188 
THE BATH OOLITE. 
Aug., 18S9. 
out in all directions. They are consequently subject to the 
Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act. They are cleaner than 
coal mines, and the ways are somewhat wider and loftier, but 
in other respects they are so much alike that at first it was 
difficult to realise that we were not in a South Staffordshire 
mine. There are, however, no gases evolved in stone as in 
coal mines, hence the air is much purer, and in these 
particular mines it is very good. The temperature stands at 
about 55° Fahr. all the year round, and so is specially suitable 
for physical labour, being neither too hot nor too cold. 
On arrival at the entrance to the quarries all the men of 
our party, numbering about one hundred, were furnished 
with petroline hand lamps, all clean and freshly-trimmed, and 
provided new for the occasion by the kindness and considera¬ 
tion of the Bath Stone Firms, Limited. These made a fairly 
effective illumination, and enabled everything of interest in 
the galleries and chambers to be readily seen. The entrance 
is not by pit shafts as in most mines, but by inclined planes, 
more or less steep, the steeper ones flanked by steps. Down 
these are laid tramways to a 2ft. 6in. gauge, which traverse 
the whole of the workings. These tramlines enable the 
blocks of stone, when it is not necessary to keep them in the 
mine for a time for seasoning, to be placed at once on a 
trolley as soon as craned from their bed, and drawn direct 
from the mine to the wharf or railway station, and straight¬ 
way loaded on to the railway truck. 
The method of quarrying the stone is as follows:—The 
first thing to be done is to pick out close to the ceiling, or 
along the top of the uppermost layer of marketable stone, a 
horizontal groove from 6 to 12 inches in height, to the depth 
of, or running back from the face, about 5 feet, and extending 
the full width of the adit or working. This groove is holed 
with three successive picks. The first a large and heavy one 
with a short handle, the next a smaller pick with a longer 
handle, and, finally, a small light sharp pick with a handle 
which appeared to be some 6 or 7 feet in length, to enable the 
workman to work back to the full 5ft. This, after a little 
experience, the workman is readily able to do, as the stone, 
especially while in situ, is somewhat soft and friable. This 
admits of a saw being placed on edge in the groove, by means 
of which a man standing in front of the rock makes a vertical 
saw-cut at right angles to the groove down through 
the rock to the natural parting at the bottom of the 
first layer. This cut is in a right line from the front 
to the back of the groove. Another saw-cut is then made 
at a distance of about 5ft., but this is pointed in such a 
