Why be a Freeminer ?. Broadwell/Coalway area pits. (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, March 09, 2015, 19:06 (3541 days ago) @ bonnie1man

Hi Bonnie,
you're very welcome of course. Apologies for not twigging sooner just who you were until today's post, despite your username ringing bells in my wooden head ! I now clearly recall my enjoyable chat with Derrick Kear about Thomas Voyce and his belief he lived next to the Bird in hand, can hardly believe that chat and your visit was nearly 3 years back, wow !

In the unlikely event you haven't found it, here's a great page about the Bird in Hand pub. Sadly it doesn't record Voyces as landlords, altho I'm sure they would happily include any info you might care to supply. http://www.gloucestershirepubs.co.uk/AllGlosPubsDatabase/RAIGConnection.php?pubid1=1230

Re the pits in the Broadwell area, in case you haven't seen them, these sites will hopefully help illustrate your family's history.

Mining History around Coleford;

"The exploitation of Coleford's mineral resources began long before 1397 when its first known miner was recorded. Ancient surface iron mines known locally as scowles gave the name to the limestone outcrop in the west of the tithing. Generations of Newland parishioners also quarried stone at Scowles, which in the mid 18th century was riddled with abandoned workings. Coal was presumably dug on the higher ground in the east part of Coleford by the late 16th century, when a miner acquired a lease of land bordering the royal Forest at Broadwell. Six miners were listed in Coleford in 1608.

By the late 17th century iron-ore mining had been abandoned in favour of the digging up of cinders left by early ironworks. The owners of the Highmeadow estate exploited cinder deposits by the Staunton road and in the 1720s supplied cinders to the Redbrook furnace. Cinders were also quarried at Cinder Hill and, in the 1760s, in the town and at Whitecliff. The building of the Whitecliff ironworks stimulated ore prospecting in the early 19th century, notably by David Mushet who in 1809 developed Boxbush mine near the town centre. In 1835 ore was mined north of Scowles, between Whitecliff and High Nash, and at Perrygrove. In the early 1870s Scowles pit, by the CrosswaysHighmeadow road, sent ore to the Parkend ironworks, and Crowsnest pit, to the north, supplied ironworks in South Wales. Crowsnest mine later yielded a quantity of yellow ochre. In 1873 two pits were opened at Crossways but they and several new iron-ore mines at High Nash were abandoned not long afterwards. Two drift mines at Whitecliff extracted small amounts of ore in the later 1890s.

Coal mining continued in the north and east parts of Coleford from the 17th century. In the east a mine, known in 1735 as Gentlemen Colliers, included a working pit at Littledean Lane End near Broadwell in 1835. At that time there were also working coal mines in the Poolway and Berry Hill areas, some of the pits north of Poolway belonging to Cross Knave colliery. Although coal mining declined in Coleford after 1850, when new pits were opened within the Forest, there were several pits and levels on the east side of the tithing in the later 19th century and mining continued at Poolway until the 1960s. The principal colliery owner there employed 45 men in the early 1940s. Coal was also mined north of the town in the 1940s and the opencast method was used to extract coal at the Gorse and at Edenwall in the 1960s."
The map accompanying this webpage text shows more pits in the Broadwell area,
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp117-138

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On this map, look east of Coleford to find the likes of Hawkers and Bixlade etc
http://lightmoor.co.uk/forestcoal/Staunton.html
itself part of this overall FoD map, from 1894, so abt the time Thomas was working; http://lightmoor.co.uk/forestcoal/Overviewmap.html

All thanks to Ian Pope's great Lightmoor site, individual pit histories here;
http://lightmoor.co.uk/forestcoal/CoalCoalwayHill.html
http://lightmoor.co.uk/forestcoal/CoalEdenwall.html
http://lightmoor.co.uk/forestcoal/CoalBixslade.html
http://lightmoor.co.uk/forestcoal/CoalHawkins.html

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Right on the very topleft edge of this 1878 O.S. map is the Broadwell area, this excellent mapsite allows zooming-in to give great detail of even the smallest pits.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/101453661

Also see http://www.pdmhs.com/1896%20Lists/1896-66.htm

Finally, I was remiss in not mentioning this highly-recommended site on my earlier post, particularly this Freeminer page
http://way-mark.co.uk/foresthaven/historic/gfrmnrs1.htm#

Hope this helps, thanks for posting, J.