James Griffiths' mine Ruardean Hill (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, March 09, 2013, 01:18 (4272 days ago) @ lori

Hi Lori,
I've also searched this FoDFH site in all it's aspects but sadly couldn't find any articles, photos or discussion re James apart from as per MPG's post, sorry.
Probably the best site to research Dean mining history is the renowned Ian Pope's Lightmoor site, which I foolishly forgot to look up first. Instead, and not for the first time, I found it by Googling "James Griffiths mine Dean", isn't it great when a search engine works well ! - I think this is the article you've seen before as this great site gets regular mentions on the forum:

"30 November 1872 Having bought Ruardean Hill Colliery I and my partner James Griffiths - began to open up a level - found yellow ochre under Coleford High Delf. E. Dykins, Bilson. Application for license to work ochre."
http://www.lightmoor.co.uk/forestcoal/CoalRuardeanHill.html

I think I'm right in saying this was written by James' partner who is "E.Dykins of Bilson" ?
Searching this site's PRs I'm surprised there's only 32 Dykin PRs in the whole database; having grownup in Cinderford/Bilson where the Dykins name is wellknown I guess I assumed it was much more common, or perhaps they just wern't Church goers.
Could this be our man ?.

Record_ID: 55652
Entry_Number: 1017
Year: 1883
Month: Mar
Day: 29
Surname: DYKINS
Forenames: Enoch
Residence: Cinderford
Age_at_death: 59 y[ea]rs
Officiating_Minister: W[illia]m Lynes
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P85/1 IN 1/13
Page_No: 128
Parish_Chapel: Cinderford St John
Soundex: D252
Record_ID: 3192
Entry_Number: 328

Year: 1881
Month: Nov
Day: 1
Grooms_Surname: PROBERT
Grooms_Forenames: Thomas
Grooms_Age: 33
Groom_Condition: Widower
Grooms_Occupation: Draper
Grooms_Residence: Cinderford
Grooms_Fathers_Surname: Probert
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames: Thomas
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation: Schoolmaster (Draper)
Brides_Surname: DYKINS
Brides_Forenames: Mary Ann
Brides_Age: 25
Brides_Condition: Spinster
Brides_Occupation: [not stated]
Brides_Residence: Cinderford
Brides_Fathers_Surname: Dykins
Brides_Fathers_Forenames: Enoch
Brides_Fathers_Occupation: Outfitter
Licence_or_Banns: Banns
Date_of_Banns:
Signature_or_Mark: Both sign
Witness_1: Enoch Dykins
Witness_2: Annie R.[?] Hughes
Other_Witnesses: Annie S. Chivers]; Fred Biggs
Officiating_Minister: W[illia]m Lynes Vicar
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P85/1 IN 1/5
Page_Number: 164
Parish_Chapel: Cinderford St John
Soundex_Groom: P616
Soundex_Bride: D252

Must admit this Cinderford E.Dykins doesnt seem an obvious mine owner !?!.

I cannot say which James Griffiths this refers to wrt this site's PRs, there are many especially in Ruardean.

UPDATE: Re the Dykins surname being rare, I can confirm the Glos Archives "Non Conformists" site doesn't list any at all. However not surprisingly there are a great many Griffiths listed including several James Griffiths in the Ruardean & then the East Dean (ie Ruardean & Drybrook) parishes, so this site may be worth further searching.
http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/genealogy/Results.aspx