David,
I found your missive very interesting. Being brought up in Bonsall during
the war, our playgrounds being the many adits and opencasts, we were often
told by our elders to 'beware the bogies of t'owd man'.
Whilst this may simply have been a ruse to scare us off dangerous territory,
I learned as I grew older through listening to hours of fireside tales on
wild winter nights, that Bonsall and Masson Moors had a long history of
travellers who simply vanished in the night, or locals who had been
subjected to 'the evil eye'.
My teens led me to explore most of the systems in the area and I stumbled
across nothing of the human kind, either dead or alive. The occasional
bullock or sheep at the bottom of a shaft was a matter of course, but of
'bogies and evil eyes' I remained free of the contamination of both. But
those many fireside tales taught me of the power of oral histories, and I
have no doubt of the essence of truth and fact in many of them.
Kindest regards,
Trevor
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Williams" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2005 9:15 PM
Subject: Mining History - PDMHS Bulletin 16:1
> Hi,
>
> By now PDMHS members should have received their latest copies of Mining
> History. Unlike most Bulletins, it contains just one article.
>
> This is written by Roger Flindall, and is entitled "Mines, Quarries and
> Murders in the Peak District: A Study of Suspicious Deaths and Human
> Remains Associated with Past Mineral Working Activities".
>
> Abstract: Local Newspapers dating from 1714 to date have been searched for
> references about people who had mysteriously disappeared or of bodies or
> other human remains that were discovered in suspicious circumstances
> around mines and quarries, initially for near Matlock, Cromford and
> Bonsall. Those isolated finds were previously never linked, and so all the
> known incidents are here gathered together for the first time. Thirty or
> more skeletons were recorded, some of which can now be deduced to be of
> prehistoric origin, bit others were contemporaneously suggested to be
> murder victims and this still seems a likely explanation. Nationally, the
> era from 1650 to 1800 was one of extensive robberies by highwaymen and
> footpads. Evidence of such activity around the Peak District is
> considered, including contemporary manuscript references to the presence
> of Dick Turpin at Bonsall, and a brief overview is given of the use of
> local mines by criminals.
>
> Should non-members be interested in purchasing a copy, enquiries should be
> made to Mike Luff, The Coppins, Wash Lane, Ravenstone, Leicestershire LE67
> 2AZ.
>
> Personally, I would be interested to hear comments about the article from
> other mining historians.
> --
> David Williams
>
>
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