Victorian Britain - Coal Mines

1. In the mid eighteenth century, most coal mines were near the surface, but the coal ran out as demand for coal increased.

2. This meant deeper coal mines had to be dug.

3. These increased danger of rock falls, flooding, tunnel collapse, poisonous gas and explosions.

4. Deep coal mines also created ventilation problems, shafts had to be built and trap doors, which opened and closed, installed.

5. Working in these coal mines was a hard, dangerous and unpleasant job.

6. Victorian coal mines were dark, noisy places with low roofs.

7. Miners often had to lie on their backs and strike at the rock walls with their picks.

8. Miners took canaries down the pits to test for gas, when they stopped singing it meant gas was present.

9. Children were employed in the mines to open and shut the trap doors and to pull the carts full of coal.

10. Holers were miners who cut underneath the coal using small picks, then brought down the roof using gunpowder.

11. Turners then broke the large locks of coal into smaller pieces using pickaxes.

12. The coal was then shovelled onto small wooden carts by loaders and miners known as pitchers.

13. Iron rings were placed around the coal to prevent it from falling off the carts.

14. The carts ran on rails and were pulled by young boys or pit ponies.

15. The coal was raised to the surface of the mines by means of steam engines.

16. There were few safety rules in Victorian coal mines even though there were many accidents, serious injuries and deaths.

17. There was always the risk of rock falls, collapsing tunnels, flooding, poisonous gases and explosions.

18. Dampness and coal dust ruined the health of many miners.

19. By 1848 British coal output was two-thirds of the total world production.

20. The number of miners working in Victorian coal mines doubled between 1840-1880.

21. The north-east of England was the foremost coal-producing centre in the world.

22. The government passed Mines Acts stopping women and young children working in mines, and making owners improve safety.