At 20:51 20/08/2008, sougher (Margaret Howard) wrote:
>Coming from one of the country's most land locked counties i.e.
>Derbyshire, it's interesting to note that lead miners there also
>measured the depths of their mines and shafts in fathoms. I know
>that it must have come about because of the constant migration of
>miners between Derbyshire and Cornwall, and visa versa (also other
>mining areas of the UK as many mining words are common throughout),
>but I've often wondered when this measurement was first used in
>Derbyshire. Jim Rieuwerts in his "Glossary of Derbyshire Lead
>Mining Terms" says that "shaft depths were usually quoted in
>fathoms from the surface, not as in Cornwall, from the horizon of the adit".
The fathom as a measure of length, be it vertical or horizontal, has
an early origin - the Oxford English Dictionary cites the earliest
example as 800 (but not in a nautical context) - and it, or a measure
equating to the fathom, was certainly in use in the Devon silver
mines in the early 14th century. Now, at that date, 'mining' in
Cornwall was largely confined to alluvial tin working and did not use
shafts and adits as we know them today. With clear evidence for the
employment of miners from derbyshire in the Devon silver mines from
the late 13th century, I'd put money on the first use of the fathom
in mining in Derbyshire rather than Cornwall.
On the hand, on the subject of drainage adits, or soughs, Derbyshire
was a late starter - cross-cutting adits for drainage were used in
Devon from the early 14th century. But the earliest example I'm aware
of is from a gold mine in Limousin, central France, dated to the late Iron Age.
Going back to the use of the fathom in mining - it is not really used
as a cubic measure - fathom of mining ground is six feet square by
the whole thickness of the vein - so the cubic capicity will vary
with the width of the vein.
Peter
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