The next decade will see the development worldwide of pulsed spallation neutron sources for condensed matter research. A conceptual introduction to such neutron sources is given. Neutron time-of-flight techniques as applied to diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy are discussed, and compared with techniques using crystal spectrometers. The advantages of such sources such as high effective thermal and higher energy neutron fluxes for certain kinds of experiments are discussed. The applications of these sources to various areas of condensed matter research are reviewed, with special emphasis on the study of magnetism. Finally, a brief account is given of the status of pulsed spallation source development around the world.