Hi miningkid,
Thank you for an interesting question.
http://www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk/page49.htm
"Coal had been mined in the region since ancient times but became more
widespread in the 13th and 14th centuries."
==========
Poverty and the rise of Socialism
http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/coal-risefall.htm
"The coal industry expanded enormously in the 19th century, as
railways and industry grew throughout Europe. Coal mining companies
made fortunes, employed thousands more workers, and mined hundreds of
thousands of tons of coal a year."
=========
The Coal Authority
http://www.coal.gov.uk/media/44434/recordsandreportsservice.pdf
"The mining of coal goes back to antiquity although the demand for it
was relatively small until the 1700?s. During this period of
industrial growth within Great Britain, coal production increased
rapidly and by the early 1800?s over 10 million tonnes of coal was
being mined annually. Coal production continued to increase, reaching
its peak in the early 1900?s when over 250million tonnes was being
produced each year. Since then production has declined and today
annual output is approximately 30 million tonnes."
[...] Read article
=========
Coal mining brief general history
http://www.j31.co.uk/home9.html#hist
"Coal is close to the surface around here, some stream beds are made
of coal in the undulating countryside, and in the 20th century strip
mining has extracted millions of tons of near surface coal. There were
4 deep mining pits in the villages area that closed in the early to
mid 1990s i.e. Dinnington, Kiveton, Shireoaks and Thurcroft, (and
dozens of others of the Yorks and Notts coalfields), but its use goes
back much further than that:
In 1285 the burning of coal was discouraged in London because of its
sulphurous smell, and in 1685, 50 people died in 1 week from coal smog
(London was England's only really large city, most 'cities of the
period had populations smaller than present day Aston cum Aughton,
e.g. Norwich in 1500 had a 12,000 population and was the 2nd largest
city in England).
In 1873 when the industrial revolution was in full swing 700 people
died in a London coal smog. The toll rose remorselessly and in 1880
there was a London smog that killed 2,000 people in 1 week and 90 days
per year were recorded as having a yellow/brown/orange, well,
sulphurous coal smog. The smoggy scenes so beloved of contemporary
19th century writers like Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) and
Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde) plus countless Jack the
Ripper films, were dependent upon coal smog! London was the most
populous and energy consuming city in the world back then, but it was
coal that supplied the UK's energy needs, and the Yorkshire coalfields
supplied much of the black gold. So, back in time to...
In 1598 local (to this website) coal output was over 2,000 plus tons a
year. Kiveton pit opened in 1866 and was one of the oldest in the UK.
Dinnington pit opened in 1904 and Thurcroft pit in 1913, but pits have
opened, closed, and merged since 1700. Take a look at the plaques
commemorating the local collieries on this site.
In 1900 1,100,000 miners were employed in the UK (this site doffs its
predominantly Yorkshire cap in respect to the miners of Wales and
Scotland, the midlands, Northumbria, etc.). Wherever they where, the
death rate was high in the 1930s and '40s. That was a death rate
attributable to obvious causes such as mining disaster of course,
there were very many more lingering deaths due to lung diseases and
other disabilities from fired, prematurely retired, and disabled coal
miners."
=========
http://www.dmm.org.uk/history/sgate1.htm
"The old Parish of Ryton was a coal mining area from at least 1367,
when coal from Winlaton was shipped to London to be used at lime works
in connection with building operations on Windsor Castle. Mining
operations in Ryton Manor itself probably date from 1409, when the
Bishop of Durham leased the mineral rights to John Carnis and William
Tyndale."
=========
Mining History
http://www.dmm.org.uk/history/vhced1.htm
=========
Coal Mining History UK
http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/
"The early nineteenth century saw a dramatic rise of activity in the
mining of the country's coal fields. Thousands of people were drawn
off the land and from factories into the coal mines. Stories of how
these people lived and worked began to circulate among the general
public. They were thought of as wild, hard drinkers who had no morals
and were Godless and without any education. It was said that women and
children worked long hours underground in cramped and dangerous places
doing hard, back-breaking work."
=========
keyword search:
coal mining uk history
uk rise and fall of coal mining
origin coal mining uk
=========
Best regards,
tlspiegel |
Clarification of Answer by
tlspiegel-ga
on
19 Jan 2005 19:08 PST
Hi miningkid,
Historical Overview
http://www.staffspasttrack.org.uk/exhibit/coal/historical%20overview/historicaloverview.htm
"The mining industry in North Staffordshire goes back far into the
thirteenth century, when mines are referred to in the Tunstall
Manorial Court Rolls. The North Staffordshire Coalfield comprises four
mining areas: Goldsitch Moss, Shaffalong, Cheadle, and the Potteries.
The Potteries coalfield covers an area of about 100 square miles,
while the other three cover less than 30 square miles.
The coal industry gradually expanded due to demand from the pottery
and iron industry. It was also due to the establishment of the new
transport system, canals (1777) and later railways (1837).
The coal industry went from private small owners to big group
ironmaster owners, to nationalisation in 1947, until the last deep
mine (Silverdale) was closed in December 1998. All that remains to
remind us of this human endeavour is a few derelict buildings and
re-landscaped slag heaps."
*****
Organization
http://www.staffspasttrack.org.uk/exhibit/coal/organization/organization.htm
"Up until the mid 19th century, coal mining was carried out by local
land owners on a relatively small scale. The land owners would own and
run the pit or lease it out to other business men. After this time
until 1946, large groups that were mainly ironmasters took over the
mines. Thus, deep mines were being sunk and were becoming extensive.
On 1st, January 1947 all collieries were nationalised under the body
of the NCB (National Coal Board). A large capital investment was given
to the North Staffordshire coalfields. As a result miners health and
working conditions improved. The NCB was dissolved in 1994. The
remaining authority is called the Coal Authority. All mines are now in
private ownership."
*****
http://www.staffspasttrack.org.uk/exhibit/coal/collieries/collieries.htm
"Since coal was mined in North Staffordshire, there have been hundreds
of collieries established, closed, and new ones opened again until the
last deep mine - Silverdale colliery ceased in December 1998."
=========
http://www.dmm.org.uk/history/ocast00.htm
History
"Opencast mining for coal as we know it today started in 1942 as a
wartime expedient. To boost vitally needed coal output, surface mining
became the responsibility of the Mines Department of the Board of
Trade and was carried on by the Ministry of Works until 1945, then by
the Ministry of Fuel and Power.
In 1952 the National Coal Board, now British Coal Corporation, was
given responsibility for opencast coal production and the Opencast
Executive was established.
In the early years opencast operations were limited by the size of the
excavating plant then available. Maximum depths were only about 10
metres and ratios of strata above the seams ? overburden ? to coal
were restricted to about 5 to 1. Over the years, however, there were
substantial increases in the size of plant and by 1948 the maximum
depth of excavation had increased to 30 metres. Today working depths
of 80 metres are commonplace and the deepest excavation so far has
been 215 metres at the former Westfield site in Scotland. The average
overburden to coal ratio now is 18 to 1 with parts of some sites being
worked up to 40 to 1.
The excavating plant of the early 1940s was limited to a bucket size
of less than one cubic metre but today there are draglines with bucket
capacities ranging from 10 to 27 cubic metres. The largest weighs
3,000 tonnes and can excavate 50 cubic metres with each cycle."
[...]
Production
"In 1945 opencast coal production in Britain was about eight million
tonnes a year. Throughout the next few years this figure was raised
progressively until 14 million tonnes was reached in 1958.
For several years afterwards output was restricted owing to reduced
demand and by 1968 annual tonnage was down to 6.5 million tonnes. From
1970 demand again improved and since deep mines could not provide all
the coal required, opencast output increased to 9.1 million tonnes in
1974/5. In line with the Plan for Coal published in 1974, opencast
production steadily increased so that in 1980/1 output reached 15
million tonnes for the first time. Since then annual production has
been at about 14 to 17 million tonnes, and the Opencast plans to
increase output to meet demand for low cost high quality fuel."
=========
http://www.coursework.info/i/30762.html
"Deep mining ended in the county of Durham in 1993. Durham's case was
not unique as underground mining ended in most of the other coalfields
in the country."
=========
Mining techniques / Coal extraction methods
http://www.staffspasttrack.org.uk/exhibit/coal/technique/coalextraction.htm
(Click the image or highlighted words to see a larger version of the
photograph and its description.)
Click on the links on the left side of this page for more:
http://www.staffspasttrack.org.uk/exhibit/coal/default.htm
Historical Overview
Mining Economics
Organisation
Colliery Overview
Mining Techniques
Support Systems
Coal Transport
=========
http://www.maden.hacettepe.edu.tr/dmmrt/dmmrt362.html
Drift mining may be viewed as intermediate between opencast coal
mining and shaft or deep mining.
=========
http://www.j31.co.uk/home9.html#hist
In 1966 swinging Britain produced 188 million tons of coal from 480
mines. In 1992, after the Govt. minister Michael Hesseltine more or
less bought down the curtain on an 800 year old industry, energy
contracts for power generation went to North Sea gas generators
(called at the time the 'dash for gas'). In 1992 there were 58,000
miners producing 88 million tons. By 1996, when the industrial
slaughter was finally over, bar the shouting and there were 18,000
miners producing 40 million tons, and all the pits on the website area
were closed. 3,000 local miners had lost their jobs (plus related
employees). Remarkably little provision was made by John Majors
Conservative government for the badly affected mining communities. I
know from experience they were less fragmented communities before the
pits were closed.
Locally, Thurcroft pit closed in 1991 with the loss of around 1,000
jobs. Dinnington closed in 1992 with 1,000 jobs lost, and Kiveton pit
closed in 1994 (1,000 jobs). As you may have gathered, deep pits
employed about 1,000 people!
There's still plenty of near surface coal around though, and
applications are still being made to open cast (i.e. strip mine) large
tracts of territory. Rother Valley Leisure park was built on (or in?)
a 1970s open cast mine, and it had been open casted earlier that
century also. The offers often come with incentives/bribes attached
such as the offer to make the old pit yard area into a marina for the
Chesterfield Canal, or even to make it navigable between Kiveton and
Killamarsh. However, open casting can involved increased pollution,
very heavy freight traffic, and 20+ years of letting the gouged earth
heal (see below) and there are battles fought throughout the coalfield
areas against and for opencasting. This is my personal view - those
who have worked the opencast and deep mines have (with passion)
legitimately expressed opposite views (hello Frank!) and point out
that opencasting can free £ millions for post-mining reclamation.
However, the 1990 ish Treeton opencast on the site of the old Orgreave
coking plant (scene of violent struggles during the 1985 miners
strike) is not a good advertisement for opencasting.
=========
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_mine
"... strip mining, coal is extracted by large machines in strips; the
strata on top of the coal are allowed to fall back to where the seam
was, once the mining has finished."
[...]
"In South Wales opencasting for steam coal and anthracite is practised.
However most coal seams are too deep underground for open cast mining.
Most coal is extracted by either:
- deep mining, The shaft is dug vertically deep into the ground. These
tend to be the most productive pits and often contain high quality
coals. Coal is lifted to the surface with hoists.
- slope mining, The shaft is dug at an angle of about 45 degrees to
the coal seam. Coal is moved to the surface with a conveyor belt.
- drift mining, The shaft is dug into the side of a mountain. Drift
mines are smaller than deep mines and are common in South Wales - also
in West Virginia. Coal is transported from the mine to the treatment
plant via conveyor belts or mine railway cars."
=========
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=56&ArticleID=913730
http://www.j31.co.uk/home9.html
=========
That's all I've been able to find, but I hope it is satisfactory for you.
Best regards,
tlspiegel
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