INDUSTRIES 



fraught with coal from Hensingham and 

 Moresby Pitts.' Further on he mentions : 

 ' Stokehow is a little Manor of Mr. Thomas 

 Patricksons, his demesne, tenements and col- 

 liery being per ann. jTi^O.' 1 The colliery 

 referred to in this quotation was undoubtedly 

 that at Scalegill near Whitehaven, which then 

 was the property of Mr. Patrickson of Stock- 

 how. 



In 1692 Sir John Lowther was working 

 the Prior Band at Howgill and Greenbank, 

 Whitehaven, and Lattera Colliery, Moresby ; 

 and was actively engaged in negotiations for 

 the purchase of neighbouring coal properties. 



The output of coal from Sir John Lowther's 

 collieries during 1695 was: Howgill, 15,196 

 tons ; Greenbank, 2,321 tons ; Lattera, 1,387 

 tons; total, 18,904 tons. 



In 1695 Mr. Lamplugh began the erection 

 of a pier upon the foundations of Mr. 

 Fletcher's venture against which the injunc- 

 tion had been obtained by Sir John Lowther 

 in 1680. Sir John again interfered because it 

 was a trespass on the land granted to him by 

 Charles II. ; and the Court of Exchequer, at 

 his instance, prohibited Mr. Lamplugh by 

 perpetual injunction from building the pro- 

 jected new pier. The baronet did not, how- 

 ever, oppose the repairing of an old pier. 



During 1 697 Mr. Gilpin (Sir John Lowther's 

 agent) suggested the establishment of the 

 Copperas Works, which were eventually 

 erected at Ginns, Whitehaven. There, green 

 vitriol (ferrous sulphate) was made from the 

 iron pyrites, or ' marchasites ' as they were 

 called by Mr. Gilpin, which were picked out 

 of the coals. 



At this time an iron forge was in operation 

 at Cleator, and ironstone obtained from a 

 band, 3 in. thick, at Hensingham Colliery, 

 was smelted thereat, without mixture with 

 other ore. 



During 1699 a commencement was made 

 with a level from Pow Beck near Thicket, 

 to drain the coal between that point and 

 Greenbank. This watercourse, at a distance 

 of 400 yards from its mouth, cut the Prior 

 Band, in which it was continued until it 

 reached the Greenbank dyke, a distance al- 

 together of about 1,400 yards. 



During 1700 the new Ginns Pit and the 

 Stone Pit were sunk near Ginns to the Prior 

 Band, and were ultimately connected to the 

 ' end gills ' of the various pits to the south in 

 the same seam, thereby forming one con- 

 tinuous watercourse as far as Fish Pit, a 

 distance of 1,400 yards. There the level 

 passes through a fault into the Bannock Band, 



in which it pursues its way past Gameriggs 

 to Fox Pit, finally to the level end in Wilson 

 Pit Bannock Band. This level is now known 

 as Gameriggs surface water-level, and is still 

 used. 



The first steam pumping engine, then called 

 ' a fire-engine,' was set up at Stone Pit in 1715- 

 Up to that time twelve pits had been sunk in 

 the Howgill Colliery near the outcrops of the 

 Burnt and Prior Bands besides those mentioned. 



The output of coal from Sir John Lowther's 

 pits for the year 1700 was : 



Howgill, Prior Band . 

 New Gin 

 Knockmurton 

 Yard Band . 



Lattera (Moresby) 



Tons 

 4,817 

 13,837 

 3,7'3 

 3,336 



27,287 



1 fol. 30. 



II 



In 1705 an Act of Parliament was passed, 

 at the instance of Mr. Fletcher, Moresby Hall, 

 and the inhabitants of Parton, for enlarging 

 the pier and harbour there, notwithstanding 

 the opposition of Sir John Lowther, in the 

 interests of Whitehaven. 



Sir John Lowther died in 1705, after a life 

 of unceasing effort to develop the trade of 

 Whitehaven. He left his estates to his second 

 son, Mr. James Lowther (who succeeded to 

 the title in 1731), who followed up his father's 

 schemes for the development of Whitehaven 

 with such success that at the time of his death 

 it was second in importance only to two or 

 three other ports in the kingdom. 



In all his colliery undertakings Mr. (after- 

 wards Sir James) Lowther had the assistance 

 of the two brothers, John and Carlisle Sped- 

 ding. But it was the latter who had the prac- 

 tical direction of the collieries, which under 

 his management prospered exceedingly. 



After the introduction of the steam pump- 

 ing or ' fire ' engine at Howgill Colliery in 

 1715, Mr. Lowther proceeded to open out the 

 Whingill Colliery. The first Whingill pits 

 which Mr. Lowther sank were near the out- 

 crop of the Prior Band on the top of Harras 

 Moor, about 450 ft. above the level of the 

 sea. In 1716 the output from them was 

 about 200 tons a week. Mr. Lowther con- 

 ceived the idea of draining the coal under 

 Harras Moor by means of a level watercourse, 

 which he commenced from Bransty Beck near 

 Whitehaven. This level in course of time 

 was driven as far as the Bateman Pit, a dis- 

 tance of about i miles. It drained eventually 

 all the Whingill Colliery in the Bannock and 

 Main Bands except the workings in George, 

 Lady and James Pits, which are below its level. 

 The water from the George and Lady Pits 



I 46 



