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Mining in Lanarkshire

Coal was the fuel that powered the Industrial Revolution. The reliance on steam engines meant a huge increase in the demand for coal and the men women and children who mined it, particularly so in the mining areas of Scotland. In 1781 the first ironstone works in Lanarkshire started at Wilsontown in Carnwath. Early coal mines were cut into exposed rock faces at the side of rivers, which also applied to shale mines (paraffin).

For centuries, people in Scotland and Britain had made do with charcoal if they needed a cheap and easy to way to acquire fuel. What ‘industry’ that existed before 1700, did use coal but it came from coal mines that were near to the surface and the coal was relatively easy to get to. Two types of mines existed: drift mines and bell pits. Both were small scale coal mines and the coal which came from these type of pits was used locally in homes and local industry.

However, as the country started to industrialise itself, more and more coal was needed to fuel steam engines and furnaces. The development of factories and the improvement of the steam engine further increased demand for coal. As a result coal mines got deeper and deeper and coal mining became more and more dangerous. Coal shafts could go hundreds of feet into the ground. Once a coal seam was found, the miners dug horizontally. However, underground the miners faced very real and great dangers.

The people who worked the Scottish mines, although their wages were relatively high, lived in conditions approximating legal serfdom. If a pit was sold, they became the property of the new owner; children were often bound to the coal master for life at baptism. The masters were obliged in return to keep them all their days, in sickness and old age and to provide a coffin for their burial. This extraordinary set of affairs, was sanctioned by Scots law in 1606. This meant among other things, that miners could not remove themselves from that occupation. Beggars, tramps and those guilty of minor crimes were forced into lifelong bondage in the mines. This law was not changed until 1775 when it was then allowed that all new men entering the mines were allowed to be free, however it was not fully remedied until 1799.

The 1800's saw a massive rise in the amount of coal and iron mines as the industrial revolution swung into full effect. In 1879 there were 314 iron-works with 5149 puddling furnaces and 846 rolling mills in operation in Lanarkshire and in 1881, 392 coal pits and 9 fireclay pits. This labour force was found principally in Irish emigrants who were refugees from the suffering and deprivation caused by the potato famine in Ireland. Places like Blantyre were reputed to be, at this time; "a district of pits, engine houses, smoke and grime", this description no doubt led to the nickname the town endured for many years as "Dirty Auld Blantyre".

Lanarkshire was rich in coal, with numerous early mines scattered over the county. Around 1910 the actual amount of working collieries reached their peak with around 200 in the county. Between the wars mining started to decline and miners had to travel to work, or be re-housed near the pits

Mining was a dangerous occupation not only from injury, but problems caused by damp and breathing in coal dust, the mining Unions having to fight hard to improve working conditions. In the early days women and children were employed underground to haul coal,  but conditions gradually improved  with women and children doing pit head work only.

 

Working Conditions

Although the law relating to miners had been changed for the better at the turn of the century, life was still very harsh for miners & their families in the mid 1800's. Miners were expected to work at least a daily twelve hour shift on weekdays, reduced hours on Saturday, and Sunday being the day of rest. Working in the mines was very dangerous & unhealthy and most miners who survived the physical dangers inherent in the working environment eventually succumbed to mine-related respiratory diseases such as silicosis in later life.

One of the more dangerous risks of mining, was that of the gas referred to as "Firedamp". Firedamp was/is a highly explosive gas found in coal mines, it is easily ignited by flame, friction or electrical energy.

It's principal constituent is Methane or as it is sometimes referred to "Marsh Gas". This gas was found in most of the pits in the Lanarkhire area and often large volumes of it would be broken into during the mine workings, resulting in "blowers". Men employed as "Firemen" under the supervision of a "Firemaster" had the responsibility of checking the pits for the build up of firedamp and other dangerous gases such as "Afterdamp", i.e. Carbon Monoxide, which is poisonous & Carbon Dioxide, which suffocates.

These gases were removed by various means including ventilation forced by furnaces and steam and or by "burning off" in small pockets. The firemen & firemaster would normally carry out their checks prior to the commencement of the day's work.

The miners working down the mines soon realised that the dangerous conditions which prevailed there should be compensated for by an increase in wages. However, when the miners lodged their claim with the pit owners they were rejected. The result of this was that the miners withheld their labour and went on strike. This initial strike was quickly curbed by the mine owners who promptly sacked all those miners refusing to return to work. Not only were these miners sacked but they and their families were evicted from their homes onto the streets. There was some resistance to the action of the mine owners but this resistance was short-lived as the police and "auxiliaries" were brought in to enforce the will of the owners upon the miners and their families, often by extremely forcible means.

Lady Victoria colliery, Newtongrange, Edinburgh