A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



veyors appraised ' the benefit of the coale mines 

 and delfes to be digged and soughed within the 

 said moore to be worth (over and above the 

 charges thereof being considerable, and the gaine 

 and adventure uncertaine) 50*. per annum.' As 

 a matter of fact the commissioners had on 

 7 June 1650 demised and leased the ' benefitt of 

 the working and getting of coales on Fulwood 

 Common to Jonathan Everard gentleman for 

 one whole year ' at the rent of 30*. And some 

 twenty years later 34 we find James Coghlean, a 

 servant of his Majesty, petitioning for a lease of 

 soft coal in Fulwood near Hucknall 'not now 

 worked because there is good coal within a mile.' 

 It may also be remarked that Charles, Earl of 

 Norwich, in a petition 35 to the king dated June 

 1663 in reference to the stewardship of the 

 honour of Peverel and the farm of coals, com- 

 plained that the coalworks were quite decayed 

 and required heavy outlay before they could be 

 made profitable. But expectant grantees may 

 have thought it good policy to cheapen the 

 object of their desire. 



Towards the close of the century the Not- 

 tinghamshire coal trade was probably brisk 

 enough, though complaints were made that in 

 the county town itself ' coals were scarce and 

 dear.' The corporation attributed this to the 

 accumulation by dealers of such excessive stocks 

 that they hindered and ' forestalled the bringing 

 of coals to the town.' 36 



About the middle of the i8th century, however, 

 it is quite clear from Deering's account 37 that 

 Nottingham was kept well supplied from the 

 neighbouring pits, especially those in the posses- 

 sion of the Middleton 38 family. Coals were 

 then never above \d. to 6d. per hundred, unless 

 a wet winter season made the roads exceptionally 

 miry. Comparing the midland with the north- 

 ern coals Deering proceeds : 



The coals of this county, though they do give way 

 to those which come from Newcastle to London in 

 durableness, and consequently are not altogether equal 

 to those for culinary uses, yet for chambers and other 

 uses they exceed them, making both a sweeter and a 

 brisker fire, and considering the difference in price 

 these are divers ways preferable. A chaldron of coals 

 which should weigh full a tun weight is at the cheap- 

 est at London in the Pool i 3/. besides carriage 

 whereas the dearest, i.e. at 6d. per hundred, we have a 

 tun of our coals brought to the door for io.f. 



The coak or cynder which is used in the drying of 

 malt and which is sold at is. \d. per horse load is 

 much sweeter than that made of the Yorkshire coal, 

 which appears in that the Nottingham malt has hardly 

 any of that particular taste, which the Yorkshire malt 

 communicates to the best of their ale. 



34 S.P. Dom. Chas. II, cclxxxi A, no. 42. 

 55 Ibid. Ixxv, 4. 



36 Stevenson, Rcc. Ben. Nott. v. 



37 Nottinghamia fetus et Nora, 8 7. 



M Sir Thomas Willoughby, bart., had been created 

 Baron Middleton in Jan. 1712. 



The visible Nottinghamshire coalfield as 

 known to the 18th-century mining engineers 

 was thus defined by Lowe 39 in 1798 : ' The line 

 of coal begins a little north of Teversall, runs 

 about south and by west to Brookhill ; then 

 south to Eastwood ; afterwards about south-east, 

 or a little more easterly to Belborough, Wolla- 

 ton, and the Lene. This line is scarce above a 

 mile broad in this county, and above the coal is 

 a cold blue or yellow clay.' At this time the 

 coals of this district were largely conveyed by 

 the Erewash and Nottingham Canals as well as 

 by land-carriage. The opening of the canals 

 indeed at first helped to raise the price of coals 

 in the county owing to the increased demand 

 from outside, but new pits were opened to sup- 

 ply the demand, and by 1798 prices at Notting- 

 ham had already fallen considerably. 



The pits 40 at work about the beginning of the 

 igth century were situated as follows : 



Beggarlee, I mile north-east of Eastwood. 



Bilborough, Hollywood Colliery, f mile south- 

 east of the church. 



Brinsley, the New or Fenton's Colliery, north of 

 the village, ij miles north of Eastwood ; and 

 the Old Colliery, east of the village, I mile 

 north of Eastwood. 



Dunshill, i mile west of Teversal. 



Eastwood, mile north of the town. 



Greasley, to the south of the church. 



Hucknall, near Blackwell, z\ miles south-west of 

 Skegby. 



Limes, \ mile south of Greasley. 



Shilo, north-west of Hucknall, 2 miles west- 

 south-west of Skegby. 



Skegby, I mile west of the town. 



Trowell Moor, I mile west of Wollaton. 



Wollaton, i J miles west-north-west of the village, 

 and also at Aspley, near Bobber's Mill. 



Besides these Farey reports that collieries had 

 been quite lately worked at Awsworth, Bram- 

 cote, and about mile north-west of Cossall ; 

 while he mentions as formerly in operation 

 collieries at Beauvale Abbey, north of Greasley ; 

 Bilborough, north of the town ; Eastwood, 

 \ mile west and north-west of the town ; New- 

 thorpe Common, I mile north-west of Awsworth ; 

 Nuthall, on south side of park, I mile north- 

 north-west of Bilborough. This last colliery 

 was no less than 160 yds. deep. 



At the larger collieries in Nottinghamshire 

 and Derbyshire at this time steam engines of 

 considerable size and power were used for rais- 

 ing water and for drainage purposes, and smaller 

 engines or whimseys for drawing coals from the 

 pits. The outside demand for Nottinghamshire 

 and Derbyshire coals came principally from the 

 surrounding counties, and, according to Farey, 41 

 the ' hard coals ' were almost the only coals 





39 Gen. View Agric. Notts. (1798), 5. 

 Farey, Gen. View of Agric. and Min. Derb. (i 8 1 1 ), 



i, 189 et seq. 



Op. cit. i, 185. 



328 



