As many will now know, the venue for the NAMHO conference in 2012 had to be
changed at fairly short notice and it will now be held at Quarry Bank Mill,
Wilmslow in Cheshire. The underground trips will be at Alderley Edge,
nearby, but other underground and surface options are also being explored.
The theme of the conference will be:
“Copper, lead, cobalt, salt, coal, fireclay, limestone – Cheshire’s
diverse mining history”
with the sub-text that:
"Cheshire may appear as a green and fertile county with cheese and
milk as the major industries up to the end of the 19th century but, beneath
Cheshire, there are still massive reserves of salt which fostered the
chemical industry in the north west of England as well as metals in a
secondary form not worked to a great extent anywhere else in the UK. To
support these industries, the county also provided coal from its eastern
margin, limestone from the southeast as well as fireclay and ganister for
furnace bricks. The conference will focus on the variety of minerals found
in this locality as well as providing an opportunity for exploration of the
Alderley Edge mines in particular."
There are provisional details on the usual conference website at
www.namhoconference.org.uk and these will be updated as details are
confirmed. There is a flyer that can be downloaded from the home page of
the website. Offers of talks are particularly welcome on the general theme
of minor counties (no pun intended) and their contribution to mining.
Nigel Dibben
Direct Tel: +44 (0)1270 842767
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