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1. Local Evidences of Early Mining: Privileges of
Miners under 1592 Act r "In-gaun-ee" System: Access Shafts,
Ladders, and Spiral Stairs— 2. Lawless Behaviour of Miners leads
to Act of 1606 : Colliers and Salters Enslaved as "Necessary
Servants": Sold with Colliery: Partial Emancipation in 1775:
Serf System Completely Ended in 1779—3. Agitation for Abolition
of Woman and Child Labour in Mines: Royal Comission Appointed to
Enquire : The Act of 1842— 4. Interesting Local Evidence—5. The
Coal and Other Strata in Carriden Parish—6. Bo' ness
Coalfield—7. Preston Island and its-Coal Mines and Saltpans—8.
The Local Coal and Ironstone Mines of Sixty Years Ago—9. Some
Mining Calamities: Colliers' Strike :: Newtown Families—10. Two
Alarming Subsidences.
I.
The Bo'ness
coalfield at one time contained a very large supply of coal, and
has been worked more or less extensively since the thirteenth
century. Early in that century a tithe of the colliery of
Carriden was granted to the monks of Holyrood, and until a few
years ago evidences of the workings in those early times were to
be found in the old Manse Wood on Carriden shore. At that time
the old roads were opened up and modernised in an unsuccessful
exploit for coal under the glebe.
In the fifteenth century the Scots Parliament,
believing that Scotland was full of precious metals, and hoping
to derive a large revenue therefrom, enacted that all mines of
such should: belong to the King—James I. As the landowners had
thus no encouragement to develop their mineral resources, the
Act was. practically a dead letter, and in 1592—in the reign of
James IV.—the Parliament was compelled to modify the old statute
to the effect that the Crown was only to get a tenth part as; a
royalty. This same statute made mention of the hazardous, v
nature of the miners' occupation on account of the evil air of
the mines and the danger of the falling of the roofs and other
miseries. It therefore exempted the miners from all taxation and
other charges both in peace and war. Their families' goods and
gear were likewise specially protected. Some have thought that
Parliament, even at this early date, was taking a commendably
humane interest in the safety and comfort of the miners. Others,
again, have asserted that the privileges conferred were meant to
act as an inducement to foreigners to settle in this country for
the purpose of searching for and working the minerals.
In the early days of mining the fortunate
proprietors of land and coal seams under it carried on their own
coal works for the most part. Those were still the days of
feudalism (though not of slavery, which had died out in the
fourteenth century), and vassals and retainers on the estates,
quite naturally, turned their hands to the new industry of coal
winning. Their wages were paid partly in money, but mainly in
produce.
Outcrops were frequently discovered at brae
faces, and the coal was originally wrought downwards and inwards
from the surface on what was known as the " in-gaun-eesystem.
Women, girls, and boys all assisted as bearers by carrying out
the coal to the bings, where they stored it until sold.
As time went on the importance of the industry
came to be keenly realised by the proprietors of the coal seams.
The idea appears to have occurred to them that the shafts, which
hitherto had only been sunk for the purpose of ventilation,
might be widened, deepened, and used for getting access to the
coal lying at greater depths, and also for bringing it to the
surface. Thereupon the shafts were rigged out with short wooden
ladders resting on crossbeams when the shaft was too deep for
one long sloping ladder. Those descending the shaft went down
the first short ladder of six or eight rungs, passed along the
beam a foot or two, then on to the other ladder, and so on till
they completed their dangerous descent. This system was so
difficult and dangerous that the ladders soon came to be
replaced by spiral stairs. An old spiral stair shaft was to be
seen at the foot of the Back Hill, Corbiehall, about thirty
years ago. Though the stairs were safer than the ladders, the
toil of the bearers was in no way lessened. Later still the
masters introduced the windlass, and subsequently the one-horse
gin. The bearers were thus relieved of a part of their
burdensome toil, but they still dragged the coal to the pit
bottom in primitive hutches without wheels.
Dr. Roebuck's Tombstone in Carriden Churchyard.
II.
"Whether it was owing to the privileges given
them by the Act of 1592 or to the evil effect which their
underground occupation had upon their minds we know not, but, at
all events, the colliers as a class suddenly became lawless and
greatly given to wilfully setting fire to the collieries from
motives of private revenge. Accordingly, Parliament enacted that
all who were guilty of " the wicked crime of wilfully setting
fire to coal-heuchs" should suffer the punishment of treason in
their bodies, lands, and goods. This was followed up by an Act
in 1606, under which the privileges and exemptions of the
colliers were recalled and their freedom very materially
curtailed. The colliers, by their foolish behaviour, brought
this upon themselves, but pressure was brought to bear on the
Legislature by the Earl of Winton, then a favourite at Court,
and the largest coalowner and salt manufacturer in Great
Britain. By the new Act colliers and salters were enslaved as "
necessary servants," and regarded as a pertinent of the lands
where they were serving. It is evident that the chief reason for
this extreme course was the fear which possessed coalowners,
that unless some such compulsory steps were taken there would in
future be great difficulty in getting men to undertake so
perilous a calling.
Another reason was the increased demand for coal,
especially for export. Inducements were held out to the colliers
at busy centres in the shape of bounty money. The men were thus
drawn to places where the demand was greatest, and many
districts were thereby depleted. So the Act decreed that they
were bound to remain, and to be practically enslaved at the
colliery where they were born. No strange collier could get
employment at any coal work without a testimonial from his last
employer; and, failing such testimonial, he could be claimed
within a year and a day by the master whom he had deserted.
Whoever discovered the deserter had to give him back within
twenty-four hours under a heavy penalty; and the deserter was
punished as a thief—of himself. The Act also gave colliery
owners power to apprehend all vagabonds and sturdy beggars and
put them to work in the mines. So long as a coal work was in
operation on any estate the colliers were not at liberty to
leave without the proprietor's consent. They were, in fact, says
Mr. Barrowman,2 attached
to the work, formed a valuable adjunct to it, and enhanced the
price in the event of a sale. He gives an illustration as late
as 1771 where the value of the ownership of forty good colliers,
with their wives and children, was estimated to be worth £4000,
or £100 each family. Parents bound their children in a formal
manner to the work by receiving gifts or arles from the master
when they were baptised. Not only were the colliers attached,
but by an Act in 1641 other workers engaged in and about coal
mines were prohibited from leaving without permission.
Appended to a lease in 1681 of the coal and salt
works at Bo'ness in favour of James Cornwall of Bonhard was a
list of colliers and bearers delivered to him in terms of the
tack. There were thirteen coal hewers, six male bearers (one of
whom was reckoned a half), and thirty-one female bearers (seven
of whom were reckoned a half each), in all, thirteen coal hewers
and thirty-three bearers. These, with one oncost man, the tenant
acknowledged to have received and undertook to deliver over at
the end of the lease, or an equivalent number.
Under this law of bondage the poor collier and
salter lived for nearly one hundred and seventy years, until, in
1775, an Act was passed emancipating all who after that date
should begin to work as colliers and salters. If working
colliers were twenty-one years of age at the time of the Act,
they were to be emancipated at the end of seven years. Those
between the ages of twenty-one and thirty were to serve ten
years longer before gaining freedom. It will thus be seen that
the conditions under which freedom was to be given were irksome,
and many of the workers accustomed to their conditions failed to
take advantage of the Act, and remained serfs until their death.
A complete stop, however, was put to the serf system in 1799. It
was then enacted that " all the colliers in that part of Great
Britain called Scotland who were bound colliers shall be and are
hereby declared to be free from their servitude." While the
colliers were serfs, they were not slaves, for they received
wages, and towards the end of the eighteenth century the
conditions of their employment were much improved. Moreover,
when coal mining, with the general advance of Scottish commerce,
became a more profitable industry, the masters had a difficulty
in getting enough men, and increased the wages to induce people
to work in the pits
and hard and degrading work it was. Before the
days of the underground tramway the coal was carried to the pit
bottom in creels fastened to their backs, hence the term bearer.
Women and girls were preferred to men and boys for such work,
as, curiously enough, they could always carry about double the
weight a man or boy could scramble out with. The creel was
superseded about 1830 by baskets on wheels, and latterly by
wooden boxes, which were pushed along the underground railways.
The term "bearer" then ceased, and that of "pusher" or "putter"
was substituted.
A great many of the annual fairs or ridings of
the miners— and doubtless those of the Newtown, Corbiehall, and
Grangepans miners—really originated as a day of rejoicing on the
anniversary of their freedom.
The subject of female labour in mines had, as
early as 1793, aroused some attention, but not till 1808 was the
matter brought prominently before the public. Mr. Robert Bald,
Edinburgh, who took a leading part in the agitation, instanced
the case of a married woman in an extensive colliery which he
had visited. She came forward to him groaning under an excessive
weight of coals, trembling in every limb, and almost unable to
keep her knees from sinking under her, and saying, " Oh, sir,
this is sair, sair, sair wark. I wish to God that the first
woman who tried to bear coals had broken her back, and none
would have tried it again."3
The public indignation was at length aroused.
Mainly through the philanthropic and deeply sympathetic efforts
of Lord Ashley (afterwards seventh Earl of Shaftesbury) a Royal
Commission was appointed to inquire into the condition of the
mining population, and particularly the question of women and
child labour in mines. Mr. Barrowman
says the report of that Commission in 1812 drew instant and wide
attention to the grave evils connected with the employment of
women and young persons underground, and a statute was passed in
that year prohibiting the employment of females of any age and
beys under ten years of age in any mine or colliery. The Act was
not regarded by the persons interested with unqualified
satisfaction. It threw many females out of an occupation to
which they had been accustomed, and they would doubtless take
some time to fit themselves into the new state of things. A
curious sequel occurred in the Dryden Colliery, Midlothian,
where about a score of girls assumed male attire and wrought in
this disguise for three months after the Act was passed. They
were at length summoned to Court in Edinburgh. On promising not
to go below again they were dismissed.4 In
one extensive colliery in the east, at least, the workers
petitioned against the bill. Out of the signatures of 122 men
and 37 women and girls there were 45 of men and 25 of females
marked with a cross (70 out of 159 being unable to write their
names), showing in the clearest manner the need there was for a
better system of home and school education, and justifying in
the most emphatic way the passing of the Act. The successive
Acts of Parliament passed since 1842 have tended towards the
improvement of the miner and of the conditions in which his work
is carried on; and perhaps there is no employment in the country
in which the workman is now better safeguarded by legislation.
IV.
A vivid idea of the terrible state of matters
which Lord Ashley's Commission was the means of ending is
obtained from the evidence taken by the special Commissioners at
the various collieries throughout Britain. The Commissioner for
Scotland was Mr. R. H. Franks, whose Report contains between
four and five hundred examinations.5 We
append the whole of the precognitions taken here about 1840.
They make interesting, though somewhat depressing, reading—
James John Cadell.—There
are at present emplpyed below ground in our pits about 200 men,
women, and children; fully one-third are females. No regulation
exists here for the prevention of children working below.
I think the parents are the best judges when to
take their children below for assistance, and that it is of
consequence for colliers to be trained in early youth to their
work. Parents take their children down from eight to ten years
of age, males and females.
The colliers are perfectly unbound at this
colliery; they have large families, and extremely healthy ones.
I believe most of the children can read. There are two schools,
at which children can be taught common reading for 2d. per week.
There exist no compulsory regulations to enforce colliers paying
for their children or sending them to school. Every precaution
is taken to avoid accidents; several have occurred, and
occasionally happen from parts of the roof and coal coming down
on the men; one lad was killed a short time since. The work is
carried on about twelve hours per day, and the people come and
go as they please.
Archibald Ferguson>, eleven years old, putter.—Worked
below for four years; pushes father's coal with sister, who is
seventeen years of age from wall face to horse road. Pit is very
dry and roofs lofty. Sometimes work twelve, and even sixteen
hours, as we have to wait our turn for the horse and engine to
draw. Never got hurt below. Get oatcake and water, and potatoes
and herrings when home. The river which passes through Bo'ness
is called the water. Fishes live in the water; has often seen
them carted from boats; never caught any. I walk about on the
shore and pick up stones or gang in the parks (fields) after the
birds.
Janet Barrowman, seventeen years old, putter.—I
putt the small coal on Master's (Mr. Cadell's) account. Am paid
2£ each course, and run six courses a day; the carts I run
contain 5 J to 7 J cwts. of coal. Father and mother are dead.
Have three brothers and five sisters below; two elder brothers,
two sisters, and myself live at Grangepans. We have one room in
which we all live and sleep. There has been much sickness of
late years about the Grange; few have escaped the fever. A short
time ago before the death of my parents we were all down, father
and all, with low fever for a long time. Mother •only escaped
who nursed us. Fever is always in the place. {Reads very
indifferently.)
The village of Grangepans has been much visited
with •scarlet fever and scarlatina; the place is nearly level
with the Forth, and the houses are very old, ill-ventilated, and
the foul water and filth lying about is sufficient to create a
pestilence.
Note.—The
last paragraph is apparently a comment of the Commissioner's
own.
Mary Snedden, fifteen years of age, putter.—I
have wrought at Bo'ness pit three months. Should not have
"ganged," but brother Robert was killed on the 21st of January
last. A piece of the roof fell upon his head, and he died
instantly. He was brought home, coffined, and buried in Bo'ness
Kirkyard. No one came to inquire about how he was killed; they
never do in this place.
Charles Robertson, overseer of the Bo'ness Coal
Works.— Since
the building of the Newtown the colliers have been more settled
as to their place of work, but they still continue to take down
very young children, which impedes instruction. Most children
can be instructed if the parents please—and fairly so. There are
two schools. The one in the Newtown has a well-trained teacher
from Bathgate Academy, and one is shortly expected at Grangepans.
Men would do well to let their children remain up
till thirteen years old, as they would be more use to them
thereafter. No married women now go below; the elder females who
are down are single or widows. There are many illegitimate
children in the pits that do not get any education.
A man with two strong lads can get his 6s. 6d. a
day, fair average wages, as there is no limitation to work.
Rev. Kenneth M'Kenzie, minister of
Borrowstounness.— When
children once go to work in the collieries they continue at it;
and they go as early as eight years of age; but the age is quite
uncertain, depending entirely on the convenience, cupidity, or
caprice of the parents.
The tendency to remove children too early from
school operates to the injury of many in after life. It proves
an obstacle to future advancement, and renders the mind much
more liable to the influence of prejudice.
With regard to the children employed at the
colliery education is at present in a very unsatisfactory state,
and will continue so if the matter be allowed to rest with the
colliers. A good plan is adopted at some collieries. Every man
employed is obliged to pay a small weekly sum for education. A
sufficient sum is thus easily raised, and a properly qualified
teacher is appointed by the proprietor or master. Individuals
are thus constrained to send their children to school who
otherwise might be apt to neglect their education. The day and
evening school in Bo'ness, Newtown, is specially for the
colliery population, but it is not attended; at present the
teacher only receives 7s. a week in voluntary fees. The teacher
has not been trained. He teaches reading, writing, and
arithmetic as well as most adventurers do.
The parochial school is one of the best in
Linlithgowshire, but the colliers seldom send their children to
it.
V .
Mr. Ellis, writing
of Carriden in the eighteenth century, stated that the parish
was full of coal, which was of fine quality, and the only fuel
then used. It was carried to London, to the northmost parts of
Scotland, and to Holland, Germany, and the Baltic. As to price
it sold at a higher figure on the hill and to the country people
who lived near than any coal in Scotland. Nearly half a century
later Mr. Fleming7 wrote
that about 400 yards west of the village of Blackness a bed of
calcareous ironstone cropped out on the beach, dipping into the
sea in the same direction. When carefully prepared this formed a
hydraulic cement of a very superior quality, and in the
beginning of the nineteenth century had been actually wrought
for that purpose. This stratum was covered with a strong shale,
otherwise called blea, varying in thickness from one to twenty
feet interspersed with halls of clay ironstone. The alum shale
was at one time used in the manufacture of soda, but the work
had been discontinued and the premises dismantled.
There were many seams of coal in the parish, some
of which had been wrought at their crops or outbursts centuries
ago. The coalfield in its western division was supposed to
extend' across the Forth, and to be connected with the coal
formation in the opposite district in the county of Fife. The
strata were known to the depth of one hundred and thirty-five
fathoms, having been passed by the miners in sinking pits and
other operations in the coal mines. The deepest seam then known
was the Carsey coal, rising to the north-east along
the-seashore. This seam and the Smithy seam came out to the
surface a short distance to the east of Burnfoot. The Foul coal
and Red coal took on to the west of the road leading to
Linlithgow. The western Main coal was only in the south-west-of
the parish, as there was not sufficient cover for this seam to
the east and north. This coalfield passed through the south-west
boundary of the parish into the Parishes of* Borrowstounness and
Linlithgow. In approaching the north the dip gradually came
round more west; in the middle of the field it was generally
north-west. To the east of Burnfoot, after passing the crop of
the Carsey coal, no coal was to be found. It was a curious fact
that in a district where so many seams of coal occurred
whinstone should be found so abundantly. The Irongath Hills
consisted of hard whinstone resting in the coal strata; nor did
it present itself only in crops on the top of eminences; but it
was found in regular seams between, and even-in actual contact
with the coal. In these hills there was a bed of coal varying
from one to eight or ten feet in thickness which had. whinstone
both for its roof and pavement; and between the Western main
coal and the Red coal the seam of whinstone was about seventy
feet thick. The fossil remains that have been* found in the coal
formation consisted of reeds of different kinds. Shells and
impressions of leaves were also of more or less-frequent
occurrence, and on one occasion workmen fell in with a beautiful
specimen of that curious extinct genus of fossil plants, the lepidodendron. The
surface deposits in the west part of the parish near the shore
consisted of sea sand and .shells resting on blue clay and mud,
the clay resting on the coal formation; and in the south-west
there was found yellow brick •clay, with sand and gravel.
Ice-transported boulders that had been met with were often of
trap, their weight varying from 3 or 4 cwts. to 4 or 5 tons.
VI
With regard to the coal in the adjoining Parish
of Bo'ness, Dr. Rennie8 has
told us that it was wrought here more than three hundred years
ago. The depth of the pits in 1796 was about forty-two fathoms.
The seam of coal was from ten to twelve feet in thickness, and
was nearly exhausted. This was know as the Wester Main Coal
Seam. There were various seams— some of them of a superior and
others of a very inferior quality. All of them had been wrought
in different places and at different times to a great extent,
particularly in and about Bo'ness. It 'was proposed to sink a
pit to the west of the town. The depth to the principal seam in
this quarter might be about seventy fathoms; but there were
several seams at a much less depth. Coal was at that time all
worked on the pillar or stoop and room -system. The average
quantity raised in twelve months for some time before he wrote
might be about 44,000 tons. A •considerable part of the great
coal had been exported at 7s. 9d. per ton. The remainder was
disposed of in the coasting trade .and in the adjacent country.
A great many of the chew coals were carried by contract shipping
to the London market .at 6s. per ton. What was known as the
small coal or panwood was consumed by the salt works, which
consisted of sixteen pans, .-and employed about thirty salters
and labourers. The annual quantity of salt made was about 37,000
bushels, which was partly disposed of in the coasting trade.
Most of it, however, was for the supply of the country to the
south and west of Borrowstounness. The number of colliers,
coal-bearers, labourers, and carters employed about the colliery
was probably 250.
In 1843 Mr. M'Kenzie9 wrote
that the beds in Bo'ness Parish were all of the coal formation.
No coal had in his time been found in this district under the
Carsey coal. Even yet it appears to be the lowest of the
workable seams. Above the strata in the Snab section, which he
referred to in detail, were one or two inferior coal seams which
had been partially wrought in former times for the salt pans.
And at Craigenbuck, further to the westward, a seam of limestone
was also at one time wrought, and afforded an excellent building
mortar. The seams of coal about Bo'ness were, generally
speaking, of good thickness and excellent quality. The
neighbourhood of the Snab (known now as Kinneil Colliery) had
been proposed as the most favourable situation for a new winning
of the coalfield; and the establishment of a colliery there was
expected to be a great advantage to the town.
We have thus endeavoured to indicate in a general
way the nature of the geological strata. For those who may
desire more detailed data, however, we print in Appendix an
illustrative and reliable section of the local coalfield.
VII.
Situated in the Firth to the north of Bo'ness
roads is Preston Island, so-called after the Prestons of
Valleyfield, to whom it belonged. Looking from Bo'ness it
appears to contain a considerable mansion-house, but a closer
inspection dispels this impression, and reveals the ruins of
t}ie buildings after referred to. A visit to Preston Island,
says Mr. Beveridge9 in
one of his interesting volumes, is a very pleasant outing. But
let strangers be cautious in straying over it to avoid falling
into the open and unguarded coal pit, which is generally full of
water. Till the end of the eighteenth century the island was
merely an expanse of green turf at the eastern extremity •of the
reef known as the Craigmore Rocks, which being within low-water
mark all belong to the estate of Low Valleyfield. On Sir Robert
Preston succeeding to the property at the beginning of the
nineteenth century he conceived the idea of converting this
lonely spot into a great centre of trade. The seams of coal
which underlie the basin of the Forth were here cropping out -at
the surface. It therefore seemed quite feasible to undertake the
revival of the coal and salt industries which in former days,
under the auspices of Sir George Bruce, had made the fortune -of
Culross and its neighbourhood. Sir Robert had attained to great
wealth, partly obtained in trade as the captain of an East
Indiaman, partly accumulated by speculation, and partly by
marriage with the daughter of a wealthy London citizen. He
accordingly erected a large range of buildings on the island,
"including engine-houses, saltpans, and habitations for colliers
and salters. Pits were sunk, fresh water brought from the
-mainland, and, for a period, a vast industry was carried on.
The Forth resounded with the working of the engines, and the
loading of vessels with coal went on almost constantly. But,
'for various reasons, the affair was a losing concern.
Ultimately it completely collapsed, leaving the baronet out of
pocket to the extent of at least £30,000. Fortunately his means
were such that after so great a loss he still remained a man of
immense wealth.
After the colliery was stopped the saltpans were
let and worked for a considerable period, the last tenant of
them .adding to his legitimate occupation that of an unlicensed
distiller of whisky. Having received a hint, however, that the
Revenue officers were upon his track he decamped. Preston Island
has since then remained a deserted but singularly ^picturesque
object.
VIII.
The surface of the parish- sixty
years ago, owing to the coal and ironstone mining, must have
presented a busy .aspect. Evidences of this are yet to be
gathered from the numerous bings of blaes and other refuse still
standing in various districts. If we study the matter, moreover,
from the old Ordnance maps we find that the place was at one
time riddled with shafts and air passages. These shafts, both on
the shore in Grangepans and Bo'ness and on the hills above, have
been carefully filled up, and the surface as a whole is
comparatively secure. All the refuse bings on Grange estate have
of late years been removed by the Laird of Grange. Kinneil
Colliery Company also are gradually diminishing their old bings.
As we have said in another chapter, Nos. 1, 2, 3,
and 4 shore pits, opened by Messrs. John & William Cadell, and
also their No. 5 pit, were all abandoned early last century, and
remained flooded till 1859.
More than half a century ago, while the shore
pits remained drowned, the Grange mining was practically done on
the hill—some of it on that estate, and some at the Burn and
Mingle pits, taken on lease from Kinneil colliery.
Four of the Grange pits were near the Drum. The
Level pit above Bridgeness; the Meldrum pit, at the head of the
old incline railway; the Kiln pit, south from it, on east side
of the road; and still farther south the Miller pit. The Meldrum
pit and the Kiln pit are both now untraceable, having been
lately filled up by the present laird, like all the other old
pits at Grange, except the Doocot pit at Bridgeness and the
Miller pit. Another busy centre was the pit known as the Acre
pit, opposite Lochend, near the Muirhouses. Coal and ironstone
were both worked here, and a tramway ran down to the incline at
the Meldrum pit. Here was a double 3-feet railway leading down
to Grangepans, which was constructed by Mr. James John Cadell
about 1845. Although the tramway from Lochend along the south
side of the Muirhouse road and the incline railway were all in
full working order in comparatively recent times, all traces of
them are now effectually removed. The incline was finally
dismantled about 1890, when a commencement was made with
Philpingstone Road.
In the middle of last century there was quite a
congeries of pits in the vicinity of Northbank, which were
opened up when-Mr. Wilson of Dundyvan leased Kinneil colliery,
and began to search for ironstone. Nos. 5, 6, and 7 were all
situated near the Red Brae, on the north side of the Borrowstoun
and Bonhard road. There was a waggon railway here also. It ran
from Kinneil, by way of Newtown, up through the Mingle-and Burn
pits at Kinglass, and on to No. 7 at Northbank. The-empty
waggons were taken by small engine right up. Latterly the engine
was done away with, and horse haulage was adopted instead. There
was also a pit at the top of the Red Brae, known as Duncan's
Hole. In fact, the road itself was in-olden times called
Duncan's Brae.
What was known as the Borrowstoun coalfield
included the-Mingle and Burn pits, and also the Lothians pit at
the east: end of the old Row, Newtown.
But there were numerous other pits scattered over
the-surface of the district—Kinneil colliery, especially in Mr.
Wilson's time, having been very extensively worked. It would;
have at one time fully two dozen pits, and these were chiefly
known under a number. The Mingle was No. 1; the Burn, No. 2;
Nos. 3 and 4 were north of Bo'mains Farm; Nos. 5, 6, and 7, as
already stated, near the Red Brae; No. 8 was Duncan's Hole; No.
9 was the Cousie mine, south of Northbank and east of the Cousie;
No. 10 was where the new Burgh.' Hospital now is; Nos. 11 and 12
were at Bonhard—the former in the field east from the foot of
Red Brae and the latter to the east of the Cross roads; No. 13 Avas below
Borrowstoun Farm; No. 14 where the Newtown store now is; and No.
15-west of the present football field at Newtown; No. 16 was in>
the field east from Richmond House; No. 17, a small pit, to work
ironstone at the back of Old Row, Newtown; No. 18 was the
Lothians. An important pit at one time was-at the Chance, and
another south from the Gauze House was. called Jessfield. In
later times there was what was known as the New Pit on Grange
estate, east of the Gauze. Two old pits were the Bailies pit at
the head of the Cow Loan, Borrowstoun (sunk about 1830 by Mr. J.
J. Cadell, but abandoned because so much whin was found); and
the Temple pit, on the lands of Northbank east from the latter
pit. There was also the Beat pit, where the new cemetery now is,
and the Store pit, near the present store at Furnace Row. Nos. 1
and 2 Snab were in course of being sunk about the period we
refer to, the only pit in that neighbourhood being the Gin pit,
a little to the east. In the town there were two pits at the
foot of the Schoolyard Brae, but although coal was raised they
were latterly mainly used for pumping. The condensing engine
which James Watt invented and completed at Kinneil was first
fitted up at the Burn pit. It was afterwards transferred to the
Temple pit, and its large wheel, when in motion, gave the miners
much amusement. There are still a number of retired miners of
the old school resident about Bo'ness,10 and
it is very entertaining to listen to their intelligent
description both of the surface when it was studded with pits
and of the various underground workings themselves. In nearly
all cases ironstone was wrought, as well as coal, and was
calcined at the pithead.
IX.
The mining in all these years has naturally
affected both the surface and.the underground workings. The
surface has in some places been considerably lowered. In other
places, where the old stoop and room system was used, before the
introduction of the long wall method, the ground is to some
extent honeycombed, and holes fall in when the roof gives way
over seams not far below the surface. Considering the extent of
the mining operations here, the calamities which have befallen
the mining population have been comparatively few. The most
serious of these occurred at the Store pit at Kinneil and in the
Schoolyard pit. Four miners were engaged in driving a mine in
the Store pit when the water rushed in upon them from adjoining
waste workings, drowning all four. Charles Robertson, foreman,
already referred to in this chapter, lost his life along with
his son and a nephew in the Schoolyard pit. The three were
working at the bottom near the main coal. The day was a stormy
one, and the air down below had been diverted in some way, with
the result that all three were suffocated. A terrible boiler
explosion also occurred here. There were five or six boilers in
a row at the pithead. One of them had been under repair, but the
water not getting in freely, the boiler became overheated, and
burst. One portion landed in the garden at the rear of the
Clydesdale Hotel. Strangely enough, the men at the pithead
escaped. Bricks and stones from the boilei foundations were sent
broadcast with terrific force, and for long distances. A woman
and child were passing the old post office in South Street at
the time. The woman escaped, but the child, who was by her side,
was struck by a brick and killed on the spot.
During the time of Mr. Wilson there was a great
miners' strike in the county. Miners from the Redding district
in large numbers made a raid on the town bent on plundering
Kinneil store for provisions. This and the general excitement
caused Mr. Wilson to send to Edinburgh for a detachment of
soldiers. In response, a company of cavalry from the 7th
Dragoons arrived on the scene, and were billeted at Kinneil and
the Snab. Soldiers and miners fraternised freely, and had great
ongoings. The officer in charge was a keen sportsman and
challenged Mr. Wilson to run his carriage horses against those
of the troopers. Several races came off in the Brewlands Park,
the scene of many a former horse-racing contest. The soldiers
remained for several weeks, and had many an escapade. On one
occasion some of them commandeered the town drum and drummed
themselves round the streets.
The leading families in the Newtown about seventy
years ago were the Hamiltons, Robertsons, Grants, Nisbets,
Gibbs, and Sneddens. The Old Row constituted the Newtown of
those days, and about one hundred families resided there. It was
a strict preserve for the miners and their families, and no
lodgers or foreigners were admitted. Bynames were very
plentiful, and there were lords, dukes, and earls among them.
Peers and Commoners alike resided in the Old Row. Archibald
Hamilton and his family represented the lords; Sandy Hamilton,
the dukes; and Richard Hamilton, the earls. The Hamiltons of
Grangepans are all related to the earls and lords Hamiltons of
Newtown. The dukes belong to a separate branch, and are
connected with the Robertsons and Sneddens.
X.
Two alarming subsidences have occurred in Bo'ness
during the last half-century. They have been described by Mr.
Cadell12 as
follows: —
"One Sunday evening about thirty years ago, as a
local preacher was addressing a meeting on the subject of the
fall of the Tower of Siloam in the Old Town Hall below the Clock
Tower, and close to the harbour, the congregation were startled
by an uncomfortable feeling as if the floor of the building was
subsiding beneath them. No active calamity happened, although a
terrible danger was very near, and a kind Providence rewarded
the faith of the worshippers and permitted them quietly to leave
the building after the close of the service. Next day
investigations showed that a huge hole 60 feet deep had formed
just under the floor, owing to the giving way of the roof of the
Wester Main Waste. In a short time the tower began to sink, so
as to necessitate its demolition by- the authorities. A small
shaft was subsequently sunk to ascertain the nature of the
cavity, and many had an opportunity of going down and wandering
through the old workings about 50 feet below the surface. The
seam was about 10 feet thick, and the old miners had worked it
in large square pillars, with beautifully dressed faces and an
excellent roof. The surface, however, was so near that the thin
roof at places had fallen in, and one of the ' sits ' had taken
place right under the Town Hall. This hole was solidly packed
with stone when the Clock Tower was rebuilt.
"On another Sunday evening, 2nd February, 1890,
an alarming subsidence took place on the shore end of the old
harbour, about 200 feet north of the Clock Tower, and close to
the ' tongue ' that existed up till then between the east and
west piers. The ground gave way under the railway, and when the
sea rose the water gushed down like a roaring river,' enlarging
the aperture, and leaving the rails and sleepers suspended in
mid-air. The hole was plugged up with timber, straw, and
brushwood, and filled to the surface with ballast and clay. All
seemed safe, and heavy trains passed over the place until the
20th of February, when a second and larger subsidence took
place, into which the sea at high tide rushed in enormous
volumes. It looked as if all the dip workings of the Kinneil
Colliery were to be drowned, but so large was the reservoir in
the Old Wastes that the tide had not time to fill these up
before it was excluded. The hole was securely filled with a
foundation of slag blocks, covered with clay and ballast, and it
was estimated that 2000 tons of material were swallowed up
before the cavity was finally levelled over, in the beginning of
March. The seam in these sits had
a steep dip westward or north-westward, so that the material
slid far down as it was dropped in, and was spread over a much
larger area of the waste than if the working had been level.
Only a few feet of solid rock had been left between the coal and
the bottom of the mud in the harbour, and it is marvellous that
the old miners were not drowned out a century ago after their
temerity in working the seam so near the outcrop below the
foreshore. The water that gained entrance during the last
subsidence subsequently found its way down into the Kinneil
Company's workings to the west, and for a time entailed heavy
pumping there." |
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