Pontlottyn Reading Room and Library

Minute book, 1867-1868

Pontlottyn [Pontlotyn] Reading Room and Library was established in 1883.

The miners' institutes and halls which set up libraries and reading rooms for coal miners developed from the latter part of the nineteenth century.

The libraries provided a rich educational resource for the community and some of them at their peak rivaled the largest public libraries then existing in Britain.

The golden era of the institutes and their libraries after World War Two was followed by their demise in line with social trends. These included the provision of secondary education and local library facilities, changes in social activities for example the growing popularity of television, bingo and the development of clubs and most importantly, the contraction of the coalfield following the pit closures from the 1950s onwards.

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