A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



The monks of Durham also continued their 

 mining ventures with great spirit and activity. 

 From accounts'^ for the period from the Inven- 

 tion of the Cross until 6 December, 1443, vve 

 know that they received ^Tia is. from Rainton, 

 and;^iO OJ. id. from Aldyngrige (Aldengrange), 

 besides coal delivered for the use of their house. 

 They spent ^^3 js. jd. on the 'aqueduct' at 

 Aldengrange and on sinking there five new pits. 

 They also allowed £4. 8s. to Bertram Gaythirde 

 ' pro fodicione et sinctacione ' of a new pit at 

 Rainton, while ;^I0 was allotted to pay the 

 workmen ' in aqueductu et le dright, cum thir- 

 lyng unius shafte ut patet per bill.' An additional 

 outlay of j^2 "js. lod. was for the workmen's ale 

 and for 'scopes et pykkez ac 2 cordis.' Soon 

 after this date the supervisor of Aldengrange 

 colliery bought off the threatened competition of 

 the Finchale monks at Baxtanfordwood.^' 



The fifteenth century not only furnishes re- 

 cords of coal-mining all over the Palatinate, but 

 certain of the leases and accounts which have 

 survived enable us to understand the methods 

 employed and trace the gradual technical advance 

 of the industry. An English lease is '^ extant, 

 granted in 1447 to John Brown of Tudhoe and 

 five others by the prior of Durham relating to 

 land and coal-pits in Trillesden and Spennymoor. 

 In Trillesden the lessees are 



to wirke and wyn cole evere day overable with thre 

 pikkesand ilk pike to wyn every day overable Ix scopes 



and 



to have and to halde the said toft and land with the 

 appertenantes and with the said colepite, fra the fest 

 of Seynt Cuthbert in Septembre next commyng for 

 terme of a yeer then next folowyng 



at an annual rent of 24J. for the land and 

 10 marks of 'goode Inglissh money' for the 

 coal-pit. The lessees 



sail wirke the said myne werkmanlike, to save the feld 

 standyng, be the sight of certeyn vewers assigned be 

 the said priour als oft as hym likes to lymet them 

 within the same yeer to serche the same myn. 



Under similar conditions the coal-pit at Spenny- 

 moor was let at ^^20 a year rent, and in addition 

 the lessees 



sail of thare awen costages and expens labour and wyn 

 a Watergate for wynnyng of cole in the same colepit 

 of Spennyngmore, and the same Watergate like as thai 

 wyn itt thai sail leefe it in the yeer ende by sight of 

 the said vewers. 



A similar regulation of the daily output is in- 

 sisted on in the renewal " of the great lease of 

 the southern mines to Sir William Eure in 1458, 



" Dur. Acct. R. (Surtees Soc. xcix-ciii), 712. 

 " Galloway, op. cit. i, 71. 



'* Hist. Dur. Tra Scrifiores (Surtees Soc. ix), App. 

 p. cccxli. 



" Dur. Curs. 48, m. 2. 



to the extent of 340 corfes or scopes at Raly, 

 300 scopes or corfes at Toftes, and 600 at Hert- 

 keld, and at each of the other mines 20 corfes 

 or scopes, but with permission to make up a 

 deficiency at one mine by an increase at another. 

 In this connexion it may be noted that we here 

 find an early mention of ' styth ' or choke-damp ; 

 if the miners were stopped thereby on any occasion 

 so that they could not get their authorized tale 

 of coal, they were allowed to make up the amount 

 lacking on the next convenient working day. 



Complaints were made and inquisitions held 

 as to wastes and reckless working, such as cutting 

 through the ' forbarres' in the mines mentioned 

 in this lease,^*and it is probable that in 1460-61 

 the bishop of Durham was working the Raly and 

 Hertkeld mines on his own account. A compotui ^^ 

 of his appruator, John Baker,^" relating to ' Raley ' 

 mine for the period 14 June, 38 Henry VI, to 

 Christmas, 39 Henry VI, eleven days over a half 

 year, still remains to us, and is extremely valu- 

 able for the full and detailed description of the 

 classes and condition of the workmen employed. 

 In the week 14-22 June there were six working 

 days, and John Harper, William Staynford, and 

 John Bagot were employed as ' hewers,' hewing 

 [dolancium) i,8oo corfes of coals at 2^ bushels 

 the corfe, or reckoning by chaldrons or chalders 

 (ce/eras) 1 40 chaldrons 2 qr. 4 bus., a daily out- 

 put of 23 chaldrons I qr. 6 bus., each man 

 earning ^d. a day. In the same week John 

 Marshall, Thomas Bagot, and Thomas Hode 

 were employed as ' barowmen, removing the 

 aforesaid coals from the places where they 

 were won in the aforesaid mine to the bottom 

 of the pit (fundamenium putei).' They were 

 paid at the same rate as the ' hewers.' Four 

 other men, Thomas Stevenson, Henry Stevenson, 

 Richard Ogle, and Robert Ogle, are described as 

 ' drawers ' of the aforesaid coal from the bottom of 

 the pit, hewing it and placing it on the bank of the 

 same pit. Their wages were exactly those of the 

 others, viz., 5^. a day, the wage sheet of the ten 

 men totalling 25J. for the full week. During the 

 period of the account only eight full weeks of 

 six days were worked at getting coal, the output 

 and wage sheet remaining the same. But eight 

 weeks of five days were worked with an output 

 of 117 chaldrons 6 bus. and a wage sheet of 

 201. lod. a week ; five weeks of four days with an 

 output of 93 chaldrons 3 qrs. and a wage sheet 

 of 16s. 8d. a week; and one week of three days 

 (Christmas week) with an output of 70 chal- 

 drons I qr. 2 bus. and a wage sheet of 1 2s. 6d. 

 In sum 2,601 chaldrons 2 qr. 2 bus. of coal were 



'* Galloway, op. cit. 73. 



'' Eccl. Com. Mins. Accts. 190024. 



*" He apparently had just succeeded one Roger 

 Stevenson ' nuper bankman minere predicte.' In an 

 almost contemporary compotus of Hertkeld, Christopher 

 Buttery is mentioned as ' bankeman et appruator 

 carbonum' ; Eccl. Com. Mins. Accts. 190023. 



324 



