embleton: notes on ancient goal mining. 261 
The customs mentioned in these extracts appear very curious, 
that the Carpenter and Smith should be rewarded for their materials 
and labour in making and repairing the ploughs and harrows, in con- 
sideration for a grant of land. Money no doubt was very scarce 
amongst the farmers and villagers of this period. 
In the Magnus Rotulus recept., Dunelm Anno Antonii Episcopi 
XXV., there are the following entries : — 
"Minora Carbonum. Et de 12s. & 6d. de Minora Carbonum in 
quarterio de Cestr." (Chester le Street). 
" Termnius Sancti Cuthbertiin Septembri." 
" Minora Carbonum. Et de Minora Carbonum 12s. & 6d. de 
Minora Carbonum in quarterio de cestr." (Cestria). 
It would appear from these notes that the coal must have been 
worked in the neighbourhood of Chester-le-Street before the date of 
the above payments. 
At Lanchester, in the County of Durham, on exploration in the 
Roman station, the calcareous flooring of the baths was found to be 
mixed with coals and cinders. In the foundation of a circular Roman 
building, on the side of the Watling Street, about three miles south 
of Ebchester, coals and cinders were found buried together with a 
smith's hammer. 
In Bishop Hatfield's Survey of the Manor of Colliesley, in 
1333-1335, the Bishop appoints a supervisor of his mines there. His 
successor makes a similar appointment in 1384. A coal mine is 
mentioned in the ordination of the Vicarage of Merryton, in the 
County of Durham, in 1343, and in 1354 there is extant a notice of 
the sinking of pits at Ferryhill, in the same County. 
If we refer to the coal mining in Northumberland, we find more 
copious notices of it than in any other County. On 1st Dec, 1239, 
King Henry HI. granted a Charter to Newcastle to dig coals and 
stones in the common soil of that town, in a place called the Castle 
Field (now the Town Moor) and the Forth. This is the earliest 
known date when permission was given to work coals at or near to 
Newcastle. It is evident that at that time the minerals belonged to 
the king and not to private persons. In fact the whole place belonged 
to the king then. 
