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Published by the Author Strett8n Vil!a, ~eeI].cl,tr.;near~Sheflieldl ~.. .. -oil Tbe Early History of Stocksbridge aDd District
OR
Annals and Antiquities of the Little Don and Ewden Valleys, with an Account of some Old Industries in Hunshelf and Waldershelf.
SUBJECTS.
Clay, Fire-stone, and Gannister, in the Little Don Valley.
Lead-mining in the Ewden Valley.
BY J OSEPH KEN WORTHY, Author of the Jubilee History of the Stocksbridge Co-operative Society, and many papers on local antiquities, etc.
WITH 15 ILLUSTRATIONS.
Read with care-hide each fault you see, And when you've done, I pray remember me. The Contrast by JAMES WILLS, 1827.
PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH KEN WORTHY, STRETTON VILLA, DEEPOAR, NEAR SHEFFIELD. 1915.
(All Rights Reserved.) To MY DEAR BROTHER,
JOHN CUTTS KENWORTHY, who diligently strove to remove the reproach which formerly attached to our district by reason of the prevalence of Gannister disease and the sorrow
that followed in its train. Preface.
ET not the reader spurn this humble memoir on the ground that it L deals only with the dust of the earth, For just as we read,-' the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, ' so we need to be reminded that Man has 'to till (or work) the ground from whence he was taken.' And the same poetic insight tells Humanity in tones no less certain that, it can only attain to the mark of its high calling in the brotherhood of nations by sedulously cultivating a correct knowledge of the Earth whereon it lives and moves and has its being,
The Higher Intelligence of the human race has to mourn repeated misapplications of matter to the destruction of the flesh and blood, which, for a time, clothes our individual measure of the Eternal Spirit, an ever present reality which bids us revolt against such wanton waste of life and treasure.
But the day of such criminal folly is far spent. The hands which get the coal and shape the clay; the trained eye that peers into the depths of the fiery furnace; and the skilful arm which guides ingot and bar through roll and press, will no longer allow the fruits of their toil to be used in mockery of the inborn right of every Man and Woman to live out their days in peace and comfort, none daring to make them afraid.
For are they not co-heirs with One, who said, 'I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again,' hence, when they come to their own, they will claim, with Him, to be individually masters of their own life and of the manner of the sacrifice they are called upon to make,-no one man, or company of men, having the power to lay them in the dust 'ere their full earthly course be run.
Out of Earth's elements, mingled with flame, Out of Earth's compound of glory and shame, Fashioned and shaped by no will of our own, Helplessly, into life's history thrown. Born to conditions we could not foresee- Born by a law, which compels us to be, Born by one law, through all nature the same, What made us differ? Who is to blame? Contents. PAGE Gannister was formerly used in this neighbourhood for road-mending, exclusively.-Its refractory properties were not unknown, but fire-stone and fire-brick held the field until (Sir) Henry Bessemer introduced the process associated with his name ...... 9
Who introduced Gannister to the notice of iron and steel makers as a useful material for lining their furnaces? ...... 11
The origin and nature of Gannister.-Gannister of t,he same descent, geologically, as Clay and Sandstone. ",,""'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' 12
The method employed in getting Gannister, and the dreadful malady, once so prevalent, known as 'Gannister disease' or 'Miners' phthisis.' ...... 14
Annual output of Gannister and Fire-stone.-The once famous Fire-stone Quarries on Townend Common, with production and prices.-Analyses of Gannister, with a call to the study of certain peculiarities in its formation and disposition ...... 16
Annual output of Clay of all kinds in the Little Don Valley.-Its early use as a refractory material and also for road-mending.-The earliest use of bricks for building purposes in our neighbourhood.-Some of the pioneers in the manufacture of Fire-bricks, Sanitary-ware, etc. .. .. 21
The use of Lead in early times...... 30
Lead-mining in Yorkshire and Derbyshire appears to date from Brigantean times.-The Romans are said to have had penal settlements, in both counties, on sites where Lead was mined previous to their occupation. ... 31
The presence of Lead-ore in this district is abnormal and the yield uncertain. 32
References to be found in ancient documents proving that Lead-ore has been mined in our neighbourhood. ""'"'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' 35
Remains of old lead workings and traditions concerning them: ...... 36
Methods adopted at Hagg Wood Mines-Bitholmes,-Information relating to the smelting of Lead. .." ,...... 38
Names of some of the Lead-miners employed in these old workings.- The derivation of the place-name 'Cooper-car.' ...... 40
The presence of Copper-ore in the Ewden Valley not proven.-Zinc-ore or 'Black Jack' has been mined near Cooper-car bridge.-Mr. Farey's report is comtirmed by an interesting account book preserved at Broom- head Hall...... 43
Names of persons employed at the Broomhead Mines with the wages they received, and the time made from July 25,1811, to May 27,1815, a period of 3 years and 10 months. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' 44
Statement shewing weight of Black Jack carted from these mines to the canal basin at W orsboro' Bridge, near Barnsley "...... 45
General observations.-Approximate date when Lead was first mined in this neighbourhood, ... .., ""..'" , .,. ''''0'''''''''' ..,...... ~7 Illustrations.
PAGE Ebenezer Elliott. This bust was made of clay mined in the Little Don Valley...... Frontispiece
A specimen of Calc Spar found"in Gannister 19
Henholmes Works in 1890-also '\}'"harncliffe Villa' the home beloved of John Armitage 20
Advertisement in 'Sheffield As It Is,' in 1852 22
A brick or wall-tile from Flanders .. 23
Thomas Brooke. Founder of Bracken Moor Works 24
Thomas Dimelow-An old worker in clay 25
John Armitage ... 26
An interesting corner in Pot House Pipe Works founded in 1902 by WilIiam,
son of Thomas Brooke, on or near the site of the Glass House Pottery H' 28
Where beauty lingers! Raynor Clough. (Ewden Valley) 33
A Water-fall in Raynor Clough 34
Cooper-car bridge 37
'Old Lead Mine,'" near Cooper-car bridge... 40
Remains of goit at the' Old Lead Mine' 42
The site of the weir on the north-west of Cooper-car bridge 43 ..- Clay, fire-stoDe, aDd GaDDister,
iD tbe Little DOD Valley. Photo. J. Bradbury. Ebenezer Elliott, the Corn-law rhymer, who lived 1781-1849 and was connected with the iron trade.
This bust was made of clay, mined in the Little Don Valley, by Messrs. John Armitage & Son, of Henholmes and Deepcar. Clay, Fire-stoDe, aDd GaDDister,
iD tbe Little DOD Valley.
Perhaps the best, though the most familiar example we could take of the nature and power of consistence, will be that of the possible changes in the dust we tread on.-John Ruskin.
---
Gannister was formerly used in this neighbourhood for road-mending, exclusively. Its refractory properties were not unknown, but fire-stone and fire-brick held the field until (Sir) Henry Bessemer introduced the process associated with his name.
N the walls which surround our fields and 'fence off' our country I lanes, you may frequently discern, especially in the sunlight of an April day, after a shower of rain, many stones glistening with the whiteness of marble, which, on a closer examination, prove to be nothing more than gannister. Yet, we would not allude to the presence of this rock with anything approaching contempt or indifference, because, if not auriferous in itself, it is nevertheless a veritable' philosopher's stone' to those investors who are interested in the manufacture of Silica Fire Bricks.
These lumps of gannister, which with other 'riddings' were carried by our forefathers to the boundaries of their royds or clearings, and there used in the erection of fence-walls, are now often laid aside, during repairs, as too valuable to use again for such a purpose, and sold to the nearest Gannister Works.
In some places, such as the hill-side below 'Waldershaigh,' near Bolsterstone, as you go to Wood Farm, and the land between Watson House and Townend Common, or, as you traverse the fields on your way to Hoodlands, above Langsett, you will notice that many of the fence-wall8 are largely composed of gannister, which is explained by the fact that the ground on which you walk 10 Early History of Stocksbridge. was once covered by the Halifax Hard Coal or Gannister Bed, which at some remote period was thrown out, over a large area to the north-west, by a fault and slowly 'denuded. In fact, gannister is quarried, not mined, near Paw Hill, and tradition says that fences have been taken down, in this region, and replaced with new ones of ordinary rubble-stone, free of cost. Hence, the reader will ask-Why gannister, once considered as useful only for mending roads, should now be regarded as one of the most important assets standing to our national credit on the Geological Chart? The expansion of the Steel Trade, which was the outcome of new methods introduced by (Sir) Henry Bessemer, in the paper he laid before the British Association, at Chelfenham, on August 13, 1856, on 'The Manufacture of Malleable Iron and. Steel without Fuel' brought gannister into prominence as a highly refractory material, eminently suitable for withstanding great heat with success and economy; and every subsequent improvement in the manufacture of steel has also added to its reputation, until the word gannister has now acquired a distinguished position in the nomenclature of metallurgy. A Technological and Scientific Dictionary recently issued by George N ewnes, Limited, defines Gannister as ;- 'A compact and usually fine grained sandstone consisting of nearly pure quartz grains cemented by a siliceous matrix. It is, in fact, a variety of quartzite which occurs in connexion with some few coal seams. It is of considerable commercial value as a constituent of the refractory materials used for lining iron furnaces and other chambers exposed to a very high temperature.'
The fact that gannister possessed these latent qualities was evidently well known to such an indefatigable inquirer as John Farey, the elder, a geologist and surveyor who lived 1766-1825, because, he refers to this material' as a peculiar kind of hard stone called Crowstone or gannister, which, though an admirable material for road-making, yeti when pounded fine and kneaded with water has all the properties of fire-clay.'
On the other hand the writer of the Tour of the Don appears to be quite unconscious of any inherent usefulness beyond that of its suitability for road mending. Of a thoughtful, observant habit, this gentleman was more inclined to ponder over its origin and to ask in scholarly accents-' What are these vegetables (fossils) ? ,- 'Where, when, and how did they grow ?'-'By what means did they become enveloped, so as to be preserved to after ages in the flinty substance we call gannister?' Questions which are still awaiting satisfactory answers.
The following quotation from the impressions recorded by so cultured a pedestrian of a walk down the Little Don Valley on April 2, 1836, still breathes of the fragrance that hung in the air in those days of long ago :- Clay, Fire-stone, and Gannister. 11
I have hardly ever walked down this vale, without having my attention particularly arrested by the vast profusion of vegetable exuviae embedded in the gannister, which lay in heaps beside my path, ready to be broken up for mending the road. To the cheap and apparently inexhaustible supplies of this hard, fine grained, siliceous stone, which are mostly drawn from this neighbourhood, the trustees of many of the hard worn roads about Sheffield are greatly indebted; indeed, but for this economical material, and the slag, or vitreous masses derived from the matters used in fluxing the iron ores at the blast furnaces, many of the roads would be with difficulty kept in a passable state. It is less, however, for its uses, important as these may be-than as the matrix of such a multitude of fossil stems, that the gannister always appears so interesting to me...... To an individual, whose attention is once directed to the subject, the difficulty is that of withdrawing his observation, lest he may miss some specimen, which, by being more perfect than the rest, might throw a ray of light upon their character-the difficulty of such an individual" leaving the black stones alone," will often be experienced here. --
Who introduced Gannister to the notice of iron and steel makers as a useful material for lining their furnaces?
J oseph Bramall, senior, of Oughtibridge, was the first to use Gannister for furnace linings. The earliest experiments are said to have been made with 'road scrapings '-which is not improbable, because, as we have seen, gannister-stone was used for road- mending, exclusively, a century ago and more. When Mr. Bramall had satisfied himself of its suitability for the purpose, he induced a Sheffield firm to try it for lining the pot-holes of their Orucible-steel melting house, with equally satisfactory results; whereupon, he put down a grinding-pan and for awhile would appear to have sold ground gannister under the name of ' pulverized sand. ' In response to his eager inquiries, George Roberts, of the Flouch, Langsett, (Oounty Bridge Surveyor), assured him that the best quality seams were to be found in land attached to Bradshaw Farm at Langsett. In fact, the township authorities were getting gannister in the vicinity (at Hoodlands) in 1839, for road repairs, as disclosed in a perusal of the Langsett Vestry Accounts for that year. We, therefore, find that, after due consideration, J oseph BramalJ, senior, Henry Bramall, Joseph Bramall, junior, with Joel, Eli, George, and Oharles Bramall, sons of J oseph BramalJ, senior, all of Birtin Works, Oughtibridge, Steel Oonvertors, and Refiners, and Mauufacturers of Pulverized Sand, leased Bradshaw Farm, in Langsett, from Sir Lionel M. S. Pilkington, Bart., for twenty-one years from January 1, 1872. That was for the farm as a farm. Another lease was arranged in the same year, for the same period, between the same parties for:- 'All that Bed of Stone called or known by the name of the Gannister Stone lying and being in and under the above Farm, and also the bed or seam of Ooal lying immediately above the thereinbefore described Bed of Stone and called the Bullas seam.' 12 Early History of Stocksbridge.
The area of the farm was a few perches over fifty acres, and by an arrangement made between Sir Lionel M. S. Pilkington, Bart., of Chevet Hall, near Wakefield, and J oel Bramall of Bradshaw Farm, Gannister Merchant, in 1884, the said farm became J oel Bramall's absolute property on the expiration of the said leases. In the meantime, Messrs. John Brown & Co., Limited, of Sheffield, who were the first to take out a licence under Bessemer's patent, (S. Fox & Co., being the second to do so), had leased and worked out all the gannister to be found in the land attached to Hoodlands Farm, and J oel Bramall had acted on their behalf, in addition to developing his own property. According to Kelly's Post Office Directory for the West Riding of Yorkshire, for 1861, only two firms were grinding gannister in Yorkshire at that date, viz.,-Joseph Bramall, of Bm.ton House, Oughtibridge, and Messrs. Russell & Young, Fire Brick Manu- facturers, of Oughtibridge. Of course, our Highway Authorities did not abandon the use of gannister until the price became prohibitory for road-mending purposes. For instance, the prices ruling in this valley in 1865, were 3s. Od.per cubic yard for gannister, and Is. 2d. per cubic yard for breaking it. But, in 1871, the Hunshelf Surveyor was paying 4s. 6d. and Is. 6d. respectively. To-day the price would be treble that amount.
Its enhanced value also gave rise to considerable controversy in legal circles, as to whether gannister was' a stone' or 'a mineral,' which ended in its being classed as a mineral, likf~ coal, and leased at so much per foot thick, per acre, with a minimum rent, etc., etc.
The origin and nature of Gannister.-Gannister of the same descent, geologically, as Clay and Sandstone.
In A Short Sketch of the Geology of Yorkshire the author, Charles Bird, RA., of University College, London, says, 'the beds which underlie the coal requiro a little special notice. They are generally known by the descriptive name of" underclays" but they vary much in mineral character. Most of them contain sand, and some are very siliceous and make excellent fire-bricks. The stone known as "gannister" is one of the most noticeable, and is extremely hard and compact. These underclays are the remains of the old soil in which the coal plants grew.'
The origin of our clays and gannister was made still more clear, in a lecture delivered some years ago by Mr. A. McWilliam, a most able Lecturer on Metallurgy, who recently left the Sheffield University for an appointment in India, of which the following is a useful summary. Clay, Fire-stone, and Gannister. 13
In this address, which dealt with, 'The formation of building and refractory materials,' the lecturer drew special attention to the fact, that granite and similar rocks which consist largely of alkali, felspars, and quartz, have, in the course of untold ages been decomposed and as the quartz remained practically untouched, it formed grains of sand and ultimately sandstone, coarse or fine, according to the sizes of the crystals in the original rock. The felspar which consisted of silicates of potash, soda, lime, and alumina, was decomposed, and the silicate of alumina in merely taking up water became the basis of all our clays. The more pure the clay the more suitable it is for furnaces employing a medium temperature, such as annealing furnaces, while the more impure deposits are useful for the making of bricks, tiles, etc. The other silicates in their decomposition formed common salt, nitre, lime- stone material, and soluble silica. Variable quantities of these soluble substances having been washed away accounts for the varying qualities of our clays. Among the more basic rocks there were silicates which gave iron and and magnesia compounds. Pure clay, with less than about 2 per cent of potash and soda is a fire-clay; if it is white we call ita china clay or a pipe-clay, while 5 per cent of oxides of iron with a fair amount of potash and soda reduces it to an ordinary red brick clay, which is rendered slightly more valuable if it gives, on burning, a pleasing terra cotta colour. Again, if the pieces of quartz are cemented into a solid rock by means of nearly pure silica, we have the stone known as gannister, but, on the other hand, if the silica is impure and cemented with a small quantity of clay, we have the type of the best building-stones of our district. In fact, the smaller the amount of clayey matter that will serve as cement the better the stone for building purposes.
The writer of a most illuminating article on the Bessemer process in Mackenzie's Chemistry by Writers of Eminence pub. in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, must not be overlooked, as he refers to Gannister, with respect to its origin and capabilities in a manner at once comprehensive and pleasing:-
The convertors are lined with gannister, which is a siliceous rock of a peculiar nature. It appears to have been deposited in shallow seas just after the millstone grit, and before the permanent land surfaces were formed upon which the bulk of the coal-measure plants grew. Professor Hull has endeavoured to identify this bed over a very large area, and there is little doubt that it will ultimately be found in many districts in which at present it is supposed to be absent. It occurs very largely in the Yorkshire cual-field, and also in Lancashire, Shropshire, South Wales, and it has lately been discovered in the Newcastle coal-field; but, the finest quality of gannister stone is found around Sheffield, at Penistone and other places. It there forms the underclay of a thin coal seam, and is very largely worked, particularly at Deepcar, for home and export. An analysis is only a partial guide to the value of a material of this kind, for it is found that the peculiar value of this Sheffield gannister depends more upon its physical characters than its chemical composition. It appears to have been formed by the aggregation of extremely fine particles (produced from the wearing away of quartz rocks) of siliceous matter with a little alumina, which have then been subject to great pressure. It has a glassy or waxy fracture, quite different from all sandstones, and is extremely hard and tough. It contains numerous remains of plants, and often large masses of pyrites. It is not only highly refractory, but possesses the valuable 'quality of binding together like clay when ground fine and moistened. Sandstones, under these circumstances, are crumbly. It is the joint possession of these two properties that renders gannister so valuable for lining Bessemer convertors, cupolas, etc. 14 Early History of Stocksbridge.
The method employed in getting Gannister, and the dreadful malady once so prevalent, known as 'Gannister disease' or 'Miners' phthisis.'
In a paper, of considerable merit, read before the members of the South Yorkshire Mining Students' Association by Charles Brown, of Stocksbridge, at a meeting held at Wombwell, on October 14, 1905, the author referred to 'Gannister-a little known mineral.' Mr. Brown, who holds a Government certificate, in speaking thus of gannister, is quite correct, because, until all the peculiar conditions attending its quality and thickness in the limited area already worked, are properly correlated, its true origin and structural sequence will remain debateable.
In this interesting paper which was published in full in Science and Art of Mining for Nov. 4, 1905, we are told:-
Gannister in its purest form is found in the Lower Ooal Measures, underlying the Ha]ifax Hard Ooa] Seam, where it variIJs from six inches to three feet in thickness. According to the Geological Survey a bastard gannister is found under other seams, though such contains less silica and is consequently inferior for refractory purposes...... In working the gannister, post and stall, or double stall has been found the best and most economical method of working, owing to the unevenness of the floor, the large quantity of packing materia] required, and the distance between the last pack and the face when the gannister has been bared ready for blasting. The gannister, of course, is bared by working away the coal, either for long or short distances, according to the demand for either mineral. Two men and a boy generally work together; the men do the blasting and the boy the tramming. The holes are drilled by hand, as no machine drill, except one driven by mechanical power, would face the hard substance which is sometimes drilled through, although the floor generally, is fire clay. Owing to the inconvenience of the floor, only experienced men are able to drill the holes to any useful depth, which varies according to the quantity of work to be done. As much as three pounds of dynamite has often been used to blow a thickness of about three feet in a narrow place, or there are what are known as "roots," and occasionally, in very bad places, the miner will use the whole box of d'ynamite-five pounds-- without blowing a single" corf" of the mineral. These" roots" are not the ordinary root]ets which we collect as fossils, but depressions in the floor similar to channels, the gannister sometimes running from two feet to six feet thick in a space of two or three yards. In mining this mineral large quantities of dust are raised by the blasting operations which have to be resorted to, and also in the crushing and grinding departments on the surface. This dust is very injurious if breathed to any extent as it gets on the lungs and cannot be dislodged, consequently, anyone working in it sooner or later becomes a victim to what is known as "gannister disease" or "miners' phthisis," a kind of con- sumption which takes hold of the nnfortunate fellow, who eventually succumbs to it when he still ought to be in the prime of life. There have been scores of such cases in the district, and, unfortunately, they are still to be met with, but it is satisfactory to note that they are rapidly diminishing owing no doubt to the efforts of the mining engineers and also in some measure to the miners themsel ves.
It was indeed a fell disease, and it will never be known what sorrow and suffering it occasioned before our local Friendly Societies and Guardians of the Poor became sufficiently concerned to ask if anything could be done to remedy the evil. It must have been very gratifying, however, to those, who, on the Urban District Council, and elsewhere, protested against such culpable waste of Clay, Fire-stone, and Gannister. 15 human life, to know that when the Miners' Union sought to have the mining and disintegration of gannister included in the list of dangerous occupations, those concerned opposed the application on the ground that, improved conditions--brought about, shall we say, in deference to public opinion-had abated, if not abolished, the evil complained of.
This disease, in its genesis and effects, is similar to the one which has played, and is still playing, such havoc amongst the miners, who are chiefly natives, in the gold-bearing rocks of South Africa, which lies at the base of much of the unrest manifested by labour in that region.
The following extracts from a report of a discussion on 'The effects of dust in producing diseases of the lungs' by members of the World's Congress of Doctors held in London in August, 1913, are of great interest in this connexion and we place them on record as useful for further reference :-
Dealing with miners' phthisis, Dr. Collis pointed out in connexion with gannister, a refractory rock containing up to 99 per cent. of free silica, found near Sheffield, that the operatives working it were peculiarly subject to res- piratory disease. Certain regulations were imposed on the industry in 1905 to ensure dust prevention, and although improved conditions of work could not be expected to affect the death returns materially for years to come, some improvement had occurred, for the mortality had fallen 15 per cent. since 1900, . and the median age at death from all causes had risen eight years. This improvement indicated that the causation and prevention of the disease were understood, and that a marked alteration in the mortality amongst these workers might be anticipated in the next ten years.
Dr. Collis went on to say that probably all dust in excessive amount was injurious, but knowledge as to the exact dusts which were most injurious was not fully acquired, and methods of dust prevention and removal were com- paratively modern. Among workers exposed to silica dust phthisis occurred at a later age than was usually associated with an increase of other respiratory diseases, and showed a low degree of infectivity among female relatives-a characteristic noted:by Dr. Scurfield among Sheffield grinders, by Mr. Wheatley among Grinshill stone workers, and by himself among flint knappers. In his opinion the inhalation of mineral dust which contained free crystalline silica was associated with an excess of phthisis, an excess which bore a direct relation to the amount of the silica present.
Sir Arthur Whitelegge referred to the importance of the question of the causation of dust disease. There was dust and dust, and their efforts were to be directed against the injurious forms. On the Continent, rather a wider view was taken than in England. There were more efforts to repress dust, even as a nuisance if they could not show injury to health. He was gratified to think they were now concentrating upon the dangers of dust, and they would all appreciate the advantage of having such a strong definite cure to at least one of the most deadly forms of dust. They objected to dust, not as a nuisance but as a cause of deadly disease.
Dr. Collis, replying to discussion, said that silicosis as such was a distinct condition, a distinct entity entirely separate from tuberculosis, which produced definite physical signs, shortness of breath being the most noticeable from the workman's point of view. A grinder might have been working for 25 years and announce himself as perfectly well, but if that man became infected he died and died quickly of tuberculosis. It seemed to be that silicosis caused fibrosis, and at some later stage the'tubercule bacillus infected the case, and the whole aspect changed rapidly for the worse. 16 Early History of fftocksbridge. Annual output of Gannister and Fire-stone.-The once famous Firestone Quarries on Townend Common, with production and prices.-Analyses of Gannister, with a call to the study of certain peculiarities in its formation and disposition.
When we inform our readers that the total output of gannister for the United Kingdom only amounted to a little over 1,000 tons in the year 1878, it would be deemed presumptuous to say that all is known, that can be known, about such a mineral, geologically, though, commercially speaking there is no exagger- ation in asserting that the Silica Fire Bricks of the Little Don Valley have a world-wide reputation. In 1908, the output of Gannister in the West Riding of Yorkshire alone was 80,124 tons, of which fully one half was raised in our valley, our estimate for that year being, about 40,000 tons, for all the collieries situated below Underbank Reservoir, including the extensive workings under Wharncliffe Wood. These figures do not include about 4,000 tons of Fire-stone quarried in the same area, and used in connexion with the manufacture of gannister mixtures, during the year 1908. In fact, it may be news to some of our readers, that many thousands of tons of Fire-stone were quarried on Townend Common during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially the latter, which explains the jagged outline profiled against the sky at the south-eastern corner of our valley. Mr. Abraham Grayson, a shrewd member of one of our oldest families, bought this common land then known as Rough Allotment with other parcels from John Rimington, Esq., who only a few months before had purchased them from Lord Melbourne. A memorandum I have seen, presumably in the handwriting of Abraham Grayson, reads as follows, viz.,-' The names ofthe Closes that I have Bought of Mr. Rimington, October the 10th 1803. A pice or parsil of Ruff Land Called the Round Hill and Almonwell Hill aboute 29a. 2r. 7p.--the first Close or Roide field aboute 6a.- the Second do. aboute 3a.--the third Close aboute 5a. 1r. 19p.-the Canah Croft aboute1a. 2r. Op.-Middle Croft aboute Oa. 3r. Op.- Calf Croft and Gardin aboute Oa. lr. 27p.--a house that John Bradley Lives in.-c-a house that George Grayson Lives in, and the house that Abm. Grayson Lives in, with the Gardins and Aporti- nances thear unto Belonging. Also the Barn, Stableing and Misteling, Swine Coats, Colehouse fould yard and other Convainy- onseas wich Abm. Grayson aucypies. Also the two folderings Supposed to Containe foure Acors, three Roods and Sixteene pearcheas, more or Less, that John Hoke (Hawke) ocupied with the Road through John Bradley Fould, and John Hoke fould, to the Lane. Also the Chapilcroft.' The purchase money appears to have been £1,331 4s. Id., which was paid by instalments varying in amount from Fifty Clay, Fire-stone, and Gannistel'. 17
Shillings to as much as £280 over a period of ten years. It was not a bad bargain, the total measurement baing a little over 58 acres, which averages nearJy £23 per acre, including the buildings. Abraham Grayson, and his immediate descendants, derived a large portion of their income from the sale of the fire-stone quarried on a portion of this estate, as enormous quantities were delivered to the iron and steel furnaces in Sheffield and neighbour- hood during a period of something like half a century. A staff of stone-dressers were constantly employed, in addition to the men who quarried it, as some of the stone had to be supplied to specified sections, etc. The quality had more than a local reputation, which was maintained until it faded in the dawn of new conditions brought about by the use of gannister, when the demand fell away to such an extent that these once famous quarries have been practically closed for the last thirty or forty years. It is highly probable that fire-stone had been worked here long before Abraham Grayson bought the property, because, there is evidence of this class of stone baving been used at the Glass House, which was working until the middle of the eighteenth century. From the totals of two monthly accounts that have survived out of many furnished to Mr. John Grayson by his accountant, 'Old Harrop' the master of Bolsterstone Free School, our readers will obtain some idea of the amount of business done in days when such material had to be carted to its destination over roads that were ill-made and badly kept, railways being as yet unknown. Nov. 24, 1827. Weight 346 tons 3 cwt. 0 qrs. Amount £337 Os. 10d. May 31, 1828. Weight 340 tons 14 cwt. 2 qrs. Amount £332 7s. 8d. The prices varied from 8/- to 21/- per ton and when sold by the load 17/- to 18/- per load. The average of the two accounts, deducting those items sold at so much per load, works out at about 19/- per ton. These prices included free delivery to consumers in Sheffield and neighbourhood, such firms as Brittain & Oo.-Earl Fitzwilliam-Greaves & 00.- Mr. Huntsman-Ibbotson & 00.- Mitchell & Oo.-Naylor & Oo.-and Thorncliffe Ironworks, being amongst the best customers. The prices paid for cartage would seem to have been 3/4 per ton or 4/- per load. The following analyses will be of interest to the general reader as shewing the composition of Gannister, whose superior qualities and properties as a high class refractory material, ousted firestone from its once exalted position.
ANALYSIS OF GANNIS'J1ER MINED AT STOCKSBRIDGE OOLLIERIES. Silica 92.28% Alumina 2.70 Peroxide of Iron 1.14 Lime. .. 2.66 Magnesia.. . 0.11 Loss by calcination... 1.11 18 Early History of Stocksbridge.
ANALYSIS OF A SAMPLE OF GANNISTER TAKEN FROM A MINE ON TOWN END COMMON, NEAR DEEPCAR. Silica 96.00% Alumina 2.23 Peroxide of Iron 0.29 Lime ... 0.54 Magnesia ... 0.07 Loss by calcination... 0.87
ANALYSES OF TWO SAMPLES OF FIRESTONE QUARRIED ON TOWNEND COMMON. Silica 89.77% 91 90% Alumina 4.04 4.36 Peroxide of Iron 1.10 1.64 Lime 0.16 0.40 Magnesia 0.07 Potash 0.33 Soda 0.41 Loss by calcination... 4.12 1.70
Calcite or Oalc Spar, is often found in the fissures which some- times occur in our beds of gannister. It assumes the form of lovely milk-white crystals known chemically as calcium carbonate, which contains 56% of lime and 44% of carbon, and in our gannister crystallizes in the hexagonal system, occasionally yielding very good specimens of N ail Head Spar.
Next to quartz, calcite is the commonest mineral found in the earth's crust. These crystals, which are sometimes encumbered with pyrites, are of great interest in themselves, but their presence would be detrimental to the quality of the gannister if they were allowed to remain, hence, the miner rejects them, with some amount of disgust, as a useless product of his labour.
A careful investigation of the' root' phenomena alluded to by Mr. Brown, and such peculiarities as the coal being thin, and the gannister thick on the east; and the coal thick on the west, with the gannister thin and in some places altogether absent; also the presence of calcite or calc spar, referred to above, and of thin vertical veins of bluish-green matter, probably sulphide of iron, in the gannister coal, etc., also white flakes in both soft and hard coal, would well repay the trouble involved.
Such an inquiry if undertaken by a band of our young miners conversant with geology, in connexion with an able executive appointed by the Sheffield University, could not fail to be of the greatest service, for the simple reason that, a more exact know- ledge of the formation, constitution, and disposition of our minerals, would tend to reduce much of the present waste, which is a crime in face of the fact, that when our national reserves of coal and iron are dissipated, they can never be replaced. Photo. W. Broadbent. A specimen of Calc Spar found in Gannister mined in the Little Don Valley. ,; ".. '""" '"" ~
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'OD.; ~ 'e.. < c: ..c:<> ...... <> "".. :> .2 ..a.. e ..c:<> .. oS ~ :> .. 1§ ~ .. ..c: ~ .,<> -a QI 00... ,S -"I., <>.. ~ ., i<> ..c: ..c:: =
.2 ~ Clay, Fire-stone, and Gannister. 21
Annual output of Clay of all kinds in the Little Don Valley.-Its early use as a refractory material an.d also for road-mending.-The earliest. use of bricks for building purposes in our neighbourhood.-Some of the pioneers in the manufacture of Fire-bricks, Sanitary-ware, etc.
Any reference to the refractory materials indigenous to the the Little Don Valley would not be complete without some mention of the Potters' Earth or Clay referred to by the auctioneer in his description of an estate at Bolsterstone, which Lord Melbourne had commissioned him to offer for sale in the year 1802. In its business-like brevity, however, it fails to impart the information conveyed in such a report as that furnished in 1811-1817 by Mr. John Farey, which reads as follows, viz.,-' Pits of Fire Clay at Midhope Stones in Ecclesfield, Yorkshire. This clay is in high repute not only for making bricks to line iron furnaces and others where the most intense and long continued heats are required, but when tempered like mortar it is equally useful for. setting fire-bricks and stones in the linings of furnaces. Coarse saggars for china factories are also made of it.' In another place he also notes that, 'Fire-Bricks are made at Midhope-Stones.' These interesting references amply confirm the traditions still lingering in the memory of the oldest inhabitants which indicate that the clay seams of our valley have been well known and extensively worked during the last three hundred years. We are unable to say whether clay was ever used for road-mending in this district, but from what Mr. Farey says it was formerly used in Derbyshire for this singular purpose, and it is not improbable that such a custom may once have prevailed in our neighbourhood. His note on this subject records that, 'on one occasion he saw clay burning in large spits or spadefuls dried and mixed with small coals in heaps by the surveyors of the roads at a place near Tibshelf.' In connexion with this matter, Mr. J ohn Ness Dransfield, of Penistone, has drawn our attention to a most interesting letter which appeared in the Journal of the British Archaeological Associ- ation for 1894. This communication was addressed to the late Dr. Hill Burton by Mr. Ramsey Head of the Geological Surve,l/, and we venture to quote it in full, viz.,-'I was struck by the way in which Sandstone was stoked to harden it into good road metal in the district of Yorkshire, west of Barnsley. It was partly at least quarried and built into a heap about thirty feet in diameter and ten or twelve feet in height with some brushwood interspersed (but not very much) and two or three thin layers of coals, an opening for more fuel was left towards the prevailing wind, and fire was lighted in it, and being smothered by the stones went on burning for about six weeks, after which, the stones were found to be partly vitrified. Slabs, originally flat, had become bent and contorted, and in numerous instances, stones originally separate had become, so to speak, glazed together in the process of vitri- 22 Early History of Stocksbridge. fication, which I imagined could not have been effected but for the presence of the soda or potash and of the iron which are part of the constituents of felspar and mica.'
Mr. Dransfield supplements the above information by the following remarks :-' Until, I think, the date the road from Penistone to Sheffield ceased to be a Turnpike road, stone used to be prepared in this way at the bottom of Thurgoland Bank for the repair of the bank. I often sa", it both making and on the road. It burned to a deep red colour and made a good road, If I recollect aright, old grassy sods as well as brushwood were interspersed, and a coating of sods laid on the top or outside of the heap. Perhaps Mr. Ramsey Head may have seen the stone making and laid on Thurgoland Bank as it would be to the west of Barnsley?'
Mr. Farey also observes that' great expenses are incurred on the eastern side of the County (Oerbyshire), in quarry ing gritstone, and then stacking it again pretty closely, with layers of small coals between, and firing it; mostly these clamps of stone are made in a corner 01'end of the quarry, where they are suffered to burn out, in the course of many days, and to grow cool; but in a few instances, a sort of rude kiln has been built for thus burning stone for the roads.'
L,
From a [ittle guide-bookentitled" SHEFFIELDASIT IS," published, in [852, by J. Pearce, Junior, of High Street, Sheffield.
This may account for some of the red stones once found with great frequency in the ruts of our country roads, though we must be careful in drawing conclusions as many oat-drying kilns and oat-cake bakestones were demolished in this district during last century. Further, stones of a special character will turn up for generations after they have once been scattered and used for road mending, as may be noted when walking in the neighbourhood of the Glass house or Pot House at Bate Green, which ceased working in the eighteenth century. Clay, Fire-stone, and Gannister. 23
For a conside'rable distance round this site, an abundance of stones of a deep red colour may be detected in the fields and lanes and, occasionally, in the fences. In fact, the north end of Clough Cottages, near Whitwell, is largely built of stones taken from the furnaces when this once famous manufactory was finally demol- ished. Again, we must not forget that some layers of our rocks are irregularly stained by oxide of iron. Still, a way on the quiet reaches of many old country roads, other than main roads, burnt- stones turn up, which may certainly be regarded as relics of this strange custom of 'hardening by fire.' In many instances, field and place-names indicate the site of old workings and manufactories, e.g., Clay-pit field in Hunshelf; Pot House, near Stocksbridge, previously known as The Glass House; Clay-Pits Lane, Smithy Moor, near Unsliven Bridge; Pot- House Fold at Midhope-Stones; Clay Croft at Paw Hill; and Potter Field, near Mortimer Road, on the way to Sheephouse, etc.
It is almost certain that our clay was first used for making pottery or earthenware; but a coarse kind of red brick was doubtless made in the region of Midhope and Langsett as early as the seventeenth century.
Photo. F. Downing. A brick or wall-tile such as were imported from Flanders in the fourteenth century. This particular specimen was taken from the foundations of the Manor House at North Cliffe, near Market Weightou, demolished in 1897.
That common red bricks have been made in this valley for two hundred years or more is proved by the size of the oldest bricks to be found on some of our old homesteads. These ancient bricks average about two inches thick, shewing their evolution from the Flemish brick or wall tile of the fourteenth century, of which we have a specimen that was taken from the foundations of an old Manor House at North Cliffe, near Market Weighton, a most quaint and interesting structure which was finally demolished in 1897. This brick is ten inches long by five inches wide by one and three-quarters thick and weighs Hlbs. Z4 . Early History of Stocksbridge.
It is instructive to know that contrary to a once prevalent opinion, bricks have been made continuously in England from the time of the Roman invasion. They, of course, varied in size according to the nature of the clay and local usage. An early form was sun-dried and C. F. Innocent, Esq., A.R.I.B.A., in a series of articles contributed by him to the Building News in 1912-1913, entitled' Old English Building Construction,' has ably shewn that bricks, both sun-dried and burnt, have probably been developed from the walls of mud or cob, and laments that evidence bearing 011 the origin of English brickwork is so scanty.
Thomas Brooke. Founder of Bracken MoorWorks. DiedDe.. 29, 1897.aged69 years. It is said that in the twelfth century the English began to improve the form of both wall and and roof tiles and continued to do so until about 1320, when the extensive commerce carried on at this period by Flanders led us to acquire a knowledge of Flemish manners and customs, e.g., Flemish bond and their mode of making bricks, the forms of which, being smaller, were far more convenient than those previously in use, and so were ultimately adopted. In fact, these bricks, with an alteration in thickness-three inches, instead of about two inches, are still in daily use. The word brick however, did not come into general use until about the middle of the fifteenth century; their previous name having been wall-tiles. Wat (the) Tyler, who was killed during the revolt of the peasantry in 1381, would be what we now describe as a brick-maker. Clay, Fire-stone, and Gannister. 25
A duty of 2s. 6d. per thousand was imposed on bricks and tiles in 1784, and after several alterations was finally repealed in 1850. Arthur Young was especially loud in his protest, as it put, so he argued, a premium on thatch and thereby diminished manure. We have heard that in sinking a well at the Oaks Farm, Midhope, many years ago, the workmen came across some workings about fourteen feet from the surface, in which both coal and clay had been mined, J onathan Crawshaw, who was tenant at the time, said that no one, then living, had any knowledge of such a pit, which appeared to be very old.
Photo. J. F. Hinchliffe.
Thomas Dimelow, of 'Rose Cottage,' Born Nov.30, 1829. Di.d Nov. 16,1910. An old and w.lI-known workerin clay wholov.d flow.rs.
All kinds of fire-clay goods, such as fire-bricks, fire-backs, linings for stoves and furnaces, chimney pots; tiles, etc., were made at Hand Bank, near the river, by Messrs. Halstead and Sellars, who had been contractors on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, which was opened in 1845. A person of the name of Williamson, who had been on the railway was also connected with these works, which were doing well in 1861, and might have developed into a very large concern had not Joshua Halstead, the acting partner, wasted their substance in drink. Through such excesses, which earned Halstead the sobriquet of 'Bucket Jack,' the business had to oe relinquished to John 26 Early History of Stocksbridge.
HibbeI:d, and others, whose success became a more or less fluctuating quantity, until the place was sold and the effects dispersed. Charles Loxton, who died in March, 1875, aged 49 years, worked at Hand Bank before he became connected with the Besse- mer Department at Stocksbridge Works. The Barracloughs, of Unsliven Bridge, also made bricks, and so did Turner Brothers, who left the Old Cotton Mill, near Stocks's Bridge, and founded the Henholmes Works, a little further down the valley. Three cottages, faced on the east with brick, and still standing, near Haywoods Quarry, were built by the latter firm; which with a brick cottage at Horner House, erected by the late John Howson, and 'Brick Lump,' a group of dwellings erected by the late Samuel Fox, Esq., take rank as the first brick houses in the Little Don Valley.
~
John Armitage.
In addition to brick and tile making, Messrs. W. J. & R. Turner, were also engine builders of no mean reputation, but fortune was fickle in her treatment of these able men and the works were eventually sold to the late John Armitage, Esq., who developed them with great success. It is said that when he first visited this neighbourhood he was an itinerant glazier. With Caesar, he could truthfully say' I came, I saw, I conquered'; at any rate, he found a more congenial outlet for his energy and ability than carrying a crate of glass on his back and seeking 'windows to mend.' Clay, Fire-stone, and Ganm:ster. 27
Tall, and of good address, his tigure lingers in our memory as that of a man of strong individuality and intellectual force, a man who did his own thinking without affectation or intolerance. Of a highly nervous temperament, he always gave you the impression that he held his success in fear and trem bling, as one who from a past experience knew that riches could take to themselves wings and flyaway, which probably accounted for a great deal of what was regarded as mean and eccentric in his dealings with men and things. How stern and terrible he appeared to the youthful trespasser, when, requesting them to stand still, he slowly took a note-book out of his pocket, and asked them for their name and address, or, when, in spite of many a tearful protest, he upset the blackberries or the fall-foot flowers, they had gathered so joyously on his land. It was too bad 1 But he has been forgiven long ago. A glance round his home, which stood between the Red Rocher and the Henholmes Works, revealed to the thoughtful observer that the occupant was a man of innate refinement and considerable artistic taste. In fact, we question whether we have had a better demonstration in our valley, of how a dwelling may be designed to fit itself naturally into the scene without any suggestion of vulgarity. In its' golden age' it was indeed a beautiful home; it embodied, as John Ruskin would say, the thoughts and aspirations of the builder. The well kept lawns and terraces on which were disposed the splendid groups of statuary modelled by a master of his art,- Peter N anetti, an Italian workman in his employ-all combined in forming an ideal rest for body and mind, and .John Armitage enjoyed it far better than his later and more luxurious town residence, Etruria House, Sheffield, where he passed beyond the veil, on Nov. 13, 1890, aged 74 years. The statuary has perished, the whole environment has changed, a sordid wave has welled up and submerged its beauty, but a quiet dignity still pervades the lineaments of' Wharncliffe Villa' which seems to say I cannot, I must not perish ignominously! It still remains the best monument we possess of the genius and character of the late John Armitage, of Deepcar. Other firms have followed whose achievements are chronicled on the Share List of the day, but, whatever the future may record of them, they can never participate in the romance that will ever surround the memory of those humble folk, who, masters and men alike, laid deep and firm the foundations of our present prosperity. The total weight of Clay of al] kinds raised in the Little Don Valley in connexion with all the mines situated in the area below the Underbank reservoir, not omitting the workings under Wharn- cliffe Wood, was fully 22,500 tons for the year 1908, an output which dwarfs all comparison with anything done previous to forty or fifty years ago.
Indeed, it is questionable whether the man who penned the following lines could have the remotest idea of the magnitude of the changes that were involved when the falling of his hammer in 28 Early History of Stocksbridge.
Garraway's Coffee House, in London, on September 7, 1802, regis- tered the passing of Lord Melbourne's Bolsterstone Estate into the hands of John Rimington, Esq., of Hillsboro' and Sheffield. 'Coal and Potter's Earth are now worked upon this Estate in a small degree, which may be greatly improved.' Mr. Winstanley.
-- I Photo. H. She/don. An interesting corner in Pot House Pipe Works founded in 1902 by William, son of Thomas Brooke, on or near the site of the Glass House Pottery. -- NOTE. In an account of the 'Finances and Property of Shrewsbury Hospital, Sheffield,' published in the Sheffield Telegraph of Feb. 12, 1876, the following lands were in the occupation of John Armitage, of HunS'helf Bank, in 1874, as shewn, viz., £ s. d. 2,450 yards on a lease for ninety-nine years from 1856, at per half year 300 la. Or. 2p. comprising ground and premises used for manufacturing Sanitary goods-on a yearly tenancy, at ... ." per half year 4 0 0 l4a. Or. 3p. of land on a yearly tenancy at ... per half year 8 10 0 Other land at ...... per half year 10 0 0
Total rental-paid half yearly £25 10 0 Lead Mining in the EWden Valley. lead Mining in tbe EWden Valley.
The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire, the founder melteth in vain; for the wicked are not plucked away. JeTerniah, 6 ch. 29 veT. --
The use of Lead in early times.
Professor Gowland in the Huxley Memorial Lecture for 1912. entitled 'The Metals in Antiquity,' which deliverance has been published by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, gives a masterly summary of what is at present known concerning the use of lead from the earliest times to the Roman invasion of Britain. Lead, he says, frequently appears as a consti tuen t of bronze near the close of the Bronze Age and during the early part of the Iron Age, and when more than about 8% is present it has undoubtedly, in nearly every case, been intentionally added, for instance, some socketed celts found in Brittany contained by analysis 28t% to 32!% of lead, (which may represent the culmination of experiments prior to the discovery of tin, as lead in that proportion would render the bronze practically useless for carrying a cutting-edge). When referring to the Roman occupation of Britain he remarks that more than fifty Roman pigs of lead have been found in Britain, either in the neighbourhood of ancient mines where they were produced, or near the roads leading from them to Roman stations. This large number, all of which may be regarded as having been accidentally lost, indicates that the production of lead during the time this people were in possession of the mines in Derbyshire, Flintshire, Shropshire, Somersetshire, and Yorkshire, was very great. The evidence collated by Dr. Flinders Petrie in his Arts and Crafts of Ancient Egupt pub. in 1909, shewing the early use of Lead in Ancient Egypt is equally useful and interesting:- Lead is found in the prehistoric times in the form of small figures and little objects; it was probably brought from Syria. It next appears as a rather common metal in the Eighteenth dynasty, (B.c. 1587-1328), when net-sinkers were generally made by bending a piece of sheet lead round the edge lines of the net, much as at the present day. In the filling of bronze weights it is found in the Eighteenth and Twenty-sixth (B.c. 664-525) dynasties. And an alloyof copper and lead-now known as pot metal-was commonly used for statuettes in Greek and Roman times. Lead Mining. 31
Lead mining in Yorkshire and Derbyshire appears to date from Brigantean times. The Romans are said to have had penal settlements, in both counties, on sites where lead was mined previous to their occupation.
In a most useful paper communicated by Mr. James Backhouse to the British Association in 1906, the writer says :- For many years Yorkshire held a most important place as a lead producing district, and it is probable that during the palmy days of the industry at least three thousand persons were employed, directly or indirectly, in lead mining in the county. To-day there are probably not more than twenty-five all told! It is clearly proved that lead has been mined for many centuries in Yorkshire, not only in Roman, but in Brigantean times. Pigs of lead can be shown, found in Yorkshire, bearing the Roman impress. In the "baile," or "bole-hills," and probably in one or two drifts and shafts, we have evidence of Brigantean working; some of it possibly dating back earlier than the Roman invasion. In many districts tradition points to Roman mining, but evidence is not forthcoming to show whether these conquerors actually mined lead themselves or whether they begged, borrowed, or stole it from the subjugated tribes. From those times, however, through what we may call the early documentary period, lead was mined more or less systematically in Yorkshire, often in large quantities, and there can be no doubt at a large profit. The actual area in which lead has been mined in Yorkshire may be taken as about one sixth of the entire county, and is situated in the North and West Ridings, in the mountainous regions towards the head waters of rivers. With reference to Mr. Backhouse's uncertainty respecting the way in which the Romans obtained the lead they prized so highly: a tradition still lingers at Hurst in Arkengarth-dale, in Yorkshire, that the Romans had a penal settlement there in connexion with lead-mining, and a similar tradition has come down respecting Bradwell, near the Roman station at Brough ill Derbyshire. The last named tradition has been ably treated by S. O. Addy, Esq., M.A. axon, of Sheffield, in an article he contributed to Folk-Lore in December, 1901, entitled 'Garland Day at Castleton.' Mr. Addy, who, in the course of his investigations, interviewed many old inhabitants of that district, was told that the original stock of Bradwell people were descended from 'transports,' who built themselves little stone huts, without mortar, and settled down in Bradwell. They were said to have been transported to work in the lead mines. Tradition says that some came from Italy, and some from France, hence, an old description which spoke of their descendants as 'part bred Italians.' Some of these' old originals' were described by one of the old folks as 'half-blacks,' who also remarked that he had known people at Hucklow, whose hair was' as black as a sloe.' He described the old stock as little folk, strip- made, with short legs and knees low down, who, as a rule, were honest, hard-working people and quick-witted. This tradition has certainly come down from a very high antiquity, and gathers force from the fact that, old inhabitants of Castleton used to say Bradwell people were descended from 'convicts,' whilst Bradwell folk were just as emphatic in declaring that Castleton people were descended from' slaves.' Mr. Wood mentions this tradition in his Tales and Traditions of the Peak and Mr. Addy refers to the fact that, under the Roman 32 Early History qf Stocksbl'idge.
Empire the workmen employed in mines were often slaves, soldiers, or criminals, and that, where the miners were criminals, there was always a military station near them. The remains of the Roman Camp at Brough, near Bradwell, which to om shame be it said, still awaits a thorough exploration on scientific lines, have more than an ordinary interest in the light of such a tradition, and we long to know more. Green to North, the grassy rampart Wears no more a warlike frown, As, maybe, when Roman sentries Hurled the fierce Brigantes down; Sounds no more along the pavement Measured tramp of martial feet, And no more the warriors thronging At thy gate some hero greet. A. WRIGLEY.
The presence of Lead-ore in this district is abnormal and and the yield uncertain.
In the catalogue prepared by Mr. Winstanley, giving' A Particular of the Manor, Freehold, and Tithe-Free Estate of Bolsterstone' sold by Lord Melbourne in 1802, the following observation occurs, viz., 'It is also supposed to contain lead in some parts of it.' Long before we saw a copy of this interesting document, we had heard the old folks speak of lead having been found in this neighbourhood, and were often puzzled how it came about that such a mineral could, geologically speaking, find a place in these valleys. It was not until we saw an account of a vein of lead ore having been discovered at Bugsworth station, sandwiched in the gritstone rocks, when the Midland Railway was widened at that place some years ago, that we fully realized the possibility of its sporadic existence in Waldershelf and Westnal, especially in the picturesque valley of the Ewden Beck. In the Tour of the Don which embalms a series of extempore sketches originally published in the Sheffield Mercury during the year 1836, there is a reference to a discovery of lead ostensibly in the Little Don Valley, which reads as follows :.-- At the lower part of the Midhope Dale just before it opens upon Deepcar, coal is obtained by drifts excavated to a considerable depth in the sides of the valley. It may be noticed too, as a somewhat unusual occurence, that recently an ample vein of lead ore has been discovered protruding through the thill or floor of the mine and running horizontally under the coal seam.
There is no reference to such an occurrence in the Geological Survey of 1850-1,but we have heard of lead ore having been found many years ago in a coal-pit which once existed behind Blacking- Mill Row. This drift or ' Day-hole' is situated on the south side of Haywoods Lane at the bottom of the field now let out in garden allotments. It was walled up some years ago by the Stocksbridge Lead Mim:ng. 33
Urban District Council, and the water, which issues from it, utilized for a public trough which stands at the junction of the lane with the main road.
. We have also heard that when the first proprietors of the Hepworth Ironworks were constructing their branch railway to Hazelhead station, a vein of lead ore was found in the gritstone. Jonas Battye, of Oxspring, who died Aug. 13, 1914, aged 88 years, a brother of the late Benjamin Battye, of Crimbles Farm in Hunshelf, selected about seven pounds weight of the ore, for examination at the office, as the workmen were under the impres- sion that they had discovered a lode of silver ore. It is also known that a similar, if not the same, vein was struck when boring the Wood head Tunnel.
Photo. F. Downing. Where beauty lingers! Raynor Clough. (Ewden Valley).
The late John Derby, of Sheffield, who died May 17,1912, in his 99th year, wrote under the pseudonym' Johann ZimIIlerman,' a charming little work, in 1863, entitled Historical and Antiquarian . Sketches in the Neigbourhood Qf Sheffield, from which we extract the following: - We .have recently found in a small wood, in some of the unreclaimed land near this place, and which is known not to have been disturbed for. many centuries, a quantity of lead and lead ore, partly smelted; and in the immediate neigh- bourhood several considerable beds of charcoal have been discovered of which we possess portions. . . . . The whole of this district in old documents is called "The Forest of Riveling." 34 Early History of Stocksbridge.
A piece of roughly smelted lead, weighing several pounds, was found in White-car Park on Broomhead Moors in 1911, and is now preserved at Broomhead Hall.
A tradition which says Mickleden Pond, on Midhope Moor, covers the site of an abandoned silver mine, may preserve some memory of a discovery of lead ore containing a high percentage of silver, which tempted speculation to indulge in 'great expectations that came to nothing.' For instance, silver is said to have been found during the eighteenth century at Ronscliffe, near Cawthorne, and at Gadding Moor by the water side, near Gunthwaite Lane End, also at W oolley. A silver tankard was made from the Rons- cliffe find, and a pair of buckles from that of Gadding Moor; and John Wilson, the Antiquary, records that, a pound of ore produced
Photo. F. Downing. A Water-falI in Raynor Clough (Ewden ValIey).
eight ounces of silver, which, if true, was phenomenal, as we learn from Newnes's Technological and Scientific Dictionary of 1906, that Silver Lead Ore contains from a trace to 3% of silver, and when silver was at a higher price, a lead ore containing three ounces of silver to the ton paid for extraction by an obsolete method known as the Pattinson process.
A careful study of the geology of the Ewden Valley would well repay the time devoted to it, as we are of opinion that some Lead Mining. 35 good evidence of glacial action will be revealed during the con- struction of the reservoirs now in progress. In the meantime, it is of more than passing interest to note that, in a deep and lovely ravine known as Raynor Clough, on the south side of the Ewden Beck, some black shale and limestone nodules with Goniatites have been found in the strata exposed in the bed of the stream, which indicates the possibility of lead-ore being present in the neighbour- hood as an aberrant.
A metallic ore such as yields what is known as lead is invariably associated with the Carboniferous Limestone, hence, the lead-mines of Derbyshire, just over the border, have been famous from a remote antiquity, several of them being mentioned in Domesday Book. A considerable portion of the limestone is, however, covered by a thick deposit of shales and sandstones, known as the Yoredale Rocks (Pendleside Group) and Millstone Grits. These ate sedimentary in their origin, and were, of course, deposited subsequently to the limestone, which is a marine for- mation. The lead-bearing veins are but rarely continued into these shales arid grits, and, wherever such a thing does occur, they usually become much poorer in their yield. It is interesting to note, however, that lead veins frequently become richer at the approach of contact between the limestone and the shales or grit. It is clear, therefore, that the presence of lead-ore in our district, wherever it may occur, is abnormal, and when found can rarely, if ever, be expected to yield so useful a metal in sufficient quantities to pay for its extraction. This being the case, the information we have garnered becomes essentially interesting and instructive. ---
References to be found in ancient documents proving that Lead-ore has been mined in our neighbourhood.
In YorkshiJ'e Diaries, published for the Surtees Society in 1875, the following entries appear in 'A Dyurnall' kept by Adam Eyre, of Hazlehead Hall, a Captain in the Parliamentary Army, viz. :- January 26,1647. Wee gott up earley in the morning and rode by Medley (Methley) boat, and so to Yorke, where wee went to the committees to seeke for the order which I had for a 5th part of lead ore at Bithoms but found none. February 8th, 1647. I went to Sheffield...... I left word with Crook's sonne, ye sequestra.tor, to looke for an order I left with him for a 5th part of the lead ore at Bitholms. October 6th, 1648. This morne I went to Sheffield. . . . . I spoke to J a. Creswick about my order for ye lead ore, who sayd hee would seeke for it. In A Life at One Living by the late Dr. Gatty, published in 1884, the following notes were contributed by his son the late Rev. Reginald A. Gatty, viz., 'Close to the hall, (More Hall) in a small wood, is a series of mounds, which on examination have proved to 36 Early H£story of Stocksbr£dge. be lead workings. These are very possibly Roman, and the bright bits of lead that strew the bed of the river just below. indicate the exact spot where in former times the lead ore was washed.' Mr. John Farey, in a General V£ew of Agr£culture and M£nerals of Derbysh£re published 1811-1817,gives a List of Lead Mines, which were, or had been, working in Derbyshire and on the Yorkshire border, from which we cull the following, viz., 'Broomhead-Mill, near Bolsterstone Chapel, Yorkshire, in Grit, perhaps alluvial, ...... Lead and Black Jack.' 'Wig-twizzle, near Bolsterstone Chapel, N. W. of Sheffield, Yorkshire, in Grit, perhaps alluvial, ...... Lead, Black Jack, Copper.' The same writer further states that, , Black Jack or Blende, is found in the mines at Alport, Ashover, Bolsterstone in Yorkshire, Bonsal, Calke, Castleton, Cromford, Eyam, Matlock, Stanton- Harold in Leicestershire, Wirksworth, Youlgreave. In some of these the quantity found is small, and I believe that little, if any, of this ore has been dressed for sale, in Derbyshire. It was not until late years that the practical miners of this district, considered Mock Ore to be of any value, and it was either left in the mine, or thrown away on the hillock among the vein-stuff.' In another place he remarks, 'Brass-makers at Sheffield are supplied with a good deal of Black Jack from Broomhead-Mill and Wigtwizzle Mines, near Bolsterstone, Yorkshire.'
Remains of old lead workings, and traditions concerning them.
On April 13, 1908, Mr. George Ronksley of Dwarriden, who was born in 1837, informed us that he well remembered seeing, when quite a boy, on the north-west side of Cooper-car bridge, a large pit, perhaps twelve feet square, as near as he could recollect, which was lined with stone. There were also several cog-wheels and a cylinder, all of cast iron. He always unaerstood that there had been a house on the east side of the bridge, near to a very old tree still existing in the fence, of which building, some portions were standing when first he knew the place. To the east of Cooper-car bridge on the north side of the river, in a field cultivated by John Creswick, a well or shaft, was found in the early part of 1908. He had noticed a little hole at this place during harvest operations, but had forgotten the matter until the following Spring, when he decided to make a careful inspection of the ground, and on probing the orifice with a fork or other implement the whole of the covering, to his imminent peril, fell in with a crash, revealing a well probably twenty feet deep, lined with stone and nearly full of water. Lead Mining. 37
Mr. George Sampson, agent for R. H. Rimington-Wilson, Esq., the owner of the property, had some large stones placed over such a dangerous place without delay, and in so doing ventured the opinion that the well or shaft might probably have some connexion with the old lead workings said to have once existed in this locality. We are, however, inclined to regard it as the well which supplied the house in question with water for domestic use. Mr. George Steel, of Broomhead-MilI, informs us that the cy linder or pillar would be about twelve or fifteen inches diameter and had been removed many years ago, to serve some useful purpose higher up the river. He also says that the ground under the road, near the bridge on the north, sounds' drummy,' as if the land had been undermined in that direction, at some period.
Photo. F. Downing. CDDper-car bridge in the Ewden Valley.
A superficial examination of this site, which, we are told, has always been known as the' Mine-hole,' shews that a weir formerly existed at the bend of the river on the west of the bridge, a portion of which still remains. This weir would hold up a large reserve as the curve in the stream is of considerable radius. The water was conveyed by a goit whose course may still be traced tD the remains of the stone-lined pit described by Mr. Ronksley. This 'pit' was probably constructed in connexion with some mechanical arrangment for pulverizing and washing the ore, as the remains of a large beam can be seen embedded in the stone-wor:-:, also a number of iron bolts. A toothed wheel, of cast iron, measuring thirty-four inches diameter by three and a half inches wide over the teeth, still remains on the river bank, half buried in flood silt. The tail- goit may be seen in the field on the east of the bridge where it discharges into the river just above the more ancient weir of Broomhead Corn Mill. 38 Early History of Stocksbl'idge.
Mr. Ellis Grayson, of Bitholmes House Farm, who was born in 1835, informs us that his grandmother, Hannah Grayson, who died in 1859, aged 74 years, and had been married three times, her second husband being a Mr. John Wood and the third a Mr. Armitage, used to tell how she had heard her grandfather, J oh n Helliwell, say, that he remembered two miners being killed in the old lead workings in Hagg Wood. Their surname in each case was Dutton, but whether they were brothers or not, Mr. Grayson could not say, though he had always understood they were relatives. They lived at Hermit Royd, on the eastern boundary of Waldershelf byr-Iaw. These men lost their lives at a point about fifty yards below the bottom barn at ITpper Brightholmlee. Would they be employed by the adventurers mentioned in the following, viz. ;- Bithom~ Lead Mine, Bradjield. 30th April, 1736. Articles between Bache Thornhill, of Stanton, in the parish of Youlgrave, co. Derby, esq., and '1'hos. Cawthorn, of Sheffield,upholsterer, William Lyon of the same, surgeon, Westby Hatfield, of the same, linen draper, and others, their partners in or about a mine tryal or adventure called Bithoms, in Bradfield, co. York, to get lead ore. The parties to give to Mr. Thornhill the 13th dish of ore when ready to be smelted, and the yearly rent of 208.Od.on every 12th May, during the working. A suit in ChancBry between the above parties to be determined and finally ended, and the lessees to be discharged of all trespasses heretofore committed. Witnesses, Margaret Thornhill (sister to Mr. Thornhill), Richard Brownhill (Bithoms). Indications of these old workings are still visible, the holes and hillocks having been preserved by the custom of planting such rough patches with trees. It is said that after this sad event, the mines were finally abandoned. -- Methods adopted at Hagg Wood Mines-Bitholmes.- Information relating to the smelting of lead. The appearance of these old workings would seem to indicate that the method adopted was that known as 'overhand,' the material being brought to the bottom of the shaft and then raised to the surface by appropriate machinery. A field which has always been known to Mr. Grayson as 'Gin-Pit Field' evidently speaks of some such arrangement. The site of this shaft is still marked by a large pond with a .mound or hillock on the side, and conical holes with their correspondi'ng mounds may be traced to the west through the wood in the direction of Upper Brightholmlee. In another field called Swallow-Pit Field, Mr. Grayson has heard the old folks say that, there is a drain large enough for'a man to walk up it, which tradition says was made to drain these old lead mines. In this instance, the workings are on the south side of the Ewden Beck, as compared with those at Cooper-car bridge, which are on the north side of the stream. It is said that the lead-ore was washed at a bend of the river opposite More Hall, where about forty years ago specimens of lead were often found, but are now rarely, if ever, seen owing to river erosion. When probing one of the lower hillocks on Good Friday, 1909, two pieces of lead-ore were found, which for colour and richness compare very favourably with the ore found in and around Bradwell. The late J oseph Middleton, of Stocksbridge, who accompanied the Lead Mining. 39
author, said that from his experience as a lead miner in Derbyshire, the ore found in HaggWood occurs in what are called 'self-lumps,' a peculiarity evidently reported to Mr. Farey, who' suggests that the ore may be 'alluvial' in origin. The large area covered by these old workings proved, in Mr. Middleton's opinion, that the ore existed in fairly paying quantities, and considering that it was not encumbered with spar like the Derbyshire ore, it would be 'buddled' and dressed with very little labour and expense. There must have been over twenty shafts sunk, which may have been anywhere from thirty to fifty feet deep, judging from the size of the mounds. One hole measured eighteen feet diameter at the top by six feet at the deepest part, and another twenty-seven feet by nine feet, all the holes being conical. in section. The disposition of the hillocks, which consist of a stony shale, would shew that the ore did not lie in a vein, and the number of shafts and extent of the workings generally, prove that lead-mining had been pursued here over a considerable period. In fact, lead must have been mined on this site in a greater or lesser degree for a century or more, as Adam Eyre was inquiring about the lead due to him in 1647-8, and the fatal accident mentioned by Mr. Grayson would occur somewhere about the middle of the eighteenth century. When Adam Eyre speaks of ' an order for. a fifth part of lead ore at Bitholms' it seems to imply that the ore was taken elsewhere to be smelted. It is known that lead was smelted in smelting-houses at a price per ton, in which connexion the following particulars contributed to the pages of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph' in or about 1895, will be of interest:- My grandfather' says the writer,' one hundred and fifty years ago (1745), chopped wood to smelt lead with at the smelting place, afterwards converted into a corn mill at Ryecroft Glen. My ancestors as owners or managers about the same time smelted lead at Barber-fields, near Ringinglowe, the lead being taken and deposited at a depot on the Marsh High Lane, Ecclesall. The lead so deposited was afterwards conveyed to Tinsley and merchandise brought back to Sheffield as back carriage. My father one hundred years ago (1795), assisted in such carriage, and the roads between Sheffield and Tinsley being bad, rutted fights often took place when conveyances met in the same ruts. There was a smelting mill at Wag Wood, Dore; some of the aqueduct which conveyed water to the machinery for promoting a blast is there to this day. Old Hay, now a grinding wheel, was formerly a lead smelting place so also was Eagle Wheel on Totley Brook. The lead-ore was taken from some of the more remote places to the smelting-houses by pack-horses, the ore-jaggers charging according to Mr. Farey an average price of one shilling per ton per mile. The mode of smelting would doubtless be as described by Martyn in 1731.-' The furnace, which I saw near Wirksworth, was very rude and simple, consisting only of some large rough stones, placed in such a manner as to form a square cavity, into which the ore and fuel are thrown stratum upon stratum; two great bellows continually blowing the fire being moved alternately by water. I saw no other fuel on this occasion but dried sticks, which they call white coal. The use of cupolas was introduced into Derbyshire about 1747 by a small community of Quakers who came from Wales.' 40 Early H£story of Stocksbridge.
Names of some of the Lead-miners employed in these old workings. The derivation ofthe place-name 'Cooper-car.'
The Rev. A. B. Browne, M.A., Rector of Bradfield, has kindly looked through the Bradfield Registers from 1723 on wards, but is unable to find any record of the burial of Messrs. Dutton, whose bodies. if recovered, must have been interred elsewhere. That persons bearing this surname have been in the neighbourhood is certain, because on making inquiry at Bolsterstone, the Rev. Canon Wilson informed us that a child of this name was baptized at St. Mary's Church in 1813, and remarked' It was in the year 1813, when" printed forms" for the registration of baptisms were first used.' The entry in question reads :-' Feb. 21, 1813, Harriet,
.,
Photo. F. Downing. 'Old Lead Mine' near Cooper-car bridge. daughter of Henry and Sarah Dutton of Hermit Royd, labourer, baptized by T. Bland.' There is no trace, however, of anyone of the name of Dutton having been buried at Bolsterstone, which is most perplexing, if the remains of these unfortunate men were not left in the workings.
The surname' Dutton' is far from a common one, and appears to have been associated with the township of that name in Cheshire from the time of William the Conqueror to the reign of Charles the Second. .John and Rowland Dutton, two Cheshire gentlemen, contributed £25 each to the Spanish Arm.ada Fund in 1588, and it is pleasant to think of these humble miners who lost their lives in the Bitholmes Lead Mines as worthy descendants of men, whose fortunes had been reduced by a loyal adherence to the cause of Cavalier or Roundhead. Lead Mining. 41
The place-name 'Cooper-car' appears to have some connexion with lead mining. In 1594, the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a piece of waste called Cowper Carr is mentioned as lying on the western boundary of some property leased by the Earl of Shrewsbury to Richard Greaves of Waldershelf. A transcript of this lease, which is a very interesting document, may be perused in a History of Penistone by John Ness Dransfield, published in 1906. Further, in a Valuation of Waldershelf made in 1797, there are two fields described as Little Copper Car and Great Copper Car, respectively, whose situation corresponds to the piece of waste called Cowper Carr in the days of Good Queen Bess. Mr. Farey in the work previously mentioned, says,-' At Alderley-edge in Cheshire, copper ore is found and at Mottram ... and lastly at Broomhead-Mill, near Bolsterstone in Yorkshire, some copper-ore is found, as I am informed, having never visited the spot.' In another place he refers to the fact that, 'the miners who dig lead ore are usually called" copers" from their working at a certain " cope" or price per ton, or per load of ore.' In the Oxford English Dic#onar,/j,-Coper is said to be derived as follows :-' In Derbyshire mining one who agrees to take or make a bargain to get lead ore is called a coper. A coper is one who copes, i.e. buys or sells; a dealer or chapman. The earliest use of the word in English is 1609. Cope is of Low German origin, and is equivalent to the Dutch "koopen," to buy, exchange, barter.' The evolution of the place-name' Cooper-car,' therefore, lies before us as in a mirror. From' coper' a JE:'ad-miner and' car' a piece of rough marshy laud in, and on the side of, a valley, the origin and growth of this interesting place-name is clear and un- mistakable. The reputed presence of copper might possibly account for its being written Copper- Car in 1797. though we are inclined to attribute this confusion to a misreading of Coper-Car on the part of the valuer. The surname' J agger' which still survives in our district has also some connexion with this industry, as lead ore was formerly carried by pack-horses, a drove of such horses being called a 'jag' and the persons who carried ore for hire were called ore-jaggers. An old lead-miner, Robert Evans, of Bradwell, who was born in 1830, informed us that Adam Hill, also of Bradwell, worked at the Old Lead Mine, near Broomhead Mill, and we have heard others say the same. We remember the old man very well, he died in 1872, aged 76 years. He married a sister of the late Samuel Fox, Esq., and one of their sons, Francis, held a lucrative position at Stocksbridge Works for many years. His name is not mentioned in J oseph Steel's account book, unless Adam was the name of the boy who assisted Benjamin Hill. The late Henry Hill, of Sheffield, another of Adam Hill's sons, informed us that when he, as a young man, worked in the lead mines at Bradwell, 15 pints were reckoned to a dish and 9 dishes made one load. The weight of the contents of a dish varied according to the 42 Early History of Stocksbridge.
richness or otherwise of the ore, say from 50 to 70 lbs. per dish. The Duke of Devonshire claimed every 24th, and Mrs. Gell every 48th dish. These royalties were known as 'cope-groats.' It is not generally known that the land which lies below the Yew Trees Wood, on the south side of the road, down to the Ewden Beck, is called Cooper-car, and that the road from a little below Yew Trees Farm, onwards to the bridge, is Cooper-car New Road. Cooper-car Old Road turned down the hill, through the wood, and though planted with trees, may still be traced to the river, which it crossed by a ford, now difficult to locate. The construction of the new road, which dates from the second or third decade of the nineteenth century, involved the erection of what is correctly described as Cooper-car bridge, which would be a great boon in the estimation of old inhabitants, who must often have found it dangerous, if not actually impossible, to cross the
Photo. F. Downing. Remains of the north side of the goit which brought the water for pulverizing and washing' Black Jack' at the' Old Lead Mine,'
river when in flood. In fact, tradition says that its erection was hastened by the narrow escape of a young girl, who, in attempting to go over the stepping-stones, when the waters were rising, tost her footing, and was floatIng down the stream, when, luckily, her hair caught in the branch of a tree, and so enabled her to clamber out on the bank and live for many years to tell the tale. The late Canon W. R. Wilson, informed the writer that the specification for the building of this bridge is preserved amongstr the Wilson Manuscripts. but he was unable to say what amount was paid for its erection. Lead Mining. 43
Th~ old house, and the rough portion of waste land lying north of it, would doubtless be the homestead and domain of the miner, who first discovered the ore, and mined it in the car, and the place- name' Cooper-car' (Coper-car) will bear the remembrance of his occupation, when the name of Lord Melbourne, who entered into his labours and sold the' Old Lead Mine,' has sunk into com- parative oblivion. --
The presence of Copper-ore in the Ewden Valley not proven.-Zinc-ore or 'Black-Jack' has been mined near Cooper-car bridge.-Mr. Farey's report is confirmed by an interesting account book preserved at Broomhead Hall.
The presence of Copper-ore in the Ewden Valley would seem to be largely a matter of inference, rather than of actual knowledge; and the report made to Mr. Farey may perhaps be explained by the following definition of the mineral known as Black Jack, which we are informed by old lead miners, rarely, if ever, occurs in veins like galena or lead ore, but lies in .beds or strata after the manner of coal or ironstone.
Photo. F. Downing. The site of the weir on the north-west of Cooper-car bridge which gave the head of water required.
A Technological and Scientific Dictionary published by George Newnes, Limited, in 1906, is our authority for the definitioH in question :-' Blende (Mineral) is a Zinc sulphide, containing 66% of Zinc, and 34% of Sulphur, called by the miners Black Jack. It occurs in complex forms of the cubic system. At one time it was rejected as a useless gangue metal, but now it is a valuable source 44 Early History of Stocksbridge. of zinc and cadmium. Oolour usually black. Often associated with lead, copper and silver ores, and barytes.'
The fact that Black Jack is really a zinc-ore will explain why the Brass-makers at Sheffield were supplied with a good deal of Blende from this locality, because Brass as described in the same Dict£onary, is 'An Alloy of from 63 to 72 parts of copper with 27 to 34 parts of zinc. It is of a yellow colour, but so ductile that it can be drawn out into fine wire, though, when intended for converting into wire, it is often alloyed with small quantities of tin and lead. The manufacture of brass was only introduced into England in 1639, when two Germans established works at Esher in Surrey.'
The following information gleaned from a manuscript placed at our disposal through the kindness of R. H. Rimington-Wilson, Esq., of Broomhead Hall, will give the reader an interesting glimpse of mining conditions, in our neighbourhood, a century ago, together with an approximate cost of mining the' Black Jack' yielded at these particular mines.
This manuscript is in book form, and consists of 66 leaves sewn in a strong brown paper cover, measuring eight inches long by seven wide. The title inscribed on the opening page reads 'July 25th, 1811. Broomhead Mines. Day and Memorandom Book, by me Joseph Steel.' The account is written up very neatly, every item being clearly described and so arranged that Mr. John Rimington, who found the money, could see at a glance how matters stood so far as working expenses were concerned. The disposal of the mineral produced has evidently been recorded in another volume, hence we have no means of ascertaining what amount of profit, if any, was made per ton. --
Names of persons employed at the Broomhead Mines with the wages they received, and the time made from July 25, 1811,to May 27, 1815,a period of 3 years and 10 months.
Name Days Rate Name Days Rate Ashton Mark ... 243 ... 3/4 Melior Joseph...... 570! ... 2/10 Ashton Mary ... 235!... 1/8 Steel Joseph ...... 833!... 4/- Bailey William ...... 8291... 3/2 Stear George .., H' 47l H' 4/6 Burgin Robert ...... 5 ... 3/4 Stear John .., ... 22 ... 4/6 Craig Thomas ...... 51 ... 4/6 Stear John Jun'r ... 26 ... 3/6 Drabble Joseph ... 1 ... 3/4 Smith Joseph...... 34l... 3/- Dungworth Richard ... 1 ... 3/- Shaw J oseph ...... 7 .., 3/- Dyson Benjamin 2i... 4/- Stanniforth Joseph ... 68!... 2/6 Helliwell Isaac ... H' 26 H' 3/2 Steel Hannah... H' 29 ... 1/- Hill Benjamin ...... 152!... 3/4 Worthington William... 281... 3/6 Boy...... 157 ... 1/4 Walker Thomas ... 36l... 3/- Ibbotson Elizabeth ... 18 ... 1/8 Wright John ...... 13!... 3/- H' 844 ... 1/- Wilson Robert...... 18l... 3/4 Boy ... 268!... nil Woolhouse Joseph ... 178£... 3/2 J enkinson George ... 10 ... 4/3 White Abraham ... 13 ... 3/4 J ohnson John. H 4! ... 3/6. Lead Mining. 45
An analysis of these figures shews that out of a total of 4775! days worked during the period named, 1126t days stand to the credit of female labour, or nearly 24%. The amount paid for female labour was £64 15s. 6d. or about 10i% of the total wages paid. In the case of Elizabeth Ibbotson, the boy, who evidently assisted her, received no consideration in wages, so we are left to infer that she paid the lad out of her own scanty earnings, in other words, they jointly earned the sum of one shilling per day. If we include the time put in by th0 boy who worked for Elizabeth Ibbotson, the average rate of pay for female labour would be a little over lId. per day. This would leave an average of about 3/3 per day for male labour, and the total average for man, woman and boy would work out at about 2/7 per day.
Statement she wing weight of Black Jack carted from these mines to the canal basin at Worsboro'Bridge, near Barnsley.
NAME. 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 TOTAL. tons tons tons tons tons tons Bradley John ... 3 17 3 2 2 27 Dronfield Charles ... - 3 2 5 Dronfield John ... 2 9 --- 11 Hawk Robert ... - 4 -- - 4 Helliwell John ... -- 2 2 2 6 Helliwell Thomas ... 2 - 2 Ibbotson William ... 4 - 2 6 J ackson Richard. ." 7 3 2 2 14 Morton John ... 2 2 - 4 Shaw John ... 1 4 3 2 2 12 - --- 8 49 14 10 10 91
The price paid for cartage was sixteen shillings per ton. Sixty tons were sold during 1811, 1812 and 1813, to Mr. Champion of ...... and 31 tons during 1813, 1814 and 1815 to Mr. Wm. Sanderson, of Pontefract, both sales being based on a ton of 2,400 Ibs. or 120 Ibs. per cwt.
If we assume that 91 tons was the total weight yielded between July 25, 1811 and May 27, 1815, and there is no mention of any sale having been effected elsewhere, the total amount found by Mr. John Rimington, viz., £784 9s. 2d., would place the cost at £8 12s. 5d. per ton, delivered carriage free at W orsboro' Bridge, or £7 16s. 5d. at the Mines, which cannot be far wrong, because, judging from the way the account closes, the mines were evidently abandoned in 1815, and the plant allowed to go to ruin, a conclusion amply confirmed by what has been said already concerning the site.
The various items expended on this enterprise may be profit- ably studied in the following statement, which will also help the reader to recognise.some of the things still remaining at the' Mine Hole' near Cooper-car bridge. 46 Early History qf Stocksbridge. Averagecost per ton on 91 Summary of Expenditure. tons produced. £ s. d. £ s. d. Wages paid ... .. 621 2 0 6 16 6 Paid to Messrs. Stear for Contract 18 0 6 3 11 Timber-Alder, Ash, Oak, Stemple-wood, and a Plank from the Mill . 5 6 2 1 2 Leather for Buckets 5 3 8 1 H Oil and Suet 1 12 7 4! Tar and Pitch 111 8 4 Powder in 1811 & 1812,-81bs at 1/8 ... 13 4 1 405 lbs of Candles which varied in price over the period named from 10d. to 14d. per lb ...... 20 7 10 4 5 Sieves, sieve-bottoms, and wire for repairing the same, including one shillingsworth from Mr. Cockshutt ... 1 13 0 4! Canvas for sheeting, handing, twine, hards, hemp, etc.... 111 1 4 1811. Aug.- Smithwork-6 New Wedges, 11i Ibs. Repairs of the Pump, straps for the Bucket, 23 Ibs. ... Sep. 7 Wm Morton for walling and stone geting 9 roods 2 yards at 7s. Od. per rood ... 3 5 0 2 days labour ...... 7 0 20 for Ale by order of Mr. Rimington ... 2 6 Oct. 14 to Wm Ibbotson Bill for stone leading 180 12 to Rich. J ackson load of Coles ... 15 6 Nov. 6 to Wm. Ibbotson for 11 bats of straw 1 0 28 to Mr. Wilsonfor Tub ...... 1 1 0 Dec. 14 to J on. Helliwel for carrag of the Tub 1 0 20 to J onto Kippax bill 13 3 1812 Ma.r.14 Ale ... 2 0 28 Hazele shafts 1 0 Ma.y 23 To Wm. Ibbotson straw 4 0 1 day with Team ... 14 0 Jul. 11 Rope paper for cestron ]0 Aug. - to John & George Stear for' Earnest of their undertaking '"'''''' 2 O. to Mr. Rimington for carrage ofworking Barrel 18 0 8 Ale for extra work ...... 5 0 29 to Benj. Allot for Bellows ... 6 0 do. Anvil 6 st. at ... 1 7 0 Nov. 7 to John & Geo. Stear for puting Crib in 2 16 0 to Stear for sinking 10 6 Dec. 12 to Wm. Thorp Bill ... 7 0 1813 Jan. 16 to ca.rra.ge of pinnion whele... 2 0 Feb. 18 self! da.y drawing Kings Rods in Bitholms ... Wm. Ba.iley cha.rged in Mines account Wm. W orthington ... 3 6 J oseph Sta.nniforth... 2 6 Ale 211 Ma.r. 6 to Ale 4 0 to William W orthington 1 day for sea.rch of Veain on south side of Ingen sha.ft ... 3 6 Jun. 12 Assisting Mr. Ha.lI in specula.ting the strata. H days ...... Wm. Ba.iley 2 days... J oseph Mellor 2 days 17 self 1 day Measureing Bea.umond hous 4 0 18 Self ~ day measureing Rb. Ra.msden house ... 2 0 Oct. 16 to Rich. Ja.ckson, Ale Examining the Strata with Hall' ...... 4 1 Nov. 6 to Tho. Bradley for sawing 1 day 3 0 to John Hattersley, nale Bill 134 20 to Geo. Grayson Bill 149 1812 Oct. 11 to Wm. Ibbotson for Team with 2 Horses & rent for Mines 200 Lead Mining. 47 Average c08t per ton on 91 Summary of Expenditure. tons produced. 1814 £ s. d. £ s. d. May 24 Ale 2 0 Jont Kippax ~ day... 1 9 Oct. 29 To J. Adamson Bill in 1810 ... 9 4 Dec. 3 to carrage of Metil whele ... 10 6 11 self ~ day ridin foundations of wall ... 2 0 Wm. Bailey ~day do. 1 7 Boy ~day do. to John Shaw carrage of load of coales Other items not copied in detail 11 17 0 -- 33 11 4 7 8 Carriage of 91 tons of Black Jack from the Mines to W orsboro' Bridge... 72 16 0 16 0 -- Amount found by J olm Rimington, Esq., of Hillsboro' who bought the Estate from Lord Melbourne in 1802-- 784 9 2 Approximate cost per ton delivered free at Canal Basin, W orsboro' Bridge... £8 12 5
General observations.--Approximate date when Lead was first mined in this neighbourhood.
The ore found in the Ewden valley contained 68% of pure lead as revealed in an analysis of a fair sample selected from the pieces in our possession. . It would have been interesting to know if Captain Adam Eyre recovered the order for a fifth part of the lead-ore at Bitholmes; an order evidently issued under military authority for the sequestration of that amount of lead for making bullets for the Parliamentary Army. We only know that on January 26, 1649, the last entry in his Diurnal! he was setting out the following morning for London so that he wou]d arrive there the night before the execution of 'Charles the First, which took place on the 30th of that month and of which, there can be little doubt, he was an eye-witness. In naming Wigtwizzle as a place where Black Jack was mined we think that Mr. Farey in his anxiety to be absolutely correct, has given Brooml1'ead-Mill in one list and Wigtwizzle in another, just as received from independent sources. The former place is not far from the latter, and if the address had been properly reported, the locality would have been described as Broomhead-Mill, Wigtwizzle, near Bolsterstone. In fact, this explanation is borne out by Mr. Farey himself, where he says , and lastly at Broomhead-Mill, near Bolsterstone in Yorkshire, some copper-ore is found, as I am informed, having never visited the spot.' He had previously quoted Wigtwizzle, as the place where this particular ore was found.
As the two groups of workings, Bitholmes-Hagg Wood, and Broomhead-Mill-(Cooper-car) bridge, are, in each instance, situated near the river, it is highly probable that an examination 48 Early History of Stocksbridge. of the strata in the river-bed had first revealed the presence of these minerals to some sagacious old time miners, and taking all things into consideration we are strongly of opinion that lead was not found or worked in this neighbourhood before the latter half of the sixteenth century. It was certainly not mined here in Roman times as suggested by the Rev. Reginald A. Gatty, Rector of Hooton Roberts, who died in 1914. The following statement attributed to Pliny might apply to other parts of Yorkshire, and to Derbyshire, but not to Waldershelf and the Ewden Valley :- 'In Britain they find such quantitles of lead under the surface of the earth that a law has been made to stint them to a certain quantity.'
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