Recommended Reading re Dean mining history (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, February 04, 2012, 16:05 (4684 days ago) @ unknown

Good afternoon Sheila,
oops !, talk about teaching a schoolboy to suck eggs !. Sorry, but your post implied you wern't too aware of John's working life down the mines.
I think you can fairly assume that his life was even worse than that of Wall-ace's in respect of the working conditions (smaller more cramped pits) and even less-caring employers and government. If he was an iron miner I would guess life may possibly have been a little better wrt working conditions underground ??

The two C19th books by HG Nicholls are worth reading, off this site.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/?eBooks

Also I recommend you browse thro the many old Documents, newspaper clippings etc
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/joomla/resources/documents-and-articles

Re life underground, Cinderford library has some books written by ex-miners, although understandably very few contain photos taken underground and of course not in "your" Victorian era. Last year I borrowed this one about the last weeks of Northern United mine, it contains several photos, although I suspect you're aware of it, I'm sure it will contain references to Wall-ace ?.

"The last deep mine of Dean", by Bent, Maurice V, 1988.

You can search the Glos Libraries stock here. https://capitadiscovery.co.uk/gloslibraries/home

Of course for you the likes of Lydney library may be more convenient to visit, although as I understand it Cinderford is the "main" branch for local history. Did you try searching the "Mercury" archives when you visited, I'm sure they will contain references to your family ?.
Cinderford library reference section holds a copy of the Dean Miner's Roll of Honour reference book listing those killed underground. There is a cd available which I believe contains more detail and some photos.
http://79.170.40.163/forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/LHSpublications.html
I believe member(s) of this forum have copies so they may be able to search for you.

This Library also contains some back issues of the New Regard, the journal of the local history society. This is the complete index showing the various articles content.
http://79.170.40.163/forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/LHSnrdb.htm

Also of course the excellent Forest Bookshop in Coleford:
http://www.forestbookshop.com

The BBC Glos website contains some excellent articles, including an excellent video:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2005/12/22/pwaod_mines_feature.shtml

Another article written in the mid C19th Century makes very interesting if not occasionally chilling reading. It's the official 1842 Government Enquiry into the Employment of Children Underground, with many interviews from those concerned.
http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/cms/document/1842_Forest_of_Dean.pdf
Goodness knows what today's young adults, never mind ten year olds, would make of it !

Also this excellent website re Children & Women.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~stenhouse/coal/pbl/coalmain.htm

This site references "the" site re Coal Mining history for the country:
http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/site/home/index.html

This is superb site and "a must-read". Amongst many things it carries a searchable database of the 164,000 accidents, many fatal, officially recorded in UK mines since the C17th.
A word of warning; this website (like many) has a search engine that "falls over" if too much detail is entered. Set low targets first, for example "Dean", or a colliery name, then filter thro the resulting list of hits. If you just enter "Jones" you will get 750 hits plus a warning saying there are far more that cannot be displayed. These results to be fair don't take too long to browse thro as they're listed in tabular form with their dates & locations. Browse them all, they do not list in logical (ie place, or date) order.

Finally of course, I expect you've visited the Dean Heritage Centre.
http://www.deanheritagecentre.com/deanheritagemuseum.htm

I do hope this helps you in your project.
Good luck, Jeff