Dear Bernard,
Oho! So that would tend to explain what all the weird bits of burnt
slaty/shaly stuff we've been finding are! I didn't mention these before as
I wasn't sure exactly what they were.
So - it now looks as if we have what you have been describing. Whether it
arrived in that form only, or mixed in with 'real' coal, we cannot tell, as
we have only found it mixed in with garden soil.
For the record, the date range seems to be c.1680-1760; the soil having been
imported onto the site at the point a new house was built there (between
1756 and 1787) when decent soil was required for the front garden. Very
little domestic rubbish was deposited there afterwards as this garden was
the 'public face' of the property.
You can see what the National Trust for Jersey have been doing to restore
the house on:
http://www.nationaltrustjersey.org.je/newsbyte/readnews.asp?docID=297
Thankyou - that's all most helpful.
Robert
-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Bernard Moore
Sent: 20 April 2011 14:25
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: C18 Oil Shale uses
Dear Robert,
I remember well someone (Telford was his first name but I can't remember
his last name), opening a shaft (apx. 30 years ago), about a quarter of a
mile from the Old Middlehope Mine (at Middlehope), to have a look at a
small
coal seam he was sure was there. He had tried an obscure level first, but
this was virtually an impossible task from the outset due to the lye of the
land (and what must have been three or four months of very hard single
handed work), so he opted to re-open this old shaft instead... he used a
jacked
up car and a widened wheel rim to wind the shaft! The timber shaft lining
was 'sufficient' shall we say, but there was no way I would have gone down
it. I was at Old Middlehope one day when Telford brought over some of this
'coal' for Ted Grieve look at and try, it looked more like shale, but it
was 'coal like', Ted duly tried it, it did burn (slowly), but left 60% of
the
original volume as a red clinker, so, it was kindly suggested to poor old
Telford that this was not one of his best ideas... and not least that he
might eventually get buried in the shaft! - which was about 60 feet deep if
I
remember correctly. So, my knowledge of coal not being very good, apart
the former, and seeing some other obscure shale like coal seams in the
Weadale area, and knowing that shale does occur sometimes either
immediately
above or below coal seams, that this shale can be 'coaliferous' for want
of a
better word. It would be easy to imagine in the early days (partic. if a
cheap coal), that sometimes a small quantity of shale would get mixed in -
and be thrown out when found by the end user.
Just my thoughts.
Regards, Bernard
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