Carpenters in Mines (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, September 24, 2012, 04:46 (4439 days ago) @ wamorgan

Hi,
given the records are almost 200years old maybe Edward was a carpenter but in the mine ?. Mines had a need for such skilled trades, due to the extensive use of wooden pit-props below ground, which were always needed to support newly mined workings and replace old damaged props.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/fod_variety_1/pages/page_86.html
Also the large A frame "headgear" above the shafts supporting the winding gear was also wooden until relatively recently compared to Edward's day. http://www.forestprints.co.uk/flour_mill_v2.htm
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/fod_variety_1/pages/page_85.html
http://www.sungreen.co.uk/cinderford/Hawkwell-Colliery.htm

To a lesser extent the very earliest tramways (horse drawn railways used to carry the coal) had wooden "rails" before iron, as were the wagons/trams/tubs running on them.

All these had to be carefully made and then constantly maintained by skilled carpenters, perhaps Edward or even his father was a mine-carpenter ?

For info from C20th text.
"Mines used large quantities of wooden pit props, in the 1920's about half of all the wood moved by rail was pit props (about eight million tons a year) but by the end of the nineteen thirties the quantity moved had fallen to about four million tons a year. Wood is not terribly heavy however so that still represents an awful lot of wagon loads on the system.

Pit props are always soft wood, supplied in lengths ranging from two and a half foot long to eleven foot long (in increments of about 6 inches) and in diameters ranging from three inches to about a foot.
Pit wood is pit props with the bark still in place, pit props are always used with the bark removed and most were shipped in this condition. Quite a lot were however supplied with the bark in place, this being removed by the mine in its own workshops. Current regulations (1989) specify less than 5 percent of the bark must remain on `peeled' props.

The props must be straight and roughly even in length, with no protruding knots or branch stubs which might be snagged and cause a collapse. `Split props' are props which have been cut along their length and so have a half round section, these are used to support the roof, being supported in turn by conventional props to either end. Wooden pit props are still used in all British coal mines, although only for temporary support. It would be usual to see several wagon loads in a train, the props were generally imported and a mine would have a block load delivered from the docks."

Having said this, Barton St Michael is in Gloucester city so some distance* from the mines of the FoD (* in the early 1800s pre railways & good roads). If his parents were still in Barton St Michael when Edward was old enough to start working, perhaps there wasn't sufficient work for him in the carpentry trade, did he have older brothers who took priority in the business ?. Or maybe he could just earn better money in the newly opening mines, especially if he did have some carpentry skills too ?