Author: Lynne Bullock, Lord Grey's R.O.F

Orders of the day, Volume 33, Issue 5, Oct/Nov 2001

Early History

Coalmining in the Midlands area has a centuries-old tradition. The simplest form of mining was to dig away at an outcropped seam, which then turned into a ‘bell pit’ to reach the deeper seams and, until recent findings proved otherwise, it was thought that during the 15th and 16th centuries bell pit workings were the most likely method of mining for deep coal. This theory was turned on its head when in 1991, as part of modern open-cast workings in the Lounge site near Lount in the Coleorton area just west of Ashby, underground galleries 4 to 5 feet high, served by shafts up to 100 feet deep and 4 feet square were found, indicating quite clearly that mining was more technically advanced here than had previously been appreciated. The shafts had been timber-lined, the timbers being dated to around 1450, making these shafts about 100 years earlier than it had previously been thought that deep mining techniques were used. The miners of the time were using the ‘pillar and stall’ method which continued until the ‘longwall’ system replaced it. Leather boots and a wooden spade were also found in the workings, and it was known that a ‘corf’, a basket used to haul coal up the pit shaft and also the miners at the end of the day, was used.

The mines uncovered at Lounge resemble those illustrated in Agricola's book De Re Metallica written in 1556. These illustrations show the type of mining organisation which has been found at the Lounge site, clearly indicating the existence of these shafts and galleries in the richer areas of the Leicestershire and South Derbyshire coalfield. Until this discovery it had been thought that such techniques were introduced from Germany in the 16th century and that they spread only slowly. Given the close history between the east and west sides of the coalfield, the Lounge discoveries would strongly suggest that similar deep mining techniques were used in the Oakthorpe/Measham areas to the south of Ashby de la Zouch around the same date, deep mining that continued until the closure of the last Measham pit in 1986.

"Corves" were used in the mines to haul both miners and coal up the shafts.
They were made from copiced hazel

In more recent times, the discovery underground at Measham of stone hammerheads, wedge-shaped pieces of flint with hazel withies round them and solid wooden wheels with an 18 inch diameter, pointed to the fact that the industry there might date back to prehistoric times. Unfortunately these artefacts were neither preserved nor accurately recorded.

Throughout medieval times large areas of land in Measham and Oakthorpe were under the control of Repton Priory and Leicester Abbey respectively, both being around the South Derbyshire/ Leicestershire borders. The early emergence of the Measham pit as a significant mine can be attributed to the occurrence of extensive main coal outcrops in the area. Within Measham pit the 'Main' coal was the most important seam while in Oakthorpe the 'Main' coal was readily available over a wide area. Given the distribution of outcropping of 'Main' and other seams, it is most unlikely that Measham was any less important than Oakthorpe as a mining centre.

Throughout the 16th century the Lords Sheffield held extensive lands in Measham. Within the Oakthorpe, Measham, and Swannington-Coleorton (in the 17th century known as Cole Orton) areas, coalmining assumed an increasingly important role relative to agriculture, with farming incomes often supplemented by coal sales, and with the gradual emergence of small groups of specialist colliers who spent at least a large proportion of their working lives 'down the pit'.

Measham Under the Beaumonts

Towards the end of the 16th century Lord Edmund Sheffield sold the Manor of Measham to Sir Edmund Anderson, who with his son Sir Francis continued to operate the Measham pits. When Measham was visited by a Mr Wyrley in 1596 his only comment was that it was a village full of coal mines, with little else worthy of note. The growing importance of the mining industry in Measham and Oakthorpe attracted the attention at various times of the Beaumont and Willoughby families, with the lease eventually passing to Thomas Beaumont, son of Sir Henry Beaumont, for the high annual rent of £500. At the same time Sir Henry Beaumont also paid £169-13-9d for the existing coal stack. This amounted to 2405 'three quarter' loads, and from the outset the venture proved disastrous. With the average pithead price of coal standing at about 1/7d per ton, Beaumont was most unwise to pay 1/5d per 'three quarter' load of stack coal, which was often sold well below the normal price, particularly if it had been standing for some time. Not even allowing for production costs, it would have been necessary to sell at least 6000 tons of coal in order to cover the rent alone.

Subsequent accounts of Beaumont’s losses show a deficit of £4890 for the 1611-1623 period, and not surprisingly in most years receipts exceeded payments, not including rent, by only a small amount: £25-9-11d in 1614 and £18-17-6d in 1619. It was only in 1617 that the surplus exceeded £400 and came near to covering the rent charge. In view of later information, shadows of doubt are thrown over the accuracy of the account and it is possible that the £500 covered the annual rent for the Manor of Measham and not just the colliery. Taking into consideration the known output of the Earl of Huntingdon's pits at Oakthorpe in 1606 and the activities of small freeholders, it seems likely that the district was raising at least 10,000 tons of coal per annum and possibly half as much again. Following these disastrous years between 1611 and 1623, the 'Main' pits may well have remained idle for several years. Other Measham pits owned by Walter and George Hill continued to be worked, and in March 1625 were leased by the Earl of Huntingdon for 29 years at a rent of 2/6d for each week that coal was raised.

In 1633 the Manor of Measham was sold to William Woollaston of Shenton for £8,000. The Manor comprised 200 acres of arable land, 150 acres of meadow and pasture, 50 acres of woodland and 500 acres of furze and heath, together with various lands in Gresley, Hartshorne, Blackfordby (known as Blaugherby in the 17th century), Donisthorpe and Oakthorpe. The agricultural value of the Manor was very limited, as shown by the large acreage of heath and only 6 houses and 6 cottages, but this was highly compensated for by the valuable coal mine’s yield of £300 per annum out of a total rent of £393.

Henry Hastings and the Civil War

In 1639 Woollaston leased the Manor including all pastures, commons, woods, stone quarries, coal mines, engines, mills and soughs at Measham and at Hodgekin Wood near Bretby Common to Henry Hastings, the second son of the Earl of Huntington. Hastings agreed to pay £2,000 over five years, including £420 per annum during the first four years, and to supply the lessors with 100 rooks of Measham 'best' coal every year at 4/- per rook.

By 1640 the Hastings family had clear control of most of the mining industry in the neighbouring manors of Measham and Oakthorpe, with several freeholders also working small coal quantities. Henry Hastings’ plans to develop the Measham mines were cut short by the onset of the Civil War. Henry was a zealous Royalist and extremely active against the Leicestershire Parliamentary forces, and at one stage of the local conflict he had mustered 1000 colliers from his father’s mines in Derbyshire. In 1642 he ordered his colliers to be at Loughborough on the morning of May 21st, and having armed them with muskets and pikes, he entered the town before marching onto Leicester and causing considerable well-documented disturbance.

The Hastings family suffered considerably from the defeat of the King and most of their estates that had been confiscated were not returned after the Restoration. In a survey at Oakthorpe carried out for Parliament in 1652 it was shown that the mines had lain idle since 1640, and the same was probably true of the more important pits at Measham.

For the next 17 years the Hastings family interests were managed by Henry Lord Loughborough. The Earl’s uncle Theophilus attained the title of Earl at the age of four when his father Ferdinando, Henry Hastings’ elder brother, died in 1655. It was he, with the assistance of local stewards, who was responsible for the revival of Measham and Oakthorpe collieries. In January 1656, in association with George Bullocke of Measham, he agreed to lease the Manor, including the coal mines, at the higher rent of £500 from the Woollastons. Detailed accounts from 1660 show as many as five pits raising coal at various times throughout the year, particularly Nether coal, which was part of the Main seam. Various Charter Masters controlled the day-to-day running of the colliery production, two of whom co-operated together in working a single pit. This was in production throughout the year, raising a total of 3187 'threequarter' loads, 217 half rooks and 6 skeps.

‘Strangers’

Of particular interest at this time was the employment of 'strangers', who included "Welchmen" and miners brought from Bedworth in Warwickshire and Staunton in Leicestershire. It is interesting to speculate why an established mining centre such as that at Measham, which had been in active operation as far back as medieval times, should find it necessary to import labour from so far afield as Shropshire. One theory is that the Civil War was responsible for depriving the local mines of a skilled force of miners, and that during this post-war period the industry demanded the import of skilled men. As mining in the Bedworth area was in decline around this time, this may have forced the suitably-skilled colliers to move to other coalfields, including the ones at Measham. However the explanation was probably that this skilled labour force was invited to Measham for the specific purpose of introducing the 'longwall' system of mining that was being developed in Shropshire at this time. This system had the great advantage of reducing the amount of coal which had to be left underground in the form of pillars for roof support, which greatly increased the quantity of coal raised from each pit.

The 'strangers' may also have shown increased knowledge in methods of main drainage and ventilation, which was previously unknown to the Measham men. Whatever the reason for the involvement of outsiders, the pit production collectively raised 12,348 three-quarter loads, 689 half-rooks and 35 skeps of coal during the year - an equivalent of 11-12,000 tons.

Workers and Wages

The number of employees at Measham pits, taking into consideration 'strangers' and casual workers, seems to have been four main teams at work throughout the year. Each consisted of 20 men engaged in hewing, drawing, heading and sinking, making a total of 80 men who spent much of their time underground. Surface workers included 3 repairers, 2 sharpeners, a blacksmith, a whitawer, 3 carpenters, a cooper, 10 watermen engaged in draining the pit head, 3 supervisers, 2 horsekeepers and 3 woodmen who cut the local timber for the pits. This gave a general employment of between 100 and 120 workers, with an average productivity of around 100 tons per annum per man.

The complexities of the payment system makes it difficult to assess average wages accurately, but it is likely that underground workers normally earned about 6/- per week, with payments for heading and sinking 2/6d and 6/- per ell respectively. Earnings could be added to by miscellaneous work such as ‘drawing’ or assistance with drainage. Supervisors earned 6/- a week, whilst sharpeners, watermen, woodsmen and horsekeepers earned 5/- per week. The blacksmith was sometimes paid up to 7/- a week.

Progress in the Late 17th Century

Due to the state of the industry towards the end of the 17th century the Earl of Huntingdon seems to have been willing to continue to operate Oakthorpe Colliery at a loss. However his own estates provided much of the supplies of timber, clay, gorse, fodder and horses, while his own tenants supplied the labour. Some of the coal raised would have been used in his houses and for his limeworks and brickworks. It is likely therefore that a paper loss at his own colliery was preferable to having to purchase coal from other producers. No doubt the same was to be said of many other landed gentry at that time.

What was clearly needed if the industry was to advance was a technological revolution in respect of colliery equipment, such as pumping engines to reduce manpower and therefore wages, and a new approach to mining in which profit motive came to the fore. Technical progress was being made, if slowly, with developments to combat underground fires, gas and flooding. The introduction of water and wind pumps at Oakthorpe, Staunton Harold and possibly some of the other large pits showed progression, but the probable use of Shropshire miners to introduce the longwall system of mining in Measham around 1660 was a most important step towards achieving higher productivity, and it was to play a significant part in the future of developments in the mining industry in North West Leicestershire and Derbyshire.

Bibliography

• A History of the Midlands Coalfields 1300-1950 , Colin Owen
• In the Name of God, Amen - Everyday Life in South Derbyshire 1535-1700, J Spavold and South Derbyshire Local History Group