Miner's Lamp Music Box - Vintage Brass - Wales / Cymru (Preloved)

Unusual wind up musical Welsh Davy-style lamp!

• Plays 'We'll Keep A Welcome In The Hillside' - a deeply nostalgic Welsh song from 1940 that became a symbol of home, hospitality, and national pride. It was the go-to tune for Welsh souvenir music boxes and trinkets.
• Wind up at bass, when lifted plays the tune which stops when put down
• Welsh dragon plaque on front with both Wales and Cymru
• Made from solid brass and glass - has a wonderful weight
• This is a replica and unscrews at the bass as real lamps would
• Bottom is stamped with 'Made in Wales - Phoenix Supply Bishopston Swansea'
• Measures approximately 7" / 17cm tall. 2.75" / 7cm wide at bass

Please note this is not a working paraffin lamp but was made as an attractive souvenir to display in your home

Condition: very good - Missing its hanger / hook but music box works beautifully (please listen to video). Has some patina which I have left untouched as I think adds to its aesthetic charm

History of the Song

We’ll Keep a Welcome (in the Hillside) captures a heartfelt message from those at home in Wales to loved ones far away, promising they’ll always be welcomed back with warmth and love. It’s often associated with the wartime years, when many Welsh soldiers and evacuees were far from home. It became an anthem for Welsh emigrants — a way to say “No matter how far you go, you’ll always have a home here.”

Here is the chorus, so you can sing along with your lamp:

“We’ll keep a welcome in the hillside,
We’ll keep a welcome in the vale,
This land you knew will still be singing,
When you come home again to Wales.”

History of Miner's Lamps

Coal mining was at the heart of Wales for over a century — especially in the South Wales Valleys, where whole communities grew around the pits.

The miner’s lamp, originally designed for safety underground, came to represent the courage, hard work, and close-knit spirit of Welsh mining families.

Even after the mines closed, the lamp endured as a symbol of pride — a tribute to the generations who built modern Wales through sheer grit and solidarity.