It has been four decades since the beginning of the 1984-1985 Miners’ Strike, which only lasted one year but made a significant impact for decades to come.

The strikes were held by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) against the National Coal Board (NCB) and the Conservative government, led by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The strikers were protesting the closure of collieries around the country, and action was taken in areas such as South Wales, Yorkshire, Scotland, North East England, and Kent.

The strike, which was one of Britain’s longest and most brutal industrial disputes, involved mass picketing and was attended by supporters up and down the country – though mostly by those within the mining communities themselves.

Many of these demonstrations turned violent, with the most infamous being the Battle of Orgreave in June of 1984, which saw pickets and officers of the South Yorkshire Police clash in a bloody confrontation that left 123 protestors injured.

These encounters, as well as other behind-the-scenes efforts, have been captured in the images on show at a new exhibition at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol.

One Year! Photographs from the Miners’ Strike draws on press and documentary images taken from the foundation’s own collection, as well as the work of other prominent British photographers, to explore the events, happenings, and impacts of the movement.

Featuring photographs by Brenda Prince, John Sturrock, John Harris, Jenny Matthews, Roger Tiley, Imogen Young, and Chris Killip, the show brings together some of the most poignant moments from the strike while illustrating the quieter ways in which people came together in this time.

“For those who have lived through this strike, its enormity cannot be underestimated,” says Parr. “We have brought together some of the best-known photographs – including John Harris’ image of a policeman with a truncheon held from a horse waving at a cowering woman and John Sturrock’s photograph of the confrontation between mass pickets and police lines at Bilston Glen – to rarely seen snapshots taken by Philip Winnard, a striking miner himself.”

The exhibition also features a fascinating range of ephemera relating to the strike, such as posters, vinyl records, plates, badges, and publications, all of which attest to the importance of this moment in history. There are even vernacular images taken by Swansea police at a picket line in Derbyshire, which have been loaned by the National Museum Wales.

Speaking on this aspect of the show, exhibition curator Isaac Blease says that “the ephemera materials show the urgent use of images and the creativity that was deployed in support of the striking miners”.

“The works tell a story of the battle against Margaret Thatcher and the National Coal Board’s pit closures, but what ultimately shines through is the unity and imagination of people coming together in defence of their communities and the basic rights to work and to survive.”

One Year! Photographs from the Miners’ Strike is on show at the Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol from January 18 – March 31; martinparrfoundation.org