Hooks were used in the roof at the Worsley coal mines in Lancashire. The
tunnels were used from about 1760 to 1900. I'll send you a scanned document
off list.
Regards,
Nigel Dibben
-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Robert Waterhouse
Sent: 20 September 2007 15:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MINING-HISTORY] Boat Levels
Dear List,
I'm researching boat levels for my forthcoming book on the Tavistock Canal.
Can anyone tell me what has been published on them, including contemporary
sources, and preferably involving later 18th to mid-19th century examples?
The Tavistock Canal Tunnel has hooks and eyes driven into its roof at
intervals, from which I think a chain or rope was hung in swags, for the
boatmen to pull themselves along. I've recently found evidence of such a
system at Clausthal-Zellerfeld in the Harz Mountains, but this was
1850s-60s. It was interesting as their boats were fitted with removable
containers, just like ours.
Obviously I'm interested in examples which might have been copied by John
Taylor in his tunnel, driven between 1803 and 1816, although the
hand-haulage ropes may have been used up to 1821 in association with
underground mining.
Robert Waterhouse
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