Watch: The stunning mining mural that has appeared in a Welsh village

A beautiful mural that pays tribute to a village’s mining history has appeared in Cefneithin in Carmarthenshire.

The artwork painted by acclaimed Welsh street artist Steve ‘Jenks’ Jenkins is situated on a previously blank wall at Cefneithin Welfare Hall.

The village is in the Carmarthenshire coalfield area and the mural pays tribute to the community’s mining heritage.

Posting images of his work on Facebook, Jenks explained the idea for the mural.

“My home for the last two and a bit days has been Cefneithin Welfare Hall,” he wrote.

“They gave me an itinerary of a mining mural so I came up with this image showing a miner at the end of his shift covered in coal dust looking back at the colliery holding a Welsh mining lamp with others waiting to start work.”

The mural also includes a Welsh inscription: ‘GLOWR YDWYF I YN GOBEITHIO AM AMSER GWELL. DAN Y MYNYDD MAWR GWELODD NEBY WAWR, FE AF BYTH DAN Y DDAEAR ETO.’

“The Welsh translates to: ‘I am a miner hoping for a better time. Under the big mountain (Mynydd Mawr, a local colliery), no one saw the dawn. I’ll never go underground again’,” said Jenks.

“The artwork also contains lyrics from the song ‘Working Man’, originally released by Rita MacNeill in 1988, it was popularised by singer David Alexander – ‘A WORKING MAN I AM, NEVER WILL I GO UNDERGROUND AGAIN’.”

The artist also pointed out the presence of the gorse plant.

“One last thing that is very symbolic to the village is the gorse plant which in Welsh makes up the name Cefneithin,” he said.

“I also want to say thank you to the locals that have come to chat about family members that used to work in the mines.”

It’s been a busy time for Jenks.

He recently painted a poignant tribute to the late great Wales rugby star Phil Bennett in Llanelli and also an acclaimed series of murals based on the cult Welsh movie Twin Town in Port Talbot.