3. Bristol's coalfield. Enough has been said already to indicate the rich diversity of industrial pursuits carried on in Bristol since medieval times. But none of these industries - not excepting tobacco - ever dominated the local economy in terms of either income or employment. In his essay on the economic development of Bristol in the nineteenth century, Alford makes incisive use of census data to reveal the small scale nature of most Bristol industries throughout the period. The city, he concludes, "was a location for many industries and trades but a national centre for almost none.#11 Coal and cotton, for instance, which in northern parts developed apace, were never of similar significance in Bristol. Yet this should not obscure the importance of either to particular communities at particular times. Production from the Bristol coalfield greatly increased over much of the nineteenth century, reaching a peak in the 1870s, at about half a million tons a year; after that it steadily declined. However, because output per man fell as the seams became harder to work, the industry actually employed more labour in 1900 (about 3,000 miners) than it had done thirty years earlier. The fact that the industry kept going despite obvious geological disadvantages owed much to the efforts of Handel Cossham, a carpenter's son from Thornbury. It was the researches of this self-taught geologist and shrewd businessman that led to the discovery of many new seams, thus prolonging the life of the field for several decades. But, though the industry was still a major employer in the 1920s, by 1939 only one Bristol colliery was working - at Coalpit Heath - and that closed in 1949.#12   NEXT