Can I throw another term in? "Footrayle" this is used for the early railway
connecting mines on Pensnett Chase to the river Stour, when that was
supposed to be navigable in the 1660s and 1670s. There were two of them
successively. The second is described as the footrayle underground (or
something like that and appears to have had a railway continuing
underground, presumably to the coalface.
Peter King
49, Stourbridge Road,
Hagley,
Stourbridge
West Midlands
DY9 0QS
01562-720368
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-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Bernard Moore
Sent: 19 December 2008 10:14
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: mine entrances
Dear Bryan,
The answer to your question is no. In metal mining (anyway), a footway is a
ladder way that goes from u/g to surface, otherwise if solely u/g it is a
whinze, rise or manway (but to complicate things, they are also sometimes
referred to as ladderways, and I have seen footway on one old u/g plan -
much
depended on individual surveyors interpretation and likes/dislikes!).
A footrill, now that's a term - I must be honest - I haven't come across
before (or at least have forgotten! It is an interesting name/word, in that
the
'foot' is obvious, but, the rill is more interesting in that a rill is a
ditch - I am sure my memory is serving me right on this. The term/name
makes
sense in that it is a 'foot ditch', and the 'old man' used it as basically
a
description of a 'way' underground to allow foot access and water egress.
It
would be very interesting to know if any List members have seen this term
applied
outside of your area (Notts.), as in other areas (& as you know), the term
is adit and/or level - mind you, to further complicate matters I have heard
waygate used as well in the N.Country - and there are one or two others
that I
can't remember off hand!
Interesting!
Regards, Bernard
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