The Story of Wales

As the British Empire expanded across the world in the eighteenth century some of the great wealth it created came from ... Read more

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries many people from both inside and outside Wales moved to the sou... Read more

In 1979, just before the election of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, the people of Wales voted in a referen... Read more

Women had always had a key role in the mining communities of Wales. Men and boys worked underground and women supported ... Read more

In 1847 a government commission published a report into the state of education in Wales, known popularly as “the Blue Bo... Read more

In the Victorian and Edwardian periods the Welsh economy relied heavily on a few industries. In the south-east especiall... Read more

About 280,000 Welshmen fought in the First World War which dragged on for four years (1914 – 1918). Some men stayed in W... Read more

From humble origins in Llanystumdwy, north Wales, David Lloyd George became one of the most influential men in modern Br... Read more

In 1534, King Henry VIII made himself head of the Church in England and in Wales so that he could more easily have his m... Read more

William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) invaded England and defeated the English king, Harold in 1066. He rewarded t... Read more

Between the years 600 – 800 B.C. the Celtic tribes living in Wales began to try making iron. We can see objects they mad... Read more

Huw Edwards introduces a collection of clips from his landmark BBC Wales history series, The Story of Wales.

This is a story of amazing change – from the 1760s onwards, Wales is transformed from an overwhelmingly agricultural eco... Read more

This is a moving reminder of the hard conditions and great dangers of working underground in the early 20th century. 12 ... Read more

The slate industry was central to the prosperity of north Wales from the 1770s to the 20th century. It created strong co... Read more

From the 1850s to the First World War, Wales was made rich by the development of the coal industry and especially by the... Read more

Wales was seething with social unrest in the 1830s, beginning with the Merthyr Rising of 1831. But protests against inju... Read more

In the 1830s Merthyr was a place of huge contrast between rich and poor. Over the previous forty years, it had grown at ... Read more

In the times of the Stuart kings James I and Charles I, Wales did not see a major commercial expansion. Towns like Tenby... Read more

Elizabeth I was concerned about the attachment of the Welsh people to the Catholic faith. Wales was also a backdoor for ... Read more