I have heard several stories of plans being burnt in skips - at least two
people I know were able to obtain some this way. I think however these were
mainly duplicates as copies of the same/similar plan also turn up in the
Coal Authority Records &/or record offices.
I also heard (from the man who worked their) that the furnances at the DRG
Packaging Company's Mangotsfield factory (BRISTOL) were used for burning all
sorts of things. This included old bank notes that were being taken out of
circulation which were brought under armed guard from the Bank of England -
Nearly broke his heart he told me to have to throw more money than he would
own in a life time onto the fire! Intriguingly he also said that "during
the miner's strike" a large amount of documents came down from London (again
under armed guard) to be burnt all relating to the NCB. !!!
If I am being charitable I would suggest these were simply surplus
unimportant papers not needed any longer by the government when the NCB was
to be privatised (and government departments are inclined to produce more
paperwork than necessary!!).
However - I much prefer the conspiracy theory myself though ......
Don't know of ANY stories of documents being thrown down mine shafts - cages
(when cables cut) Yes but documents No.
Regards
David
-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Keith Ramsey
Sent: 08 July 2008 15:53
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MINING-HISTORY] Destruction of Colliery Records
The latest issue of "Folklore" contains an article on coalmining heritage by
Rosemary Power (the details are here but I'm afraid you need a subscription
to read it online).
She mentions the widespread belief that, when a pit closed, the business
records were dumped into the shaft before it was capped, but concludes that
it is unlikely to have happened.
I've never come across this belief and I wonder if anyone else has. More
importantly, has anyone got any evidence that it ever happened?
Keith Ramsey
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