Miners' institute

Miners' institutes, sometimes known as Workingmen's institute, Mine Workers' institute, or Miners' Welfare Hall are large institutional buildings that were typically built during the height of the industrial period as a meeting and educational venue. More commonly found in Britain, miners' institutes were owned by miner groups who gave a proportion of their wage into a communal fund to pay for the construction and running of the building. The institutes would normally contain a library, reading room and meeting room.

Miners' institutes of South Wales

During the late 19th century, with the population growth seen in former rural communities, many industrialised areas saw workers contributing to funds to build institutes. This was typified in the southern coalfield of Wales, which by 1910 saw institutes built in most towns and villages. The institutes were of socialist and altruistic nature and would include small libraries and reading rooms, whose books would lean towards history and politics, in an attempt to allow the working class man to better himself. Aneurin Bevan attributed his intellectual training to the Tredegar miners' library.