According to the 1851 census returns for the joint townships of Brayton and Aspatria, the population numbered 1,123, of which only 13 were directly employed in the mining industry. The same source reveals that whereas the largest proportion were engaged in agriculture some 14 families depended upon the quarries for their livelihood. The population continued to increase in line with national trends until 1870, when a large influx of workers were required to man Harriston pit. From then until 1910 and the opening out of No 5 pit the population increased threefold, the workers migrating from various parts of the United Kingdom. These migrant workers were predominantly skilled hewers and trailers, whose ancestors had a working tradition of coal getting. These newcomers introduced their own language, customs and culture into the district. Those who came as single entities quickly succumbed to the Cumbrian ways, while those who came in gangs tended to retain their own identities. It was these people who left a legacy that helped to evolve our present culture.
Little remains to remind the present population of those once prosperous industries. The once scarred landscape is devoid of segs to divulge its character. For there are no monuments or museums to perpetuate their memories. Both No 1 and No 2 pits have long since disappeared, even their exact location is shrouded in mystery. In the 1970’s, someone levelled the Harriston spoil heap and carted the materials away for use in constructing modern roads; while the village that bore its name remains a figment in name only. A similar fate awaited the buildings and banks adjacent to Wellington farm, the site now lies dormant confronting the encroaching woodland. The spoil heap at No 5 pit was evident in recent times, then the present owner discovered a way of segregating the cache of coal from the dirt. The craggy, rain drenched quarries of my youth have realised their vast economic potential. Almost all the land has now been returned to agricultural use. The remaining depressions will also become land fill sites, with the help of both official and clandestine users. The once thriving railway has been reduced to a shadow of its former glory with few facilities to call its own. The branch lines to Mealsgate and Silloth have long since seen their service withdrawn and their lines dispatched to feed the Workington Bessemer. Following the closure many of the younger miners were relocated, they moved down the coast, first to Flimby, then later to Siddick, Workington and Whitehaven in line with the general contraction of the business; they eventually retired, died, or became a handful of remarkable old men. The remainder of Cumberland’s, once lucrative subterranean coalfields have passed into legend. And all that remains of our rich heritage are a couple of open cast sites, a few sepia photographs, the occasional written document, and a sprinkling of pit slang words and related definitions to enrich our vocabulary.
| Bait | The miner’s food at work, original meaning to bite or tear; hence the word bait box, the container used to carry the food. |
| Banksman | Banksman – The man responsible for organising safety at the pit top. |
| DibPit Bank – The heap of dirt adjacent to the pit. | |
| Bogie – An open sided truck for conveying supplies. | |
| Cage – The lift that travelled up and down the shaft. | |
| Cowp – Originally a Scottish term meaning to tip something over. | |
| A Filler – A miner who loaded the coal from the ‘getter’ into the tubs. | |
| Goaf – The worked out part of the mine. | |
| Heaving – The motion of the floor lifting under pressure. | |
| Hewing – The miner worked at the face. | |
| Howking | Originally a Scottish term for extracting coal with a pick. |
| In-bye and Out-bye | When one is travelling underground in a direction towards or away from the face. |
| Job | Work; hence the job as stopped. |
| Kebbles | A large bucket type container for holding coal. |
| Marra | Now commonly used to mean friend or workmate. Originally defined as the man working the same ‘stint’ as yourself but on the opposite shift. This implied a mutual dependency for both safety and financial success depending upon how the stint was left. |
| Mash | Originally a Scottish term for a 7Ib hammer. |
| Mucker | A workmate or friend. |
| Scotch | The stone and dirt left after the coal as been segregated and cleaned. |
| Slogger | An exceptionally hard worker. |
| Pin number | A pin number – Now a common term, originally used under the old system of payment, where each group of face workers would identify their tubs of coal by chalking on their pin number. |
| Pit bottom | The area around the foot of the shaft. |
| Putter | The person who drove the ponies. |
| Prop | A roof support also called timbers. |
| Rib | The solid side of a roadway. |
| Sump | The bottom of the shaft, lower than the lowest gallery. |
| Tally | Each miner drew a tally or check on going underground the duplicate of which was kept by the tallyman. The system was used to facilitate the count of missing men in the case of an accident. |
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