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Coal: heart and soul
What dangers did miners face? What was the bond system?
And what do mines have to do with pigeon racing? Owen Amos talks to the author of a new book on Northern mines
A BOY emerges from the deep,
dark underground. He
clings to the chain that carries
him up the shaft, into
light, into air, and away
from the dank Tyneside pit. But the
chain slips through his hands. He slides
down the chain, back to black. His brother,
luckily, clings to the same chain, further
down. "I'm gannen to fall," the
younger brother says. "Slide down to
me," the older brother replies, reassuringly.
But the older brother isn't strong
enough to hold him. They struggle, slip,
and plummet to their deaths.
The tragedy, witnessed by Joseph "Pitman
Poet" Skipsey, born in 1832, was
first recorded in 1923's A History of the
Parish of Wallsend. The
story is reproduced -
along with hundreds of
others, happy and sad
- in The Great Northern
Miners, a new history of North-East
mining by Ken and Jean Smith. Sadly,
tragedies abound.
There's September 28, 1844, when 95
men and boys died in an explosion at
Haswell Colliery, near Easington. One
man, attempting to save himself
from foul air, was found with
his cap wedged in his mouth,
dead.
There's September 8, 1880,
when 164 men and boys died
in an explosion at Seaham
Colliery. One man, trapped,
scratched a message on a
container before he died.
"Dear wife, farewell," he wrote.
"My lasts thoughts are about you
and the children. Oh what an
awful position to be in."
And there's May 29, 1951, when 81
men plus two rescuers died in an explosion
at Easington Colliery. One
miner, George Williams, 19, attempted
to find his twin, who was working elsewhere
in the pit. He was ordered not to.
His twin, Matthew, emerged alive, but
died soon afterwards.
The North-East's mining heritage
brings a vast death toll. The book talks
of "winning" the coal, as if mining was
a battle. As the stories prove, it was a
battle that was lost, as well as won.
But not every tragedy meant death.
There was, for example, the tragedy
of boys under ten working in mines
until 1842. One poster, reproduced in
the book, lists the 91 dead after the
1812 Felling disaster. Greg Galley,
aged 10. Will Gardiner, 10. Joseph Gordon,
10. Thomas Gordon, 8.
And there was the tragedy of the
bond system, which, in the 18th and
19th Centuries, forced miners to
work for one pit for a year - but
didn't oblige pit owners to give
them work. If miners absconded,
they faced one to three
months' imprisonment. The Bishop of
Durham even offered his stables as temporary
cells.
In June 1832, magistrate Nicholas
Fairless, of South Shields, was pulled off
his horse on the outskirts of town. He
was attacked and killed. Miner William
Jobling was found guilty and hanged at
Durham. His body was hung in an iron
frame from a gibbet.
But, despite its sometimes tragic past,
co-author Ken Smith says mines were
crucial in shaping today's North-East. "I
think we can say the mines made the
North-East," he says. "Economically,
they were fundamental. The basis of our
early heavy industry was coal. Also, it
shaped the social and cultural life. One
of the big things in pit communities was
the spirit and togetherness - which
comes out, for example, at Durham Gala.
There was a brotherhood of the mines."
The social life spawned by mines was
- and still is - evident. The book, for example,
has a picture of Spen Black and
White football team from 1900. The players
sit proudly in socks, shorts, and
stripes, like 21st Century pub teams
across the region.
Other North-East traditions, aside
from village football, were born in pit
culture. "Prize leek growing and pigeon
racing have their roots deep in mining
culture," writes Tony Henderson in the
book. "After long days spent working underground
and the industrial grime of
the colliery, mineworkers craved fresh
air, contact with the natural world - and
a creative way to spend leisure time
which contrasted with the harsh realities
of the pit."
The rise of trade unionism is charted,
from the reintroduction of the bond in
1864, to the Great Lockout of 1926, and
the Great Strike of 1984 - 85. "There was
a general improvement in the standard
of living, and that was down in no small
measure to the trade unions," says Ken.
"They had to fight for a living wage, but
also for better safety conditions. That
was the big improvement, and that was
down to the unions."
The book took two years - and it was
a family affair. Ken's wife, Jean, researched
and wrote the chapters on miners'
wives a daughters - "They worked
as hard as the miners," says Ken - and
his son, Richard, took many of the
photos.
"It's an important subject for the
North-East, a vital subject," says Ken.
"I think it was time to look again at the
miners, from the 1300s to the closure of
the last pit, Ellington, in 2005. I found the
subject fascinating - the book is about
the people and their history, rather than a dry history of mining. Wherever we
went, people were generous in contributing
their memories, and we are
grateful."
It's more than 150 years since those
two brothers slipped to death in
Wallsend's long, dark shaft. To today's
young "the pits" are an adjective, not a
workplace, and coal is Chelsea's leftback.
Ken hopes his book can be used in
schools, to remind the North-East of its
heritage.
"In many ways it is a sad history, but
people had great spirit - great cheerfulness,"
he says. "Some parts were harrowing,
absolutely harrowing, but I felt
a duty to catalogue all of them - it's a
way of paying tribute to those men and
boys. Hopefully, it will give the younger
generation some idea of their mining
heritage - and some idea of the ordeal
their ancestors faced."
■ The Great Northern Miners, £12.95,
is printed in full colour with hundreds
of photos and is on sale at Newcastle
Libraries, bookshops, and direct from
Tyne Bridge Publishing, Newcastle
Libraries, PO Box 88, Newcastle upon
Tyne, NE99 1DX - add £1 postage. For
more information, visit
www.tynebridgepublishing.co.uk.
10:35am Monday 12th May 2008
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