1S03. Survey of the Covnfy of Kilkenny, 8y 



-coft 2 0ol. ; at the deptli of 28 yards a bed of coal wag found but 

 ■8 inches thick, and it was tlsought in vain to proceed any farther. 



* A pit once completed is taken by a mafter- collier, who, befides 

 the 33. a barrel receives tlie price of half the culm, which is fold 

 by clerks, and divided with the proprietors : the naaller and the 

 men whom he employs couilitute a crew ; according to the diiU- 

 culty of the work they vary from 30 to 40 men ; 35 is not aa 

 unufual number, belid(?3 a horfe to a gin for railing water at 4s, 

 4d. a-day. 



* The crew are divided into cclliers, whofe pay has been latelj 

 raifed from i8d. to lod. a-day, of whom a pit requires from 20 

 to 24 ; hunicrs^ whole pay has been raijed from i(xi. to i8d. and 

 of whom there are generally 4. •but Lometimes 3 ; tbruji^rs, ufual- 

 \j 3, fometimes 2, at the- fame wages j and pullers^ from 4 to 5, 

 at 13d. a-day 



* The colliers are again clafled into clearers^ cutters, and breakers ; 

 the ill ft clear away tiie (lite from the top of tlie coal, with a pick, 

 adapted to the purpole ; the lecond, with a cutting pick, which is 

 a larger inftrument, i'eparate tne. ndes of the mafs from the backs^ 

 by which the beds are divided ; aad lafllv the breakers drive their 

 wedges in at the bottom of tae coal, which, falling out, is loaded 

 into a bucket, holding about 3^ cwt. placed upon a fmall li^dge^ 

 which, by an iron bar ho ked into a rmg at the front, is drav/n 

 by the hurriers to the botiom of the pit, while the thrufters pufh 

 h behind; the bucket is raifed by the pullers, and, as foon as it is 

 landed, is placed on a fmali fledge, iimilar to the one below, and 

 the coal drawn to the pile, at a little diilance from the pit ; beiide« 

 thefe men, a fcavenger attends each pit at 13d. a-day.' 



It would appear that the Iriih colliers are much like their bre- 

 ren in other ( 

 wretched Hate. 



thren in other countries. The following extrad will ihow their 



* Wheaten bread is the principal food of the colliers; this they 

 take down with them into the pits, and a twopenny loaf ferves for 

 a meal ; bread is baked in the colliery, and the flour brought from 

 Ballyragget or Ballinakill. Thei;" earnings are generally confumed 

 in the purchafe of fpirits; this ruinous habit, to which their mode of 

 labour in fome degree leads them, is the caufe that, though their pay 

 is higher than that of any other workmen, yet, in appearance, they 

 ^re the moft wretched perfons in the county. Their houfes are ruin- 

 ous, generally built as well as covered with fods, upon which heavy 

 Hones are fometimes laid, to prevent their being blown off: chim- 

 nies and v>^indows are luxuries deemed urr.iecefTary. The childr n 

 sre num.erous, but ufually quite naked, the parents dirty and ill- 

 clad, and, v/ha;: is worfe, the colliers are, independent of accidents, 

 unhealthy and fliort-lived ; they feldom arrive at fifty yeats of 



L a agc> 



