Miners Lighting

Without light the miners work would be impossible. Up until the end of the 19th century the tallow candle was the usual form of lighting used. Unlike coal mines naked candles could be used in metal mines quite safely as fire damp (Methane) is rarely present although other non explosive gases such as carbon dioxide (Black Damp) can be. Each miner would take a bundle of candles (1) underground at the start of a shift. Once they reached their working place a candle would be stuck to the wall with a ball of clay (2) or placed in an iron candle holder stuck into a crack in the rock (3). Occasionally candles were placed in an open fronted lantern (4) to prevent the flame blowing out, these lanterns were often hung from a horses harness so are also known as pony lanterns. A new type of lighting was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century, the carbide lamp (5) which drips water onto lumps of calcium carbide which produces acetylene gas. This gas burns with a bright white light many times brighter than a candle.

Hand Drilling was the most common way to drill holes for blasting. This was a two man job with one man holding and turning the chisel known as a jumper and the other wielding the drilling hammer. Drilling a hole could take several hours depending how hard the rock was.

The jumpers were made of iron and sharpened by a blacksmith heating and hammering the end of the bar. The point was therefore softer than modern steel drills and several drills would be blunted drilling a single hole. Each time the jumper was sharpened metal would be lost and the jumper would get shorter so the miners often had a selection of different length jumpers. Rather than throw them away they would use the short jumpers to start off the hole and longer one's as the hole got deeper.

Once drilled the hole was cleaned out with a scraper and filled with explosive usually black powder. A pricker or needle would be placed in the hole and then it would be sealed with clay (stemming) rammed home with a wooden rod. The needle was then taken out and a fuse inserted.

Various types of fuses were used:

The straw- this was simply a hollow straw or reed filled with powder.

The squib - this was a twisted piece of paper containing powder.

The safety fuse - here powder was contained in a woven sheath of cotton this was often waterproofed with gutta percha a rubber like substance.

Miners tools

1. Drilling hammer 2. Drill steels or Jumpers 3. Double sided pick 4. Poll pick (combination hammer and pick)

5. Pricker or needle 6. Stemming rod 7. Shot hole scraper

Tooling marks on the sides of levels from hand picking have been interpreted as a sign of pre-gunpowder mining but usually it means that nature of the rock made it easier or more importantly cheaper to drive the level in this manner.

Examples of hand picked mine levels driven after the introduction of gunpowder.

Left Buckden Gavel Mine, Wharfedale.

Right Gill Heads Mine, Appletreewick.

How did miners work before gunpowder?

Iron tools such as picks and chisels have been around a long time and it is interesting to note that the design of these tools has changed little over the centuries. Roman picks are almost identical to 19th century picks.

Just breaking rock with iron tool can be difficult so miners used a technique called Fire Setting to fracture and weaken the rock. A fire would be built at the end of the level and lit at the end of a days work. Next morning the fire has burnt out and the rock would be weakened.

Iron wedges were used to open up cracks in the rock or holes would be drilled and rock split with plug and feathers.

Iron Plug and Feathers