In Cardiff Bay stands a life size statue of a coal miner. This small symbol reminds the people of Cardiff about the coal mining history of this great city.
It is hard to imagine Cardiff as anything but the cosmopolitan city we see today. In the 19th and early 20th Century, Cardiff was one of the largest coal-exporting ports in the world. This statue pays tribute to the journey of the coal from the mine (“the pit”) to the docks (“port”).
The statue was appropriately named “Pit to Port” in celebration of the industrial heritage of the city.
Statue enthusiast, Muhammad Tabish, says that this is one of his favourite statues in Cardiff. He says it “tells the history. How Cardiff transformed from a coal transporter to a modern City. You can see that Cardiff is a very modern city. Because of the export of coal, it benefit the city a lot.”
From Pit to Port is a visual reminder of the coal mining legacy and how it shaped the future of Cardiff. This statue now stands in the redeveloped modern city of Cardiff.
Cardiff would not be the city we know today without its legacy of mining and exporting coal, this statue is an appropriate tribute.