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To back up Rick's comment, I have never found any information to support this either, quite apart from the fact that tunnel driving was a skilled task, only undertaken by men with mining experience who knew what they were doing. I have found claims to newtake walls being constructed on the South Devon coast by French prisoners of war in the early 19th century, enclosing previously open coastal heath. Again, I have never found any actual written evidence for this, not even in newspapers, where one might expect such information. I can't help wondering, given the traditional enmity between the English and French, whether we have a bit of 'wishful racism' here?! In the absence of firm evidence, I would regard all such claims as folklore. Robert ======================================== Message Received: Feb 06 2006, 09:47 PM From: "Rick Stewart" To: [log in to unmask] Cc: Subject: Convicts Further to Chris & Peter's postings - Here in the Tamar Valley one comes across the oft repeated (and unfounded) myth that French, Napoleonic Convicts were used in the driving of the Tavistock Canal Tunnel under Morwell Down. I believe that a plaque exists to this effect somewhere in Tavistock. Rick Stewart At 19:32 06/02/06, Chris Kelland wrote: >Mining Journals of 4th Feb; 18th Feb; 11th Mar. & 25th Mar. 1837. I >have found these articles rather interesting in that it states 'Convicts' >were to be used in the Royal Mines. Chris, A word of caution. The publication cited in the Mining Journal was written by Bushell as a form of self promotion to further his cause in the Cardiganshire mines. Any suggestion that persons 'condemned for small offences' would be sent to work in the mines was just that, a suggestion on his part; no doubt conceived as a cost saving exercise. I'm not aware of any evidence that 'convicts' were ever employed in British metal mine. Peter