COAL AND WHITEHAVEN.
WAY BACK IN 2003 AN ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE WHITEHAVEN NEWS GAVE GREAT CAUSE FOR IT REPORTED THAT.. " ASBESTOS DISCOVERY SHUTS MINING MUSEUM." AT THE TIME IT APPEARED THAT THE ONLY REAL ATTEMPT TO KEEP THE LOCAL COAL STORY ALIVE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS WAS DOOMED . IT SEEMED THAT ALL THE WORK OF A GALLANT BODY OF VOLUNTEERS WERE TO BE THWARTED IN THEIR EFFORTS TO PRESERVE THE REMARKABLE ACCOUNT OF HOW THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE , OVER HUNDREDS OF YEARS ,HAD STRUGGLED TO EXTRACT THE ALL IMPORTANT FUEL FROM THE GROUND. IT JUST HAD TO BE TOLD SO THAT GENERATIONS TO COME COULD MARVEL AT A STORY WHICH INVOLVED EXPLORATION,. DISCOVERY AND INVENTION AGAINST A BACKGROUND OF CONTINUOUS DRAMA, HARDSHIP AND TRAGEDY. EVENTUALLY, THE ISSUE WAS RESOLVED AND THE HAIG VOLUNTEERS HAVE GONE ON TO MAKE THE MUSEUM ONE OF THE TOWN'S MUST VISIT ATTRACTIONS. ADDITIONALLY , THE RECENT REFURBISHMENT OF THE BEACON COMPLEMENTS THE MUSEUM IN THAT IT ALSO HAS A COAL CONTRIBUTION AMONGST ITS DISPLAYS . THIS TOO IS NOW ANOTHER MUST VISIT ATTRACTION IN WHITEHAVEN AND TOGETHER THESE TWO ENSURE THAT THE COAL STORY WILL LIVE ON.
THE LOCAL COALFIELD STRETCHES ALONG THE COAST FROM ST BEES TO MARYPORT AND INLAND TOWARDS WIGTON, A DISTANCE OF ABOUT 14 MILES. IN WIDTH IT MEASURES 4 TO 6 MILES COVERING AN AREA WHICH REACHES BEYOND FRIZINGTON INTO THE ROWRAH AREA. ADDITIONALLY , IT ALSO REACHES OUT UNDER THE IRISH SEA AND COVERS AN AREA OF ABOUT 100 SQUARE MILES AND THE DIORAMA SHOWS HOW THE COAL SEAMS DIP OUT UNDER THAT SEA
RECORDS INDICATE THAT THE EXTRACTION OF COAL GOES AS FAR BACK AS THE 16TH CENTURY AND WAS ASSOCIATED WITH BOTH THE PRIORY AND SCHOOL OF ST BEES. IN 1560, THOMAS CHALLONER, THE THEN LORD OF THE MANOR GAVE HIS TENANTS THE RIGHT TO DIG FOR COALS AS LONG AS " THEY PAY THEREFOR & LABOUR FROM TIME TO TIME AT THE LORD'S COAL PITS ACCORDING AS THEY OUGHT TO DO BY THE CUSTOM OF THE SAID LORDSHIP." 26 YEARS LATER THE SAME MAN AUTHORISED ST BEES SCHOOL TO " TAKE 40 LOADS OF COAL AT HIS COAL PITS IN THE PARISH OF ST BEES FOR THE USE OF THE SCHOOL."
HOWEVER, IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE LOWTHERS ARRIVED ON THE SCENE IN THE 17TH CENTURY THAT COAL WAS EXTRACTED IN ANY SERIOUS QUANTITIES. CHRISTOPHER LOWTHER , WHO HAD SPENT SOME TIME IN IRELAND WAS AWARE OF THE ABSENCE OF COAL IN THAT COUNTRY AND , BEING A MERCHANT AT HEART , SAW THE POTENTIAL FOR TRADE. ACCORDINGLY , MORE COAL WAS TAKEN FROM THE GROUND BUT NOT YET FROM SHAFTS . INSTEAD IT WAS EXTRACTED FROM OUTCROPS ON THE HILLSIDE OVERLOOKING THE HARBOUR AND TOWN WHERE THE WORKERS SIMPLY FOLLOWED THE SEAMS INTO THE BANK THEREBY CREATING WHAT WERE CALLED " BEARMOUTHS " OR " DAY HOLES ". UNTIL RELATIVELY RECENTLY , TRACES OF THESE COULD STILL BE SEEN THE MOST FAMOUS OF THEM BEING ONE CALLED SELDOM SEEN ALONGSIDE THE ROAD TO ST BEES.
ANOTHER ONE WITH WHICH I WAS FAMILIAR AS A YOUNG PUPIL STOOD ON POTTERY LANE THOUGH I DID NOT THEN REALISE IT'S SIGNIFICANCE. AT THE TIME IT LOOKED JUST LIKE A GARDEN GATE AND THE SOUND OF WIND AS I PASSED IT ALWAYS INTRIGUED ME . I NEVER DISCOVERED THE CAUSE UNTIL MANY YEARS LATER WHEN A MINER INFORMED ME THAT IT LED INTO THE COAL WORKINGS UNDER THE TOWN AND WAS AN EXIT ROUTE SHOULD THERE BE AN ACCIDENT. THE EVIDENCE HAS LONG SINCE GONE BUT, IN THE MID 70'S A METHANE GAS SCARE IN THE AREA FORCED THE EXCAVATION OF THE OLD BEARMOUTH.
IT WAS FROM TUNNELS LIKE THESE THAT IN THE EARLY DAYS OF COAL EXTRACTION WOMEN AND CHILDREN CARRIED OR DRAGGED COALS FROM THE WORKINGS. AS THE TOWN GREW AND THE DEMAND FOR COALS ELSEWHERE INCREASED, DEEPER SHAFTS HAD TO BE SUNK TO REACH THE RICHER SEAMS AND WITH THAT CAME MORE PROBLEMS THAN EVER BEFORE. CAVE INS , GAS, VENTILATION AND WATER WERE CONSTANTS AND NOW THE ADDED PROBLEM OF EXTRACTION FROM GREATER DEPTHS HAD TO BE SOLVED. BY NOW SIR JOHN LOWTHER IS LORD OF THE MANOR AND LIKE HIS FATHER HE PURSUED THE CONSTANT EXPLOITATION OF THE COALS BENEATH THE TOWN. INITIALLY , A SIMPLE HAND OPERATED DEVICE CALLED A WINDLASS WAS USED TO LIFT THE COALS AND THESE WERE OPERATED BY FEMALES .
LATER, SIR JOHN INTRODUCED THE FIRST FORM OF MECHANISATION TO DO THE SAME TASK. THIS WAS CALLED A HORSE GIN, THE LATTER BEING AN ABBREVIATION OF THE WORD ENGINE AND EVENTUALLY GIVING A NAME TO THAT PART OF THE TOWN WHEREIN THESE MACHINES WERE CONGREGATED ....THE GINNS... THE ILLUSTRATION SHOWS A COG AND RUN GIN, THE COG BEING THE CENTRE PIECE WHICH MOVED THE DRUM POSITIONED ABOVE THE SHAFT AND THE RUN BEING THE AREA IN WHICH THE HORSE WAS DRIVEN. DEPENDING UPON THE DIRECTION OF THE HORSE THE BASKETS WERE EITHER LOWERED INTO OR LIFTED FROM THE SHAFT.
MANY YEARS LATER A VISITOR , ONE SIR JOHN CLERK, WROTE ABOUT THESE MACHINES:
"THE ENGINE WHICH BRINGS UP THE CORFS IS MANAGED BY 2 HORSES CHANGED EVERY 8 HOURS. THEY GO AT A FULL TROT AND THE DRIVER SITS ON THE ARM TO WHICH THE HORSES ARE FASTENED. THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE CIRCLE IN WHICH THE HORSES MAKE EACH TURN IS 144 FEET AND THEY CAN DRAW UP 20 CORFS AN HOUR."
CORFES WERE THE BASKETS INVOLVED IN THE OPERATION AND WERE IN USE AS FAR BACK AS THE LATE 17TH CENTURY IN THE LOCAL PITS. THESE WERE CIRCULAR IN SHAPE, MADE FROM HAZEL RODS AND SUPPLIED WITH METAL HOOPS WHICH COULD BE ATTACHED TO THE ROPE AT THE SHAFT BOTTOM. THEY WERE MADE LOCALLY JUST OUTSIDE THE GATES OF HAIG PIT IN WHAT CAME TO BE KNOWN AS BASKET HOUSE. GALLANT EFFORTS WERE MADE BY THE CIVIC SOCIETY TO PREVENT IT'S DEMOLITION AND THEY WERE SUPPORTED BY RESPECTED PEOPLE SUCH A MR HAY , THE BOROUGH LIBRARIAN AND THE ARCHITECT MR GRAY , THE HOUSE WAS REMOVED BECAUSE " IT CREATED A ROAD HAZARD "
DECLARATIONS BY THESE TWO GENTLEMEN FAILED TO MOVE THE COUNCIL. THE FACT THAT
" IT WAS UNIQUE AS THE ONLY BUILDING ERECTED IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND SPECIFICALLY FOR MAKING BASKETS FOR COLLIERIES."
THAT IT WAS " ONE OF THE MOST ATTRACTIVE IN AN INDUSTRIAL PART OF TOWN BECAUSE OF ITS LATE GEORGIAN CHARACTER." APPARENTLY MEANT LITTLE AT THE TIME..
WHAT AN ERROR OF JUDGEMENT!!!!!!!
FORTUNATELY , SOME YEARS LATER ONE OF THESE BASKETS AND THE RUNNER ON WHICH IT WAS DRAGGED, WAS DISCOVERED IN THE COAL WORKINGS UNDER THE TOWN AND RETRIEVED . WHEN PUT ON SHOW AT CROSTHWAITE SCHOOL I MANAGED TO GET A VIEWING.
BY THE TIME SIR JOHN DIED , THE HOWGILL SIDE OF THE LOCAL COLLIERY WAS BEING FULLY EXPLOITED AND PLANS INDICATE THE NUMBER OF SHAFTS THAT ONCE EXISTED IN THE AREA . SIMILAR EVIDENCE SHOWS MORE OF THE TECHNICAL WORK UNDERTAKEN IN SIR JOHNS TIME FOR HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR DRIVING LEVELS INTO THE HILLSIDE IN THE GINS AREA IN ORDER TO DRAIN WATER AWAY FROM THE SEAMS INTO THE NEARBY POW BECK.
