Planning an on-screen history enquiry: the Great Strike of Penrhyn

(a) Key words: how far (a judgement of extent), divide (split into opposing groups), community of Bethesda (not just the quarrymen: families, chapels, schools).

Hypothesis: the strike divided Bethesda to a large extent, because it lasted three years and some men went back while others stayed out. But the division may have been between two loyal groups rather than a total breakdown, since the union, the co-operative and the window cards show many families stood together.

(b)

Stage	Minutes	Why
1. Hypothesis	15	Short, but it shapes everything else.
2. Analyse the items	45	Four items to read closely; judgements here become the paragraphs.
3. Plan	25	A clear plan makes typing faster and keeps the answer on the question.
4. Develop the response	80	Most of the marks; typing and checking takes the longest.
5. Reflect	15	Needs time to reread the answer honestly, not a rushed last line.

Total: 180 minutes.

Item	What it shows or argues	Provenance, or how it was developed	Usefulness
A	Families on strike publicly declared their loyalty, which also marked out the houses without a card.	Real card, 1900 to 1903, displayed by strikers’ families. Made to show unity and to shame those who went back.	Very useful: it is evidence of division being made visible street by street. Limit: it cannot tell us how many homes had one.
B	The family of a man who went back were shut out by chapel, neighbours and school.	Private letter to a sister, 1902, written by someone inside the division. No reason to exaggerate to a sister, but she is justifying her own family.	Very useful for the depth of division and the pressure on women. Limit: one family’s view.
1	Bethesda was united; only “a handful of weak men” went back.	Written in 1953 by a union official, for union members, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary. Purpose is to honour the strikers, so it plays down division.	Useful for how the strike was remembered by the union. Less useful as evidence of what happened.
2	The strike split the town from within, through chapels, schools and families, for a generation.	Written in 2021 by a social historian using chapel records, court reports and letters. Newer focus on women and community.	Very useful: based on a range of evidence and directly addresses division. Limit: we do not see the evidence itself.

They differ because of purpose and audience: Interpretation 1 celebrates the union for its own members, while Interpretation 2 is written to explain. And because of evidence and time: by 2021 historians were using chapel records and family letters and asking about women and the wider community, which reveals division that a union history in 1953 had reasons to ignore.

Paragraph	What it argues	Items	Own knowledge
1	The strike divided the community deeply, into chapel, school and family life.	[B], [I2]	3 years; some men return 1901 to 1903; Tregarth houses for non-strikers.
2	But much of the town stayed united against Lord Penrhyn.	[A], [I1]	Union refused recognition; Parry’s co-operative quarries.
3	The two sides were made visible and lasting: unity itself drew the dividing line.	[A], [B], [I2]	Cards in windows; decline of slate afterwards.
Conclusion	To a large extent: united against the owner, divided within.	[I1] v [I2]	Why views differ.

On screen, I would: keep the plan in the notes or planning space with item codes, so I can find evidence fast without scrolling; keep the item I am writing about open beside my response if the screen allows it. A habit that loses marks: copying and pasting long chunks of an item into the answer. It adds words but no analysis, and the marker wants my judgement, not the item again.

The strike divided Bethesda deeply, and the division reached far beyond the quarry. Source B shows that a family whose husband went back in 1902 were shut out of chapel, where “nobody… will sit on our bench”, and that the children were bullied at school. It is a private letter to a sister, so the writer has little reason to exaggerate, although she is also justifying her husband’s choice. Its value is that it shows division from the inside, and the pressure on a mother whose children “had not had boots”. Interpretation 2 supports this: it argues the split ran “through chapels, schools and even families” for a generation. As it was written in 2021 by a historian using chapel records and letters, it is based on wider evidence than one family. The building of houses in Tregarth for non-strikers shows the division even changed where people lived. This suggests the strike divided the community to a large extent.

My hypothesis has changed slightly. I started by thinking the town split into two loyal groups, but Source B and Interpretation 2 show that the division reached inside chapels and families and lasted for years, so I now think it was deeper than I first said. Interpretation 2 was the most valuable item, because it was based on several kinds of evidence and focused directly on the community. Interpretation 1 was least valuable as evidence of what happened, but it was useful for showing how the union wanted the strike to be remembered. Next time I would spend longer on Stage 2 before planning, because my best points came from the provenance of the items, and I would keep my plan open on screen while typing so I do not drift from the question.