I am sure that Martin Roe is largely correct in thinking that the term ‘Bell Pits’, (also called ‘Bee-hive-Pits’ according to R. L Galloway, in his Annals of Coal Mining and the Coal Trade, Vol 1. (1898) p32), was devised by relatively modern mining historians, probably late in the nineteenth century. I briefly looked into this a few years ago and found that:
Bell Pits are not mentioned as such in JC’s Compleat Collier of 1708; there is no mention in John Holland’s Fossil Fuel, the Collieries and Coal Trade, (1841), nor in Matthias Dunn’s Treatise on the Winning and Working of Collieries, (2nd edn., Newcastle upon Tyne, 1852), nor in John Taylor’s Archaeology of the Coal Trade (1852, published in 1858). However, Lupton’s Treatise on Mining (1893) notes that ‘... an ancient method of working, practised within the writer’s recollection, is by Bell pits. refers to ‘bell or bee-hive pits’.
Galloway also gives a number of references which describe bell pits, but was not able to check whether the term was used as such in the references given.
Hope this adds to the story.
Stafford M Linsley.
|