A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



to untoward circumstances, coal had not been 

 worked for 40 years in Warnell Denton. 



Jefferson, in 1 840, alluded to unsuccessful 

 trials for coal at Motherby and Hutton John, 

 and remarked upon the poor quality of the 

 coal got at Hewer Hill. 



In 1839 Warnell Colliery, which had for 

 years been standing, was restarted, under a 

 lease from Lord Lonsdale, by Messrs. Taylor 

 & Co., who sank two pits, 26 fathoms deep, 

 in 1843, to the seam of coal, 20 inches thick, 

 worked to the rise in the old colliery. 



In 1851 nine hewers were getting coal 

 there. 



EAST CUMBERLAND COALFIELD 



Until 1893 the coal produced in east Cum- 

 berland was obtained from two sources the 

 true Coal Measures and the Carboniferous 

 Limestone series ; but since then exclusively 

 from the latter. 



The Coal Measures in East Cumberland 

 are at the western extremity of the Newcastle 

 Coalfield, and extend along 'the 90 fathoms 

 Dyke ' for about one mile westward from 

 Midgeholme(near the Northumberland bound- 

 ary) and have an average width of half a mile. 



The following coal seams, in this area, 

 were passed through in the Midgeholme 

 Pit: 



Depth 



Seam Thickness from surface 



feet fathoms 

 Five Quarters, or High 



Crag Nook ... 4 38 



Low Crag Nook . . 4 39 



Three Quarters . . z| 48 



Wellsyke 5 66 



Slag, or Midgeholme . 5 80 



A seam named the Low Main, 2 ft. 6 in. 

 thick, 5 fathoms below the Midgeholme Seam, 

 was proved through an upthrow fault met 

 with in the workings. The coal measures 

 dip i in 4 to the ' dyke.' 



The Carboniferous Limestone series is 

 thrown up to the surface in East Cumberland 

 by the enormous dislocation called the ' Pennine 

 fault,' which commences in Dumfriesshire and 

 passes through Talkin Tarn, Renwick, Mel- 

 merby, Milburn, Dufton and Hilton to 

 Brough in Westmorland. 



Coal has been worked in the Carboniferous 

 Limestone series, along the escarpment on the 

 east side of the Pennine fault, chiefly from 

 three seams found in the Yoredale or Upper 

 Limestone division above the ' Whin Sill,' a 

 bed of basaltic trap which varies in thickness 

 from 24 ft. in some localities to 120 ft. in 

 Alston Moor. In the Scar or Lower Lime- 

 stone division, beneath the ' Whin Sill,' there 



is one thin seam of coal which was worked 

 formerly at Renwick. 



In the Upper Limestone division the seams 

 are the Top Coal, 4 in. to 6 ft. 2 in. thick ; 

 the Tindale coal, 3 ft. 3 in. to 5 ft. 2 in. 

 thick ; and the Hynam Coal, 2 ft. 3 in. thick, 1 

 from which coal has been mined at Ousby, 

 Hartside, Alston, Croglin, Oakshaw, and other 

 places, but to the greatest extent on the Earl 

 of Carlisle's property at Tindale Fell and 

 Talkin. 



HISTORY 



The record of an early attempt to prove 

 coal in East Cumberland is in the books of 

 the Newcastle Corporation, wherein it is 

 stated that in 1522 coal was bored for on 

 Greenside Rigg, in the parish of Farlam. 2 



In a household book of Lord William 

 Howard there are entries, beginning in 1618, 

 relating to coal exploration. In 1628 the sum 

 which he paid for sinking a pit is recorded ; 

 and a little later on, it is stated that he sold, 

 in one year, coal worth 61 . The Crag Nook 

 Seam was then being worked from the outcrop 

 at Midgeholme, and boring for coal on Tin- 

 dale Fell was in progress. During the next 

 100 years doubtlessly coal was worked on a 

 small scale, but there are no records for that 

 period. 



Rev. T. Robinson, rector of Ousby, in 

 1709," said the Coal Fell 4 Colliery was very 

 ancient, and was then leased to Mr. Mowbray. 

 In 1735 Charles, Earl of Carlisle, granted 

 a lease of Coal Fell and other collieries in the 

 barony of Gillesland to Mr. Thomas Howard. 



In 1736 Crag Nook and Pryor Dyke Pits 

 were at work, in the Coal Measures, between 

 Roachburn and Midgeholme. The output, 

 400 loads per week, was all sold at the banks. 



In 1739 the Earl of Carlisle was getting 

 from 100 to 450 loads of coal per week at 

 Midgeholme Pit. 



In 1747 Lord Carlisle's Talkin Colliery 

 comprised Caroline, Moss, and Wyatt ' Pits,' 

 in reality adits, from which the Limestone 

 coal seam was worked. 



In 1769 the Earl of Carlisle was carrying 

 on Tarnhouse or Tindale Fell Colliery, besides 

 the Talkin and Midgeholme Collieries. 



In 1775 the first railway to Tindale Fell 

 Colliery was made on which cast-iron fish-bel- 

 lied rails were used. This railway was made 

 between Tindale Fell and Brampton, and the 

 coals were conveyed along it in chaldron 

 waggons drawn by horses. The waggon road 



1 Geol. Sur. Sheet, 106, S.W. 



1 Carlisle Patriot, 9 August, 1889. 



3 Natural History of Cumberland and Westmorland. 



* Near Greenside. 



380 



