Riot vans and picket lines: 40 years on, the miners’ strike still resonates

A new exhibition showcases some of the most memorable and shocking photography from the front line of the miners’ strike, which swept across Britain four decades ago

Pickets confront police at Bilston Glen in Midlothian, Scotland (John Sturrock/reportdigital.co.uk)

The coal mines have disappeared and entire towns have changed beyond recognition but, 40 years on, the repercussions of the miners’ strike continue to be felt throughout the country today.

The bitter industrial dispute, led by Arthur Scargill, saw trade unions pitted in often violent protests against the National Coal Board and Margaret Thatcher’s government, and triggered a chain reaction of dissent from Kent to Derbyshire and the west of Scotland.

To coincide with the 40th anniversary of the start of the miners’ strike this March, an exhibition in Bristol is looking at the vital role photographs played during the year-long struggle against pit closures.

The striking pictures, drawn from the Martin Parr Foundation collection, capture very real workers, both resilient and desperate, as they try to undo the damage being wrought on their communities.

It’s a stark, moving, but often darkly humorous snapshot of a dramatic era in British history.

A picket outside the National Coal Board store in Carcroft, Yorkshire (Howard Sooley)

A women’s picket at Bevercotes Colliery, Nottingham, in February 1985 (Brenda Prince)

Workers at the Durham Miners’ Gala in 1984 (Chris Killip Photography Trust/Magnum)

Riot police await orders in fields surrounding the Orgreave Coking Works, scene of an infamous battle with miners, in Yorkshire in 1984 (Brenda Prince)

Three coaches used to take miners to Hem Heath Colliery burning fiercely at a depot at Trentham near Stoke-on-Trent (Photographer unknown)

Striking miners hold a children’s Christmas party at Ollerton Miners’ Welfare, Nottingham (Brenda Prince)

Dot Hickling helping organise and run the miners’ kitchen in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire (Brenda Prince)

Buying an ice cream at the Yorkshire Miners’ Gala in June 1984 (Brenda Prince)

‘Scabs’ returning to work, Newbridge, South Wales (Roger Tiley)

‘One Year! Photographs from the Miners’ Strike 1984-85’ is at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol until 31 March. You can find more information here