attracted the copper of Cornwall. Until nearly the middle of the nineteenth century coal-mining was entirely subsidiary to iron-making, and the development of the coalfiekl was therefore confined to its outer fringes, leaving the whole of the interior as sparsely populated as in the pastoral age. Development gradually spread southwards from the iron centres down the valleys. The present congestion of population is of comparatively recent date. The population is recruited mainly from the West Midland Counties, especially the British district, and to a less extent from the south-western counties. As a result, Monmouthshire and, to a less degree, East Glamorganshire have been anglicised in speech. In the discussion following the paper Mr. H. J. Randall emphasised the transitory nature of the population referred to and its complete dependence on coal production and demand.