In the 1920s, the British government responded to prolonged high unemployment by moving unemployed men from the worst affected areas to areas in the UK where unemployment was lower. An Industrial Transference Board was formed in 1928 to monitor and control the process and the board brought to the attention of the Ministry of Labour that a “class” of men existed who were considered to be too “soft and demoralised through prolonged unemployment” to lit into the scheme. These men were classified as being a danger to the morale of the other men and it was decided that they would be unfit to join the scheme until they had been “hardened” or “reconditioned” in Labour camps.
A labour camp was set up in Brechfa and another near Llanswel to house men who were set to work to create the modern conifer based Brechfa Forest including building the forest roads.
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