In message <001101c1a0f9$8d7d8940$698a403e@q0b3g0>, Alan Vickers
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>Although not a direct answer to the query, there is a record of a fatality as a
>result of the use of gunpowder in the sinking of Ovington's pit, East Rainton
>(then in County Durham and now in Tyne & Wear). This occurred on 7th October
>1776 and is recorded in Sykes Account of Wallsend Explosion. R L Galloway, in
>his Annals of Coal Mining and the Mining Industry said that he believed this to
>be the earliest notice of the use of gunpowder for blasting rock.
>
>Alan.
See "Cromford Sough and the Early use of Gunpowder" by Jim Rieuwerts in
Bull. PDMHS 8:5 p315- 329.
This describes the driving of Cromford Sough and branches, and describes
three shot holes in the sough which Jim can accurately date to 1676. He
states that that the first reputed use of blasting in British mining, at
Dutchman Level, Ecton, was in 1670, and also that blasting was employed
in Bailey Croft Sough, Wirksworth, in 1672. Neither of these sites are
accessible, but the shotholes in Cromford Sough are, and a (not too
good) photograph of them appears in Bull PDMHS 8:6.
--
Dave Williams - [log in to unmask]
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