I have found the Open Library and Google books useful in finding information
on old mining practices.
Available on Google books is the rather snappily titled
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Xz4JAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA199&dq=Journal+of+a+Tour+and+Residence+in+Great+Britain+During+the+Year+1810+%26+1811+by+a+French+Traveller+Volume+2&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA75,M1
"Journal of a Tour and Residence in Great Britain During the Year 1810 &
1811 by a French Traveller"
2nd Volume
Published in 1815
On page 58-60 (70-72 of the PDF file) he describes descending a coal mine
near Newcastle and how the miners remove the pillars and allow the strata to
settle and rather optimistically states that the properties above are
unaffected.
Available in the Open Library is
http://openlibrary.org/
"Coal Mining" by TC Cantrill published by Cambridge in 1914
This has a description of what he describes as "whole working" where the
gates and bords are driven through the seam and then broken or pillar
working where the pillars are worked. There is also a diagram showing whole
and pillar working. He does not describe the pillar removal in depth as he
says there are so many ways.
"The History and Description of Fossil Fuels, the Collieries and Coal Trade
of Great Britain" Published by Whittaker in 1835
In chapter 12 "Getting the Coal" page 232 the author describes pillar
working in the North East and states that it was first performed in 1795 at
the Walker Colliery near Newcastle. He describe a couple of methods of
pillar working with diagrams and also the problems caused by creep (the
floor of the mine lifting) and how this was sometimes exploited by the
miners to allow them to work the pillars. ( I won't try to explain, it's
easier to look at the diagram)
I found these by searching using terms like coal mining and coal mining and
england etc.
I suspect that the reason that the mine you describe with shallow seams it
may have caused too many problems with surface subsidence to rob the pillars
Hope this helps
Gavin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Syer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 9:59 PM
Subject: Working the pillars
Please can some one advise about the practice of working pillars left
in coal that had first been mined some time earlier?
The following is an extract from an 1848 report by the Bishop of
Durham’s agent, who was assessing the value of remaining coals in the
Quarrington royalty, in order to place a value on it prior to the
renewal of its lease. It refers to one of the coal mines in that
royalty. The original workings had been in the 18th century.
“What is left is small pillars not workable to profit if workable at
all. The Seam being near the surface, the Pillars left are of
extremely small dimensions.”
That suggests to me that there had not just been two processes, namely
(1) hewing out the roads & bords and then (2) removing the pillars,
but also an intermediate one (or the final one, if some coal was left
permanently unworked), namely (3) the PARTIAL removal of the pillars.
I have read elsewhere of this practice being called “robbing the
pillars” and that it led to creep - making the rest of the coal either
less workable or, perhaps, just less worth working, in the days when
small coals were not valued.
Thanks
Mike
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