THE WELSH language has been a long-term casualty of coal-mine closures, according to new documentary on the 1984-85 miners’ strike, writes Luke James.

The claim is made in the latest of a season of documentaries about the strike made by Welsh-language television channel S4C to mark the 30th anniversary of the dispute.

In the programme, to be broadcast next Tuesday, actor and miner’s son Dafydd Hywel examines the impact of pit closures on Welsh communities.

One supporter of the strike interviewed, Mari Gordon, says the lack of work had damaged every element of society in coalfield communities, including the language.

She explains: “The coalmines, the churches and the pubs — when you take those things away from people, you take away the reasons for which these communities exist.

“The people who have grown up in these places going to church and sending their children to the Welsh schools — they have to move to somewhere else to find work. And the language goes with them.”

Her comments come after the 2011 census showed a decline in the number of Welsh speakers, dubbed a “crisis” by the Welsh Language Society.