PS. in Scotland the truck or tommy shops were owned by the mine owners or
managers and workers were encouraged ,
or sometimes obliged to buy necessities on credit so they were permanently
in debt. it was to break this system that the first co-operatives were
formed.
lillian
----- Original Message -----
From: "david hardwick" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 9:27 AM
Subject: Tommy Shop
> Below is an enquiry about railway tunnels (- stretching the mining theme a
> little I know)
>
>
>
> Not come across the term Tommy Shop before
>
>
>
> Has anyone on the list?
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> David
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Re Tommy Shop Cottage
>
>
>
> Has anyone ever come across the above name for a cottage in the vicinity
of
> Sapperton and specifically the railway tunnels?
>
> There is a reference to it in 'By Chance I did Rove' by N Jewson (1951)
> which hints that it might well be part of the buildings by Ash Hill at
> SO938023. The implication is that 'one of a pair of outlying cottages in a
> wood under which it [the railway tunnel] passes is still called "Tommy
> Shop"'.
>
> The name apparently has a connection with the navvies who built the
railway
> tunnels, in that a 'tommy shop' was where wages are paid to workmen who
were
> expected to lay out a part of the money for the good of the shop. Tommy
> means bread or a penny roll, or the food taken by a workman in his
> handkerchief or goods in lieu of money.
>
> If anyone has any information, I'd appreciate it. My main interest is in
> obtaining a photograph to use in an exhibition.
>
> Regards
>
> John Putley
> Gloucestershire Archives
>
>
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