Amy and Tara. Amy&Tara

Mining Conditions before Conditions in the mine were poor. -Families often worked in the mines together. -Local landowners usually owned the mines + employed and paid miners.

Miners Pay (before 1842). -Miners were paid a single group wage for the amount of coal cut and brought to the surface. -Mining wages were better than factories wages.

Types of Mines Trap Pit-coal is transported on miners backs up a ladder. Bell Pit-usually had no supports. -mining continued outwards until the cavity because too dangerous or collapsed.

Drift Mine-an adit was dug as a drainage ditch beside the coal face to take water away from the mine.

Jobs in the Mines Trappers -youngest children-young as 4 or 5. -opened and shut the doors of the mines in attempt to keep the air in the mines clean. -sat in pitch dark waiting until they heard a truck or people wanting to get to another part of the mine to open to door.

Hewers -mainly men or older boys -cut the coal away from the coal face using pick axes. -often worked on their backs and because of the heat, they wore very little clothing.

Bearers -once hewers cut the coal, it was put in carts and dragged or pushed to the bottom of the pit shaft by boys and girls who were attached to the carts by bets or chains around their waists. -other bearers carried loads of coal up the shaft on their backs in baskets called creels.

Mining Problems Bad Air Mine could cave in Flooding Mines Caving In Was solved by changing the wooden pit props to iron and steel pit props to hold up the roof, these lasted longer.

Bad Air in the Mines Fire Damp-would explode on contact with a flame=problem=miners carried candles for light. New Solution: Sir Humphrey Davy invented a safety lamp which had a fine gauze around the candle so it didn't give enough heat to light the gas.

Choke Damp-would suffocate the miners. New Solution: Exhaust fans were tried but didn’t really work. The exhaust fans sucked the bad air out of the mine shaft.

Effects of Change in Technology -More coal was produced for industrial, domestic needs and export. - Fewer workers were needed -Dangers of working underground increased. -Lighting changed from candles and to a Davy safety lamp, then to electricity.

Mining Act 1842 The mining act stated that: -no women or girls to work underground -no boys under 10 years old to work underground. -no child under 15 years old to be left in charge of machinery. -inspectors were appointed (more were appointed in 1850)

Impact of World War One on Coal. There was a drop in the amount of coal being mined due to the large amount of miners volunteering for the armed forces. Coal was essential – it was needed for factories, iron works, weapons, railways and ships. By July, 1915, output from coal industry was down by 3 million tons per month. War work in the coal industry was acknowledged as crucial as troops fighting in France.

After The War Years after, war laws were passed to try to improve safety and conditions, hours were cut to 7 a day. The government gave back the mines to their owners but the miners wanted them to be nationalised. There was a General Strike in 1926 which lasted for 6months, but the miners lost out and ended up with lower wages and longer hours

There was a decline in the amount of coal processed and exported again. It kept going downhill after that...