DICTIONARY OF MINING TERMS - A

DICTIONARY OF MINING TERMS - A - Z

Details: Written by Marian Moore

KRYSAN

WELLBEING CONSULTANCY

Angel of the North

DICTIONARY OF DURHAM MINING TERMS

LETTERS 'A' - 'Z'

'A'

ACTING THE GAME - the same as 'playing hell'

ARSE - the bottom of the spine used to give leverage when a tub is derailed

'B'

BAULKS - squared timber

BUFF SATURDAY - the second Saturday of the two-week period when no pay is drawn

BANDY - bow legged

BOND - the worker signs and agreement which binds him to the colliery for one year

BLACKED - when a man suspected of union activity is sacked and his name is forwarded to other colliery owners

BREECHED - out of baby clothes and into breeches or trousers at three or four years of age

BRAKE - horse drawn four-wheeled open vehicle with seats running lengthwise

BUNTIN - timber fastened into the shaft to give added strength

'C'

CHOW - a piece of tobacco to chew

CHECK-WEIGHMAN - one who weighs the tubs of coal when they reach the surface

CRACKET - an essential part of the hewer's gear - a low wooden stool

CRADLE - a long coffin-like wooden object in the which the baby sleeps; it has two curved pieces of wood attached to its base for rocking purposes

CHOPPY - chopped up food sent down the pit for the ponies

CANNY HANDS - good players

CURVING THE JUD - arduous work - when the top half of the seam of coal is hewed out to derive greater benefit from the shots

CAN - a tin containing explosives

CRACKED OUT - challenged

CHANNEL - open gutter running down the street

CHOLERA - dreaded infectious disease

CHROMOTROPHE - pertaining to lantern show

CAFE CHANTANT - tea and sing-song

CONVERSAZIONE - meeting for conversation

CAGE HOLE - where the cage settles at the bottom of the shaft

COME TO BANK - reached the surface

CANNY CRACK - good conversation

'D'

DRIFT - when the seam takes an upward or downward direction - similar to 'hitch'

DUCK - in cricket, when batsman is bowled without having scored

'E'

EGG JARPING - Easter ritual of cracking an opponent's boiled egg

ENGINE PLANEMAN - man who travels the underground road, keeps it in repair

ENTERIC FEVER - a form of typhoid fever

'F'

FORM - a strong wooden plank set on legs, seats three or four people

FESTER - a painful, swollen condition, e.g., hewers suffered the dreaded 'beat hand'

FUSTIAN - thick cotton cloth

FATHOM - six feet

FORBYE - besides

'G'

GIG - a light two-wheeled carriage

GANTRIE - elevated wooden structure along which cone shaped iron tubs on four wheels, containing coal, are shoved to the coke ovens

GALLOWA - slang for pit ponies bred in Galloway, a district in the South-west of Scotland

GOAF TIMBER - timber which has to be drawn to enable the strata to fall thus removing excess roof pressure in the hewing area

'H'

HEAPSTEAD - pithead structure built with baulks

HEADSTOCK - wooden structure which houses the shaft pulley wheels

HAWKED PHLEGM - coughed up sticky mcus membrane

HELPER - a lad who helps the putter up a gradient

HARN - rough material like sacking

HITCH - fault in a seam - the coal or stone either rises or falls away from its course - at times entirely disappearing

HOP FROG - the player leaps over the bent shoulders of the one in front and takes up a similar stance for the following player

HANDBALL - two or more players use clenched fists to hit a ball against a wall

HEAP-KEPPER - official who looks after the screen hands

HOWKED - pulled

HEED - head

'I'

IDLE THE MORN' - not working tomorrow

I HAVEN'T A MEG - I'm broke. I haven't a penny.

'J'

JENKIN - a narrow place driven in or along a pillar of coal

'K'

KNURR AND SPELL - game where a piece of wood is struck, similar to cricket

KEEKER - an under official - generally an elderly miner retired from the mine

KEPS - a moveable ledge on which the cage rests while at the surface

KNICKER BOCKER - loose fitting breeches gathered in at the knees

'L'

LAID-OUT - a fine is imposed on the hewer if the tub is laid out, ie when it contains an excess weight of stone

LIMMERS - portable shafts made of wood and iron, these are attached to the pony

'M'

MAT - floor covering, hand-made from strips of old cloth woven on a frame

MUFFLER - neck scarf

MILLENNIUM - period of a thousand years : during which, some claim, Christ is to reign on earth

'N'

NETTY - cavity to hold household ashes, rubbish and excrement

NOWT GANS REET - nothing goes right

'O'

OUT-BYE - going out towards the shaft

OFF-TAKES - deductions from pay: house rent, house coal, fines, laid-outs, etc.

'P'

PECK - twenty pounds in weight

PLAYING HELL - tempers flare and strong language is used

PATENT SAFETY CAGE - a recent invention which operates if the cage overshoots its mark. Safety levers are released which prevent the cage falling back

PIT HEAD - structure surrounding the shaft

PITCH AND TOSS - a frowned on form of gambling - two pennies are spun into the air while bets are made as to which side the coin lands

PRIVVIES - posh name given to netties

'Q'

QUICKLIME - unadulterated lime

QUADRILLE - square dance

'R'

'ROLL' ON THE ROOF - a fault in the strata - a rounded smooth stone which ususally falls without warning. It is difficult to timber safely

'S'

SCORE - 21 tubs - some collieries fix a score at 22 tubs

SHORT TUBS - tubs, the contents of which, after reaching the surface, have settled below the rim of the tub, are deemed 'short tubs' for which the hewer is fined or suffers confiscation of the tub's contents

SET-OUT - when the tub is set aside, it is liable to confiscation, supposedly not attaining the required weight

SCREEN - moving belt on which the coal is tipped and the stone, etc., is removed

STOWED OFF - when the hewer has a surplus of coal hewed and waits for the putter

SET ON - employed

SETTLE - a long wooden seat fixed to the wall near the fireplace

SKIRTIE - a place widened to make a flat or landing

'SET ON' - when the strata breaks up and smashes wooden supports

SUMP - well at the shaft bottom which stores water prior to pumping up the shaft

SCREENER - one who removes stone, brass, etc., from the coal tipped onto the screen

STOOK - a strip of coal made easier to hew due to increased roof pressure

STOVED - term used when an infected house is cleaned

SCREENMEN - men employed on the colliery screens to remove spoil from the coal

SCAVENGER - one who cleans out the netties or ashpits

'T'

TURNPIKE - gate across a road where a toll is paid

TRUCK OR TOMMY SHOP - where workmen are paid in goods

'TASH - moustache

TRAP - the same as 'gig' - a light two-wheeled horse drawn vehicle

'U'

'V'

VIEWER - colliery manager

'W'

WALER - a young screen hand who climbs on the full trucks to remove spoil

WALL - where a pillar of coal had to be split, a place called a 'wall' is set away

WINNING - the main heading in any district; going forward

WHOLE - advancing through solid coal

WINT - with it

'X'

'Y'

YULE-DO - New Year gift money which coal hewers bring for young pit lads

'Z'

Dear Readers

At the end of his book and after the Glossary, Laurie Moran acknowledged his readers by thanking them for 'plodding through the fruit of a decade of research'. He concluded his book on the history of Brandon Colliery by saying, 'you deserve a mention in the acknowledgements' and finished by quoting Mark Twain, thus:

"Mark Twain said, 'Find the truth then you can twist it to suit your needs'.

"Research revealed facts, which if twisted would have wrecked the truth. My exhaustive albeit exhilarating investigations unearthed treasures of interest which made the effort worthwhile. My two grandfathers were reared in colliery-owned houses denude of basic comforts.

At the time of the 1871 National Census, Brandon Colliery boasted ten streets with a total of two-hundred-and-eighty-one houses whose nineteen-hundred-and-twenty-six inhabitants still carried water from springs fifteen years from the birth of the colliery. Vertical ladders leading to the upstairs rooms had been in vogue for a similar period."

As a Brandon miner's daughter, there's nothing I can add to that.

Marian

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