Transactions of the North Staffordshire and Worcestershire Institute of Mining Engineers, 1886
The subject upon which I have thought it desirable to frame an address which should be worthy of the position which I have now the honour to hold, is one which includes within its lines the mining history of South Staffordshire. It is written with the twofold purpose of collating all the facts for the benefit of this Institute upon mining from its very earliest date, and of drawing from that short and concise history every possible deduction which may guide it in its vaticination as to its probable future and development. Such a resume naturally appears to present itself under a triple aspect, namely :-The mythical, which rests upon no solid foundation of facts and dates; the historical, which may be culled from books, papers, or documents within our reach; and the present time through which we are passing, with all its information taken from our own knowledge of what is occurring now, or has just recently happened, which may be termed the history of the present generation. Books, papers, and plans, belonging to private collections, have been placed at my disposal in the readiest and most courteous manner, as well as those to be found in most public libraries, and it is hoped that the result of so much labour bestowed upon this collection of data, may be found instructive to the members of this Institute, as, in some instances, it will be found amusing. Therein, at any rate, will be found a short statement of the rise, development, and progress up to the present time, of mining in this important southern portion of the county of Stafford. Turning to the mythical or shady and doubtful condition of mining hereabouts, we cannot very well go any farther back than the time of the Romans, which is a very vague expression to employ with regard to the government of our island, which government lasted from 400 to 500 years. I have failed to find any record which may show that early miners (as the Phoenicians were in our islands, in the county of Cornwall), had ever penetrated so far inland, and had worked coal. But it is otherwise with the Romans, who were known to have a knowledge of fossil fuel, and to have used it, if not for domestic purposes, certainly for the smelting of iron ores, which they found in close connection with the coal seams. The evidence upon this point is held to be conclusive, for throughout the whole kingdom, upon the outcrop lines (and their Watling Streets, &c., must have been driven through them in many cases), heaps of scoriae still mark the position of ancient smelting operations. Amongst the ruins of the Roman Uriconium, the modern Wroxeter, coal has been found, and also, in other instances, under the paving of Roman roads, notably, one leading to Rochester. Passing onwards, it is only fair to conjecture that the art of using coal to smelt iron would not be lost entirely after the Roman occupation had ceased, but was carried on until the Anglo-Saxon period, when this portion of the country was named, during the Heptarchy, the kingdom of Mercia. Though it is easy enough to find Papal bulls, still in existence, making mention of surrenders of lands, as far back as the 11th century, yet there appears to be no records of the use of coal, or of its application to smelting, until we arrive at the 17th century, and the first genuine attempt was made by Simon Sturtevant, in 1612, which brings us upon the border-land of history, and face to face with dates and facts which may be verified. The antiquity of mining around Wednesbury is undoubted. The parish church, which was built during the 11th century, has its foundation laid with " pockstone " or clay, hardened by the action of fire from the burning coal below at a very shallow depth, which had caught fire by spontaneous combustion. The date of the earliest document, which is in the Record Office, 'Power of London, which mentions coal, is 1315. In Queen Elizabeth's time the tenants of the manor of Wednesbury had a suit as to their right to dig coal for their own use. At Brownhills, a recent sinking has proved that the shallow seam has been worked in a wood, some of the trees of which may be judged from their size to be 150 years old. In the time of Edward I., Margery La Rous, lady of the moiety of the town of Walsale, granted to Roger Morteyn and his heirs a moiety of the profit of each manner of mine, as well of sea-coal as of iron. On the Sunday next after the feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle, in the 19th year of King Edward II. (1326), Robert, son of Henry Boude, of Walshale, having been enfeoffed by charter by Sir Thomas le Rous, Knight, Lord of Walshale, in three acres of Land in his waste at Birchells, conceded that neither he nor his heirs would raise any sea coal nor have any mine there without the consent of the aforesaid Thomas. There are three other deeds of the same date to the same effect. There is yet another deed, as follows:-- Sale, for 100 marks,. by William Webbe, mayor of Walsall, John Wollaston, gent., Thomas Webbe, Thomas Stone, and Thomas Gorwey, of the same, yeoman, to George W hithall, of Great Bloxwich, gent., of a messuage or tenement, with buildings, in tenure of John Madeley, in Great Bloxwich, and three acres of land there. The said George covenanting to serve all the inhabitants of Walsall with coals, called dassell coalles,' at the rate of 3d. for each horse, mare, or gelding load, and with others, called ` bagge coalles,' at 2d. per like load, and to refuse none so long as there be any coals' upon the bancke."' This was dated 2 Dec., Anno. 40, Elizabeth (1.597). Mr. V`'. H. Duignan, of Rushall, a well-known antiquarian authority, judges that these mines were in what is called the ` Old Man's Field,' at Birchills, upon an outcrop, or perhaps nearer the Hatherton Furnaces. Simon Sturtevant, failing to perform his promise to make iron with pit coal, was required to surrender his patent, and a new one was granted to John Rovenson, in the year 1613, but he, as well as Simon Sturtevant, seemed to be of the class of inventors who were unable to put their ideas into practical use, and he also failed. Various other praiseworthy attempts were made to solve this problem, which was held to be a pressing one, in view of the preservation of wood and timber, which even at the present day, though for other reasons besides, is considered to be an important question. In 1619 Dud Dudley, who was then manager of three ironworks (one furnace and two forges) at Pensnett, from the scarcity of wood and charcoal, and the ample supply of pit coal around his works, conceived the idea of utilising it, and so altered his furnace that at his first trial he successfully made iron with coal at the rate of three tons per week, which certainly compares somewhat unfavourably with the weekly output of a modern blast furnace, and serves to show the enormous strides which have been made in two and a half centuries, and brings us at once to the point when the real history of coal mining and iron-making began in South Staffordshire.
With the slowly increasing demand which would arise from the cheaper production of iron when smelted with coal, would grow up a demand for more coal, and as the supply along the lines of outcrop grew exhausted, shallow sinkings took the place of open works or quarries, and these, again, were replaced by deeper winnings. But the working of outcropping coal must have been carried on in a very perfunctory way, for even at this present hour there are many quarries which are working coal, which it might reasonably have been conjectured would have been exhausted very early. None of these show a more beautiful outcrop section than a coal quarry of fire-clay coal at Ettingshall, upon the eastern flank of the Sedgley Silurian upthrow. The spots where coal was anciently worked may easily be pointed out, as probably no mining district can show coal thrown up to the surface within a limited area so often. There were open and shallow workings near Wolverhampton, at Parkfield, at Willenhall, Weduesbury, Sedgley, at the Foxyards, all round Dudley, which appears to be the centre of mining, at Brownhills and upon Cannock Chase, at Wimblebury, at Wyrley and Essington, and at Beaudesert. It would be impossible in the absence of historic data, to say whether coal was more extensively worked in early periods by quarries or by small shafts, as bell pits, but this latter was no doubt a common mode with the Romans in various parts of the kingdom, the trouble to move the surface entirely at even a very shallow depth being evidently considered too great. Very little advance upon this system of mining could have been made until the introduction of the steam engine for winding and pumping, for, as is well-known, in this high midland table-land, or watershed, there are no streams or rivers worthy of the name, with which to actuate water-power machinery. Starting, then, from this landmark, the first successful attempt to smelt iron with coal, we shall more easily trace the history and advance of mining through the two and a half centuries reaching up to the life time of this present generation. And here great help is received from such old and rare histories as Plott's " Staffordshire," and Shaw's " Staffordshire." The advance in machinery for winding and pumping, the progress in ventilation and dealing with dangerous gases, and iu the sorting, cleaning, and despatching of mineral to its destination can be seen at once, when comparisons are instituted between the l 7th century and 19tb century. In fact the whole history of coal mining and iron making lies within that range of time, and probably, and with justice, others may be inclined to shorten that historical period very materially. Let us compare, then, the class of machinery which obtained in 1650 with that in use in 1880. At that time the description of winding apparatus may be briefly summed up as consisting of only windlasses and horse gins, the steam engine for such a purpose was not even dreamt of. In 1798 the following was written : “Modes have been lately introduced of winding up the coals from the bottom of pits by small fire engines, instead of horses, and of conveying the coals to the wharfs along iron railroads." Without delaying more than to mention the well-known South Staffordshire type, or " whimsey," with vertical cylinder, niche-ring shaft on second motion, which wound coal from two, or from five and six pits at once, let us glance at the present types of winding engines, with their double horizontal cylinders, large drums, and quick and easy motion; they seem the perfection of modern winding engine. As for pumping machinery, as such, it did not exist at so early a date. The miners then were intelligent enough to utilise the natural levels, and delivered the water through long adits or drains to the surface into a brook course by gravitation. Examples of these may be seen at Brettel Lane and the Lye. But when the mineral was worked below this line then the water had to be raised, and this difficulty, in a great majority of cases, determined the depth to which mining could be carried, until the advent of the steam engine, when everything became practicable. In 1686, Plott described the method of drawing by a gin, as follows :-" The less gin they call a jack, which is turned by men or horses as is necessary, but the gin is always worked by horses, which, likewise, is two-fold, either by chain or barrel; the chain is made with leather suckers upon it at little distances, which bring up water, and discharge into a trough; the gin by barrel, whereof one always goes up as the other goes down, will raise great quantities of water if it be worked day and night." One of the first engines erected by Savary was put up at Broadwaters, near W ednesbury, about the year 1739 ; water here had risen out of the pits, and had drowned many acres of land. The engine there erected could not be brought to perfection, for the steam; when too strong, tore it all to pieces, so that after much time, labour, and expense, the engine was laid aside as useless. Let us contrast with this, the types of Cornish pumping engines, which have done such good work here since the beginning of the century, which even now are being superseded by the modern leviathans just started by the Mines Drainage Commissioners. To our present ideas, these are the highest types of pumping machinery.
The description of ventilation which is handed down to us as being prevalent within the period named, does not infer any high amount of knowledge of the laws which govern the flow or diffusion of gases. Indeed, ventilation within that period might shortly be described as dependent upon the weather. The laws which regulate the presence or absence of carbonic acid gas in mines, it may at once be acknowledged, are unknown to us, and an explanation is still required from nature why, when a S., S.E., or S.W. wind is blowing, it should demand the whole power of the ventilation to keep a coal pit in a fairly sanitary condition, or why, if a N., N.E., or N.W. wind is prevalent, no ventilating current, so to speak, is necessary. Acting within the lines of these well-known phenomena, the early miners worked, as it is still phrased to-day, when the pit was clear, and played when it was dampy. This condition of ventilation, or its absence, must have lasted until a comparatively recent date, for it will be found that a, system of ventilation, which is more euphoniously known as the trumpeting method, was introduced about the year 1821 in the Kingswinford district, and so perfected about the year 1846 as to necessitate the writing of a small work to explain it for the benefit of the South Staffordshire mining community. The principle of that plan of ventilation was that only one shaft was required, where two had been sunk before-no doubt a great saving. The author lamented that at first he had been unable to find an intelligent mining surveyor, whose desired qualifications he gave, but that, after waiting 25 years, he had at last found one to carry out his idea, and who speedily discovered it was desirable, with some assistance also, to devote some 12 hours daily to such a work. Further, he condemned as worthless, the proposals which some people recommended of air pumps, to force air in; others, exhausting pumps, to suck the air out, and thus to produce artificial currents of air throughout the workings; but he wrote, " My ventilation is secured by the operation of a law of nature, and it will never fail you." Unfortunately, the legislature has since insisted upon two shafts being in connection. The principle of natural ventilation still, however, largely obtains in the Black Country, and in this respect no great advance in many cases has been made upon the knowledge of our ancestors. But there is a more modern side to be shown, even in this, and all recent extensions of mining have " brought into use all the mechanical means of ventilation now so amply provided by inventors." In 1686, the description given of fire-damp and its effects is worth quoting in full :-" Where the vapour, taking fire at the candles of the workmen, they found themselves presently environed with flames, their faces, bands, hair, and clothes, in great part, being very much burnt, and one of them having his arms and legs broken, and the rest of his body strangely distorted; the now enflamed damp of one of them going forth of the mouth of the pit like a clap of thunder, shooting off the turn or windlass, and shaking the earth so very much that a workman hard by feared the roof would have fallen in upon him and buried him. Again, in attempting to lower the water in a shaft, the fire damp appeared in the crevices or slits of the coal (where water had been before) in a, small bluish flame, which, whilst the colliers continued their work, was not so troublesome as upon the intermission of 48 hours, within which time it got so much strength that the workmen looking into the pit could see it shooting from side to side like sword-blades across one another, so that none durst venture to go down into it. Upon this they took a pole and bound candles to it, which they no sooner put over the eye of the pit but the damp would fly up at them with a long sharp flame and put them out, leaving a foul ill-scented smoke behind it. But finding this would not do, they tied many candles to the end of a hook fastened to a rope, and lowered them down a little way into the pit; when up came the damp immediately and blew them all out, burnt their hair, beards, and clothes, struck down one of them, in the meantime making a noise like the roaring of a bull, but louder, leaving a stink behind it worse than the former. After three days cessation, the steward going down with some others to contrive conveyance of air, one of them unadvisedly putting his candle over the eye of the pit, the damp immediately fired at it, burnt and tore their clothes from their backs, and flew to and fro all over the hollows with a great roaring, carrying most of the men 15 or 16 yards from their first station, and one of them out of the pit's eye about 30 yards high, with a noise like a cannon, only somewhat shriller, which was heard no less than 15 miles off." At the same period, and until comparatively recent times, the method of dealing with fire-damp, with a view to disperse it, was as follows -" The workmen every morning before they went down the pit used to send a resolute collier before, whose manner was to put on the worst rags he had, and wet them in water, and as soon as he came within danger of it be fell grovelling down upon his belly, and went in that manner forward, holding in one hand a long rod or pole, to which he tied candles burning, and reached them by degrees towards it, then the damp would fly at them, and if it missed of putting them out, it would quench itself with a blast, leaving a noisome ill-scented smoke behind it." Shall the question be asked-are we in many cases in South Staffordshire, much in advance of this ? For instance, if a competent person, upon discovering fire-damp, proceeds to aid its diffusion and dilution with his jacket, or let us point to numerous and successful cases of exhaust fans, and to the scientific papers and lengthened discussions upon their merits and uses of which this institute has been the scene. Of .furnaces, as connected with this district, it is not necessary to speak, for in the strict application of the term they have been very little used, there not being more than two worthy of the name.
The subject of lighting is intimately connected with that of ventilation, but the question of safety in connection with lighting is by no means settled yet. It has agitated scientific minds since August, 1815, when Davy's attention was first called to it. It only remains, at present, to urge upon managers of mines the moral duty, which is theirs, to use all the appliances which science has placed in their hands in this behalf for the prevention of loss of human life. And here it is proper and just to notice the successful installation of the electric light at two pits of the Cannock Chase Colliery by Mr. A. Sopwith, for lighting the bottoms of the shafts and for a considerable distance around them.
If the question of cleaning and despatching mineral comes to be considered, how little advance can be shown to have been made in this branch of mining industry from the very earliest times. Turn to the question of cleaning and sorting the coal, and in what point have we, as a mining body, advanced upon the practices of our forefathers. Then and now. hand labour in South Staffordshire is the rule and not the exception, mechanical appliances by way of screening and sorting being the exception and not the rule, the plea always being that there are so many sorts and sizes of coal to be dealt with, that any mechanical contrivance to separate them is well nigh impracticable. Again, on the subject of the dispatch and conveyance of coal and other mineral. In the early days of smelting iron ore, the coal would only be used for that purpose, and pits were sunk in the furnace yard, for wood would be used for domestic purposes. As wood became scarce, a demand for employment of coal in households would arise, and it could only be conveyed, in the absence of good roads, upon packhorses, or at a later date by carts or wagons When canals came into use, as they did about 1769, the possibility of the conveyance of minerals for long distances came into view, and as manufactories were built upon the hanks of these canals, so would, and did, an increased demand quicken the trade of the district into a vigorous life. The fact of the connection with canals in this district has prevented the modern development, except in the Cannock Chase and southern portion of the coalfield, of the railway system in connection with collieries; and has tended to keep trade in antiquated grooves of dispatch, measuring, and weighing; for who shall say what is meant or understood l,p that peculiar phrase, a boat ton ? The first boat-load of coals from the collieries at Wednesbury passed along the Birmingham Canal into Birmingham on the 6th November, 1769, and coals, which were sold in Birmingham from 15s. to 18s. per ton, were immediately reduced to 7s. 6d. Coals were carried thither from the Tipton mines in May, and from Bilston in October, 1770. The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal was made from Wednesbury to Broadwaters old engine, and completed in 1786. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1 793 which enabled the Wyrley and Essington Canal to be made from Wyrley Bank to the Birmingham Canal, near Wolverhampton, and in 1794, power was taken to make a canal from the Birchills and Little Rloxwich to Lord Haye's lands, which opened up limestone mines. The Stourbridge Canal Act was passed in 1776, and opened out the mines upon Pensnett Chase, at Black Delph, and the Leys in the parish of Kingswinford. The Dudley Canal received its powers also in 1776, and communicated with the Stourbridge navigation at Black Delph, upon Pensnett Chase, and in 1793 it was extended from Netherton to Halesowen. A railway first crossed a corner of the Black Country about 1837, touching mineral ground at Bescot, Darlason Green, Willenhall, and Heath Town, but mineral traffic upon it does not seem to have developed largely-the canals, as has been remarked, lending themselves more readily to the conveyance of coal.
It is necessary to deal shortly with the question of production and value, and to regard its increase. About the middle of the 17th century, or 200 years ago, it was said that there were 12 to 14 col lieries at work within ten miles around Wednesbury, Dudley, and Sedgley, some of which afford 2,000 tons yearly, others 3,000, 4,000, or 5,000 tons. "At Ettingshall, about that time, some acres of ground had been sold for E100 per acre, and one for E150, and well indeed it might be so, since out of one single shaft there have been sometimes drawn £500 worth of coal." Nash, in his history of Worcestershire, calculates that towards the end of the 17th century 120,000 tons of coal were drawn from 20 pits, half of which were Lord Dudley's, and he estimates the duration of the coalfield at 1,000 years. In 1798 the quantity of coals raised weekly on the banks of the Birmingham Canal between Birmingham and Wolverhampton was computed at 15,000 tons, and also about 1,200 tons carried weekly upon the Stourbridge and Dudley Canal, which made 16,200 tons raised weekly, or about 850,000 tons per annum. In 1864, the output was computed at 10,206,000 tons, and, in 1884,10,013,285 tons of minerals were raised-a truly vast increase; and it cannot yet be told whether we have reached the summit, but it is to be hoped that it is not so. With respect to values, some fluctuations can be shown; a price has already been mentioned in the year 1597, which was equivalent to about Is. per ton at the pits' mouth at the then value of money. About the year 1836, coal at Brockmoor was selling at from 4s. to 4s. 6d. per ton; in 1873, 17s. per ton was obtained for a similar quality, and in 1885 the average price may be taken at 5s. 5d. per ton, although from 6s. 8d. to 7s. 2d. per ton under favourable circumstances was obtained. The highest mark was reached in 1873 ; since then the scale has steadily gone down.
It will naturally be expected that when a retrospective view of an industry like mining is undertaken, extending over such a long period, that some ideas may be gained and premises deduced, which may serve to point out the probable future prospects and developments of the trade. It may be expected that as we are just passing under a heavy shadow of depression, which is all the more gloomy from the brightness which preceded it, that lessons may be learnt from past history, which may at least make us hopeful that ameliorations may arise in the future as they have done in the past. With this idea the historical view of this address has been made as extensive as possible, so that the industrial or commercial fluctuations of the past may throw some light upon future prospects, and the lessons which history ought to teach us may be learnt. But it may at once be acknowledged that there is very little parallelism in facts gone by with those through which we are passing. The magnitude of the present interests has never even been reached before, nor has the competition of every division of a whole world been known before, as it has since the possibilities of modern travel and intercommunication have been ensured by the development of steam transit upon sea and land. We are now face to face with competition from every civilized nation, and it will require all our old national energy and more, and the greatest enlargement of the superb opportunities which our geographical position gives us, to maintain any commercial superiority. The inland position of our own coalfield prevents us entering into competition for the foreign trade of the raw material, but it is undoubtedly .the case that it will ,be a source of supply when other coalfields, which are more favourably situated, are exhausted. It may be objected by individuals that this prospect is very remote, and does not touch them; but they may do much to help themselves by adopting all modern improvements-by setting on one side all old-fashioned ideas, machinery, and mode of working-by ensuring the best energies of their workmen by payment by results, for which the men are asking-and by close personal attention to details. If these points are attended to, it will speedily be found that there is still a profit and a living to be made out of coal-mining.
The still greater development of this inland coalfield next claims our attention, and, whilst thankfully recording the vast increase of its borders, proved during the past ten years by the successful sinkings of Sandwell Park and Hamstead, at Cannock and Huntingdon, and at Fair Oak; and also, by bore-holes, by the Fair Oak Colliery Company, at Wolsley, near Rugeley, by the ventures proved on the eastern boundary of the coalfield at Aldridge and Walsall Wood, yet more endeavour is necessary to prove the connection with the Shropshire coalfield, on the west, and with the Tamworth coalfield, on the east. Starting from the bore-holes mentioned above, as having been put down at Wolsley, if a line of boreholes were to be put down in a S.S.W. direction from Cannock and Huntington, through Tettenhall, Himley, Penn, and as far south as Stourbridge, the question of the continuation of coal would be settled. This question has occupied the mind of the mining authorities from the year 1798, when Mr. James Keir wrote his paper upon the mineralogy of South Staffordshire, which was published in Shaw's " Staffordshire." He then said "that the coal had once been continued across the space now occupied by these hills (Sedgley Hills), and consequently that the formation of these hills was posterior to the formation of coal." This means that the carboniferous formation lies upon the western flank of the Sedgley Hills, and this view has received the adhesion of every one who has studied the subject down to the present day. Given coal proved, there would be a great enlargement of our mining borders, and a great enhancement of the value of the large landed estates situate upon the line which I have indicated. To these ends, to make them successful, let us devote our whole energies in the struggle to discover and make use of the secrets of mother earth, to apply her treasures to our own benefit, and to show ourselves worthy sons of those industrial heroes who have made the Black Country a household term for everything which is known as manufacturing and mining.
The VICE-PRESIDENT heartily thanked everyone present for the compliment they had paid him in putting him in that position. He assured them he appreciated the honour very much indeed.
The PRESIDENT proposed, and Mr. W. FARNWORTH seconded, a vote of thanks to the retiring President; this being carried unanimously.
Hr. JOHN FIELD next moved a vote of thanks to the President, for the very interesting address they had just listened to, and that it be printed and circulated amongst the members.
The VICE-PRESIDENT seconded the proposition, which was carried unanimously; a vote of thanks to the Council and Officers of the Institute was also passed on the motion of Mr. JONAH DAVIES, seconded by Mr. W. H. PICKERING.
Mr. E. B. MARTEN responed.
The VICE-PRESIDENT said he bad been deputed, on behalf of the subscribers, to present the portrait of the late Mr. Henry Johnson to the Institute. Mr. Johnson was connected with its formation, and undoubtedly worked hard in the preliminaries; he was an Ex-President and Honorary Secretary, and no one, from what he had been told, could have exerted himself more in promoting its interests. He (the speaker) could 'testify to the intense interest he took, not only in the Institute, but in the well-being and welfare of every individual member. His affability rendered him easily accessible, and he did not think that a single gentleman could have approached him and received "No," if Mr. Johnson had been in the position to grant his request. He ventured to hope that his portrait would be a strong and beautiful reminder of one who had done his duty nobly and faithfully, and that it would stimulate them to follow his example.
The PRESIDENT, in accepting the portrait, said it would always remind them of one who had done his duty to the Institute, and who had left his mark on the mining of South Staffordshire