Home » Tooltips » Page 20

Blog Archive

Outbye

Outbye – Direction of travel away from the centre of the mine

Onsetter

Onsetter – The official whose duty it is to ensure that the cage is properly loaded and unloaded at the foot of the Shaft

Inbye

Inbye – Direction of travel towards the centre of the mine

Hammer Stone

Hammer Stone – The earliest type of hammer, a hand size stone cobble perhaps 15cm long used to hit a wedge or chisel in order to separate rocks.

Gob

Gob, Goaf or Goave – An area of the mine which has been previously mined and then used as a depository for waste from the workings. Such areas were normally left to collapse under the natural pressure of the roof

Fire Setting

Fire Setting – A very early extraction technique involving setting fires against ore laden rocks, then rapidly cooling them with water. The rock fractures and is easily hammered off.

Firedamp

Firedamp – The Miner’s description of the naturally occurring ‘marsh gas’ (methane) which results from the decay of vegetable matter. In certain critical volumes, mixed with air, firedamp is highly explosive.

Datallers

Datallers – Term used to describe workers paid strictly on a ‘Day rate’ basis

Corf

Corf – A large wicker basket used to transport mined coal to the pit head and then to the surface. Term also sometimes used to describe the wheeled ‘tubs’

Checkweighman

Checkweighman – This was a very important job, as he represented the interests of his fellow workers to the colliery management by checking the weight of the tubs of coal coming out of the mine. It was his job to keep a check on minerals extracted and to negotiate the true weight of coal coming …

Continue reading

Contact Us
close slider