On 16/11/99 Keith Ramsey quotes Thomas Hardy's "Return of the Native", in
which
a character makes a living by travelling round selling "reddle", and asks
if this was
the same as ochre mined as "redding" in the Bristol area.
Yes, it probably was.
Reddle is an earthy, non-crystalline, form of the iron-oxide mineral
hematite, the
chemical composition being ferric oxide, Fe2O3.
Ochres are similar, but contain some combined water, and are the mineral
limonite.
If I may quote my copy of Rutley's Elements of Mineralogy, 24th edition, by
H.H. Read,
which I purchased in 1950 on the strong recommendation of my Professor of
Geology,
the self-same H.H. Read ( "You will find this book very useful," he said, "
and what is
more, for each copy sold I get sixpence!" ) :-
Hematite.....Varieties.....
Specular Iron -- black rhombohedral crystals, metallic splendid lustre
Kidney Ore -- a reniform variety with metallic lustre
REDDLE -- the most earthy form of hematite, red in colour, used in the
manufacture of
crayons, for polishing glass ("jewellers' rouge") and as a red paint
Limonite....Varieties
Bog Iron Ore -- a loose, porous earthy form, possibly an admixture of Fe2O3
and Fe(OH)3.
Ochres -- reddish, brown or yellow earthy forms of limonite used for paint
I can vouch for the colouring power of reddle -- as a student, I spent four
weeks at the
Florence hematite mine near Egremont in Cumberland. I found I needed not
only a
set of clothes to wear down the mine, but also another set simply to wear
when cycling
to and from the mine from my digs in Beckermet. The travelling clothes,
hung on a peg
in the mine's change-house, picked up enough red pigment while I was
underground to
cause me to turn red just cycling home. So, having had a shower at the
mine on finishing
a shift, I needed another bath when I got back to the digs.
Tony Brewis
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