A trip down the mines: West Midlands industry in the 1970s – in pictures

In 1977, Janine Wiedel set out in her VW campervan to photograph potteries, jewellers, coal mines and steel works. It became one of the most important photographic works of its generation

Industrial urban cityscapes in Aston area of Birmingham in 1970s

In 1977, Janine Wiedel set out in her VW campervan to photograph industry in England’s West Midlands. From potteries and jewellers, to coal mines, steel and iron works – these industries were in steep decline. Once world-leading businesses were no longer competitive internationally and facing a grim future. Vulcan’s Forge, regarded as one of the most important photographic series of its generation, is finally presented as a book. Vulcan’s Forge by Janine Wiedel is published by Bluecoat. All photographs: Janine Wiedel

Dance mistress teaching new dance steps in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

Janine Wiedel: ‘In the industries I covered, the working hours were long and physically exhausting but there was always time for leisure activities. A time for meeting up with friends and work colleagues and a time to relax and forget the day’s hard work’

Worker at Turner & Simpson medal makers, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham

‘Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter was Britain’s major centre for the manufacture of gold and silver products, retaining many traces of its past. The area was made up of numerous small firms packed together within the square mile and needed renovation. Many workshops required more space and more equipment, but the quality and quantity of the jewellery did not reflect the Dickensian atmosphere in which it was made. Behind the small family firms were large businesses, distributing silverware across the world’

Florence Allen, gilder at Turner & Simpson silversmiths and enamellers, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, 1970s

The Vulcan of the book’s title was the son of Juno and Jupiter: god of fire and metal working. Wiedel says: ‘Items to be gilded were plunged into a steaming hot solution. Florence retained the secret formula for her “magic brew”. It was passed down from her mother who worked here before her, and it would one day be passed on to her son who also worked in the firm’

Out from the cage (driver of AB nucleonic shearer) at Florence Colliery, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

‘The journey to the depths of the pit face was several miles or more, the passage usually made on foot, often bent double with only the narrow beam of a headlamp to guide you. At the coalface was a cutting machine. The older miners felt that the days of the “real miner” had passed and that the new miners were “technicians”, but despite these changes, the shared experience of the darkness, the damp, the pollution and the continual danger to life made mining unique and the community close-knit’

Along the roadway, George Hooley (centre), Littleton Colliery, Huntington, Staffordshire

‘George worked at Littleton for 20 years as an electrician and left reluctantly in 1992, shortly before the mine closed, leaving the large workforce with little employment in the area. Most of the younger people went on to other jobs; many of the older ones never worked again. George continued to find work until 2017 when he left with heart failure’

The journey back to the surface, Salters Lane footrill, Werrington, Staffordshire Moorlands

‘Salters Lane was one of the few remaining “independent” mines. It was run by nine men and still worked almost entirely by hand. The men ran ahead, leaving me to navigate the steep, pitch-black tunnels lit only by my headlamp … I managed to photograph by leaving the camera shutter open for three minutes. Removing my helmet, I “painted” everything with the small headlamp beam. I emerged covered in coal dust and made my way to the public baths where I had to pay extra to fill the large tub four times’

Chainmaking, Griffin-Woodhouse, West Midlands

‘When these photographs were taken, in the late 1970s, local coal mining had stopped and the remaining steel mills in the area were in danger of closure. Chainmaking, however, continued in Cradley. Families were still working in backyard workshops, hammering and bending steel for large British and European businesses’

Chainmaking, Griffin-Woodhouse, West Midlands

‘There were also many firms, some automated, others semi-automated, producing chains, shackles and swivels for most regions of the world, including major seaports in the Middle East. Much of the work was still done by heating and bending the links one by one, as the grand scale of, for example, a ship’s anchor chain (with links weighing up to 60kg) could not be fully automated’

Shelton Bar iron and steel works, Stoke-on-Trent, 1978

This was taken just before it was closed down with the loss of 2,500 jobs. ‘Once the blast furnace had smelted the iron ore to pig iron, the molten iron was released at regular intervals, flowing in a river before falling into giant ladles to be transported to the steelworks for conversion to steel’

Shelton Bar iron and steel works, 1978

The fiery red glow that emanated from the ironworks at Shelton Bar was said to have inspired parts of HG Wells’s novel The War of the Worlds during the author’s short stay in the Potteries

Glazing in harmony, Aynsley Pottery, Spode, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

‘In 1910, the six towns that make up the Staffordshire Potteries were officially joined into one city called Stoke-on-Trent. When I took these photographs, there were around 50,000 people employed in the ceramics factories of Stoke-on-Trent, which produced 75% of Britain’s pottery. Much of the earthenware and fine bone china was sent direct to the US, the Middle East or other markets’. [• The captions to the photos of Salters Lane and Shelton Bar were amended on 29 May 2024 to align the words with the images.]