INDUSTRIES 



The first method of obtaining coal in the 

 county was probably by means of the quarry- 

 like openings called ' delfs ' at places where the 

 seam cropped out at the surface of the hill-side. 

 Another very early method was that of sinking 

 bell or beehive pits, that is, the small pit sunk 

 through the surface cover and widened out or 

 belled at the bottom to lay bare as much mineral 

 as was consistent with safety. When working 

 became dangerous a new pit would be sunk along- 

 side. The only place in Lancashire where it is 

 quite certain that this method was employed is 

 in the neighbourhood of Oldham. On the 

 Coppice Estate near that town some sixty of 

 these beehives or bell-shafts have been discovered.'* 

 It is also possible that the system was employed 

 near the outcrop of the Arley mine, not far from 

 Wigan.'^ 



With regard to more recent times any re- 

 mains of old shallow workings show that the 

 coal was got in a somewhat irregular fashion. 

 Considerable areas of coal were taken away, 

 portions of the seam being left at intervals to 

 support the roof. The proportion of coal obtained 

 depended on the character of the roof.'° At 

 first the coal was probably raised by jack rolls, 

 then by horse whims, and finally steam-engines 

 were applied to the deeper shafts. This last 

 stage had already been reached in Lancashire 

 in 1795 ; Aikin mentions that steam-engines 

 were used in the Manchester neighbourhood 

 *for winding up coals from a great depth in 

 the coal pits.' '' 



During the first half of the nineteenth century 

 the system in use was principally the ' pillar 

 system' in some of its modifications. There 

 also existed to a slight extent the ' long way ' or 

 * long work ' or ' longwall ' system, that is the 

 contrary method of working without pillars, but 

 as late as 1862 this system was regarded as a 

 novelty in Lancashire.'* Examples of reversed 

 methods of working also existed in Lancashire. 

 The usual manner is to begin in the proximity 

 of the shaft and carry the workings outward. 

 Under the reversed system the opposite course 

 is pursued : roads are driven out to the boundary 

 and then workings opened out and carried in- 

 wards towards the shaft.'' 



The chief objection to the pillar system was 

 that the coal in the pillars was subjected to a 



'* H. T. Crofton, ' Lane, and Ches. Coal Mining 

 Rec' (Lane, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. 1889), p. 33. 



^ R. L. Galloway, Annals of Coal Mining (ser. i), 32. 



^°R. Bentley, Coal Mining, 22. 



'' A Description of Manchester, 177. 



^ Goodwin, Trans, of Manchester Geological Soc. 

 V, 23. 



'* Galloway, op. cit. cap. xviii. 



considerable deterioration of quality, from the 

 action of the air and the pressure, before it could 

 be removed. In consequence of this, during the 

 last fifty years or so, the long wall method has 

 greatly predominated. By this system the whole 

 of the coal is removed at one operation by having 

 a long and continuous working face divided, 

 step-like fashion, into a series of places, each 

 worked by a set of men. In working, supports 

 are set a very short distance behind the men, 

 and as the coal is removed the supports are moved 

 forward, the roof being allowed to sink almost 

 immediately behind the workmen. The roads 

 are maintained by packing. By this method 

 more round coal is obtained, and the ventilating 

 is simplified. Formerly the system was thought 

 suitable for thin seams only, but it is now 

 applied in the working of seams of very con- 

 siderable thickness. 



The great depth of the Lancashire coal mines 

 has already been mentioned. It was not until 

 after the middle of the nineteenth century that 

 really considerable depths were attained, although 

 as early as 1 795 Aikin speaks of the 'great depth ' 

 of the coal-pits.*" In 1869 a depth of 2,448 ft. 

 was reached at Rosebridge, Wigan. The great 

 mine of the Ashton Moss Colliery, Audenshaw, 

 near Manchester, was sunk to 2,688 ft. in 

 March, 1881, and during more recent years 

 coal was wound there a vertical distance of 

 2,820 ft., while in 1904 it was being raised from 

 a depth of 2,600 ft. At the Alexandra pit the 

 Wigan Coal and Iron Co. are working coal at 

 a depth from the surface of probably 2,700 ft. 

 At the Abram Coal Co.'s Colliery a similar 

 depth has been attained. The Bradford Colliery 

 is now being sunk to lower seams, and the shaft 

 will probably measure a depth of 2,838 ft. But 

 the greatest descent in Great Britain is that at 

 Messrs. Andrew Knowles & Sons' Pendleton 

 Colliery, near Manchester, where coal was being 

 won in the autumn of 1904 at 3,483 ft. from 

 the surface.*^ 



The following figures from the census returns 

 give some indication of the size of the coal- 

 mining industry of the county. In 1 88 1 there 

 were 59,557 men employed as coal and shale 

 miners in Lancashire. In 1891 the number 

 had increased to 77,509, whilst in 1901 the 

 coal miners had further increased to 86,539. 



*" A Description of Manchester, 177. 



" The material for the above paragraph is taken 

 from Crofton, op. cit. 72 and 73, GerranTs Presi- 

 dential Address to the Manchester Geological Soc, 

 the Rep. of the Recent Coal Commission, particularly the 

 evidence of W. E. Garforth, H. Hall, and H. Bramall, 

 and from information kindly supplied by Mr. John 

 Gerrard. 



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