Mike's posting of my review lost track of the paragraph breaks and included
a number of typos, so I thought it might be useful to post the original as
it's easier to read when formatted. This is the version that appeared in
Descent (247) for December 2015 - we frequently have mining book reviews in
Descent, including one in the forthcoming issue, as well as mining news. I
understand the second printing will cost slightly more.
Chris
........................
Mines and Minerals of the Mendip Hills
Peter S. BURR
Mendip Cave Registry and Archive. 2015. 2 vols, total 1,000pp. 214
photographs, plus numerous maps, tables and diagrams. Hardback, 215mm ×
303mm. £65
ISBN 978-0-9531310-4-4 (volume pair)
Not many books in the caving world run to two volumes, each of a very neat
500 pages. Even aside from the nature of the content, this makes Mines and
Minerals of the Mendip Hills somewhat unique as the result of Peter Burr’s
research into the area’s geology and history that has taken him over thirty
years to complete. Any way you look at it, this is a major contribution to
our knowledge of Mendip.
Nearly forty years after working on the subject of his book, in 1967 John
Gough revised The Mines of Mendip and this became the turn-to reference for
anyone researching the lead mines and ores of the region. In 2012 the Mendip
Cave Registry and Archive published Earth Colours (see Descent 227) and
extended portions of Gough’s coverage, but Peter now adds his complementary
thousand pages.
While mining enthusiasts and geologists will find the title of immediate
appeal, perhaps cavers will not. The geological coverage will be obvious to
all but, at least in part, any emphasis on mines alone is misplaced: mines
have long seen sporting exploration and the book is full of historical
details that have their own, broader appeal. Speleohistory on Mendip is a
rich field and never more so than when it comes to mining remains so, as
well as photographs of ores and samples, expect to find histories of mining
families, an assessment of the effects of wars and the slave trade, tables
of mineral rights owners, historical photographs and how miners themselves
fitted into the landscape: beer and sugar consumption, house rent, tobacco
costs, accidents and more. Here we have an assessment of the Elizabethan
monopolies, the influx of German technology and how this was bankrolled.
Sample families are traced, such as John Wookey whose lead mine was
confiscated by the Lord Bishop of Wells in about 1648 and, indeed, these
forms of meticulous research mean that Mines and Minerals of the Mendip
Hills could be of interest to family history researchers.
The first volume, broadly speaking, looks at the mineral beds found on
Mendip in general and in caves such as Banwell, Lamb Leer, Fairy and White
Spot, then turns through four more chapters to inspect more closely the lead
mines at Green Hill, the Rowpits and Lamb Hill plus calamine workings, each
time including the social history as well as the minerals themselves. Volume
2 continues this theme (and continues the page numbering), adding chapters
on ochre mines, the iron mines of Higher Pitts, Priddy Hill Farm, Ham,
Nunney and Elm as well as looking at the origin of mendipite. Next come
chapters on various quarries, celestite workings and mining for barytes,
copper, zinc and other ores.
The book concludes with an immense reference list running to 2,700 entries
for manuscripts, newspapers and other literature, closing with an index.
This looks large and inclusive but, sadly, it was not prepared with the same
care as the text: some pages are incorrect and many entries that should be
easy to find, are not - the aforesaid John Wookey being one. It’s a shame
that Word was used to compile the index; it’s creditable to include one, but
this one is frustrating to actually use (the more so for those family
history researchers, who will note plenty of facts but find names hard to
locate).
Credit must go to MCRA for publishing such a specialist work which,
presumably, was seen as having limited appeal as only 130 copies were
printed. That has already been seen to be false, as at the time of writing
this review only six were left unsold and a reprint has been ordered with
delivery in January. Mines and Minerals of the Mendip Hills will not only
become the standard reference on the subject, it will remain so for many
years and if the price of £65 feels high, in the real world of publishing it
is not. For your money you receive two extensive and well-printed hardback
volumes that are properly bound with a hollow spine and ribbon marker; they
take up 8cm of shelf space and weigh 4.3kg (postage is therefore £15, or
collect in person from Alan Gray: [email address appeared in the original]).
While this is not a book for light bedtime reading, if you have an interest
in Mendip you should not hold back: this publication is both impressive and
well worth the cost.
Chris Howes
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