Our understanding of the working environment in 19th century coal mines of which Brayton Domain is a prime example are not only vague but devoid of actual experience. They have largely been forged from scenes captured through the rose-tinted lens of pioneer photographers Joseph and Eric Pattinson. In contrast written documentary evidence with a realistic flare has proved more difficult to locate. However, testaments do exist. One example being this summarised report of a visit to AlIhallows, a pit four miles to the east of Aspatria, adjoining the village of Fletchertown.
In March 1883, a group of gentlemen led by one who signed himself Sergeant C. Hall gained permission to visit the underground workings. The tour began with a recital of the rules and regulations. Then with a leather helmet on their heads and a safety lamp in their hands they descended the shaft by means of the “cage.” An aptly named contraption consisting of two, four-foot stacked cubes, fitted with barred faces to offer safety and support. The image of the unknown conjured up fear. One man described the nine-hundred-foot drop in the following manner: “It gave me a sensation that I was falling down a bottomless abyss, with the earth cascading around me; by the time I reached half way I was unaware of the difference between rising and falling.“
They were met at the base by the soft glow from a friendly array of oil lamps, which illuminated a bricked archway opening out for almost fifty yards into the workings. At the Overman’s office they were reminded of the intensity of the temperature at the face and encouraged to relinquish their heavy clothing; but the advice went unheeded, although they shamefully admitted later, they had done so fearing theft.
After passing a notice prohibiting the possession of naked flames. pipes and matches. they arrived at the site of a large winding engine, a device used to draw and return tubs, 630 yards, along a gradient of one in five. A hydraulic pump stood by drawing unwanted water from the “dip”.
Once they established that the road was free of moving tubs, the party began to descend on foot. Despite all necessary caution they began to tumble and fall down a black hole, up to their ankles in water and slush, bumping their stooped heads against the roof and their ribs against the projecting pieces of rock. The writer related his apprehension:
“My body doubled, my knees bent and shaking, my breath coming and going in short, sharp gasps; perspiration oozing from my pores, my head aching, my eyeballs flinching and every muscle in my body racked with pain.”
At the end of the descent, they rested by a group of parked wagons, but their respite was short and within minutes they were bending their backs to ascend a “rise”. During their travels they were informed that the dips and rises were geographical faults that induced the seams to deviate from the horizontal. After a great deal of effort, they reached the top to find, in their words.
“Two poor fellows sitting on their haunches picking away at the coal, before shovelling it into tubs.
Their only dress being a pair of short trousers known as “Hogger pant’s.” These men were “robbing” the seams left to support the roof during previous workings. It was understood that they could earn four shillings a day by hagging sufficient coal to fill twenty tubs. At this point the mood of the writer changed to that of almost respecting the miner:
“fancy hewing 10 ton’s of coal, shovelling it into tubs, each with a capacity of 0.5 ton, pushing them forty or fifty yards (which the men claimed was the hardest part), working all the time in a narrow hole about three or four feet high, having to lie on one’s side or one’s back, or in another awkward position to use a pick-axe; surrounded by dangers, not knowing that every stroke of the pick could bring down the roof, working a thousand feet below the surface, away from the pure air and the sunshine; and then ask yourself is the miner overpaid at a trifling over 4s. per day.”
He continued,
“Unfortunately, it is not often that a rise in the price of coal means a rise in the miner’s wages. It has been my experience to pay between 1s. and 1s. 6d. more for each load of coal received in the last nine months, yet I cannot remember the miner’s wages increasing accordingly.”
They inspected several locations, and each portrayed the same visible nightmare. In one place they found several erected pit-props and were astonished to find them buckled and twisted under the immense pressure of the roof. In another they found a group of men working the “hard rock” face. Two were employed boring a “blasting” hole, they were “Jumping the drill” that while one man gave the drill a slight turn, his mate struck it with a heavy hammer. A third man laid on his side, making a semi-circular cavity to take the blasting powder.
The writer entered conversation with his guide. “What is that peculiar cracking sound I hear?”
“That is the earth settling down, sometimes it happens that as the top settles down there is a simultaneous rising of the floor.” “Why, in that case, that huge lump of coal above that poor fellow’s head could collapse at any moment!”
“Yes”, came the reply, “but that is only one of the many dangers incidentals to a miner’s life!” The next question came from one of his colleagues, “How do you detect the presence of gas?” “Well, when it is present in small quantities, it will show a blue light an the top of your lamp! But if it is present in large quantities, you wouldn’t have time to detect it. There would be a huge explosion and a few brass buttons belonging to your trousers would be all that was left as evidence for the inquest.”
This last statement disturbed the visitors who immediately requested leave of the workings. However, like most “well-to-do” animal loving humanitarian’s they would not leave without checking on the welfare of the ponies. They found seven ponies housed in the twelve available mangers. They reported them clean and well stocked with water and provisions. Prior to the ascent, they examined the ventilation machinery, a twenty-foot diameter fan, capable of blowing 40,000 cubic feet of air each minute through the workings.
The party accompanied the full tubs to the surface and watched them tipped onto the screen’s, a device for separating the large or “round” lumps of coal from the small, as it passed over them. The large coal was extracted by women and loaded into wagons, while the smaller pieces were put through a washing machine and sorted into two classes “nuts” and “small”. The dirt was separated from the coal then emptied into tubs and drawn to the top of the waste heap by engine power. The tour concluded with a visit to the winding room, offices, gasworks, Carpenters and Blacksmith’s shops. At the site of the former they found two, fourteen-foot diameter, winding engines, fitted with 25-inch diameter, five-foot stroke cylinders. The ropes were described as flat and made of the best plough steel.
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