ADIT

A gallery driven from the open air into a mine, more particularly the gallery that drains a mine.

AFTER DAMP

The atmosphere produced by an explosion of gas in a mine, consisting of carbonic acid, nitrogen and steam.

AIR BOX

Wooden tubes for conveying fresh air to workings.

AIR COURSES

Passages for ventilation.

AIR DOORS  

Airtight wooden framed doors covered in "Braddish" (Brattice) usually arranged in pairs to control the airflow between the "main" and "return". A person or persons would enter between the doors closing the first door behind them before opening the second. In the early days a young or very young boy would be employed to open and shut these doors to allow drams to pass.

ATTLE

Waste rock.

BACKING DEALS

Planks placed vertically behind the curbs in a shaft to hold back loose fragments.

BACKS

The unworked portion of a vein above a level.

BANK

The surface land surrounding the mouth of a shaft.

BANKSMAN

The person in charge of the pit shaft and winding operations.

BAR HOOK

A bar attached to the back of a dram as a safety device to stop the dram running backwards.

BASSETT EDGE

Outcrop.

BELL 

A smooth sided large stone, shaped like a bell, which could fall from the roof without warning.  

BELL PIT

An early type of coal working, named because of its shape.

BIND

Shaley layers interstratified with coal seams.

BIT

The chisel tip of a drill.

BLACK DAMP

Carbonic Acid, CO₂. (same as CHOKE DAMP)

BLAST 

Compressed Air used to drive various kinds of machinery.  

BLAST-BAG OR BAG

A hose that delivers the compressed air or water from the pipes to the machine.  

A smaller version of the pneumatic drill used in road repairs on the surface.  

BLOWER

A sudden emission of fire damp in a mine.

BONNET

Covering to a cage to protect from falling debris.

BORD

A road driven in a seam at right angles to main cleavage planes.

BRADDISH OR BRATTICE 

Real name Brattice, heavy woven material onetime impregnated with tar to make it airtight, later a lighter material used. 

BULLER OR CRONJIE 

Real name Sylvester, a ratchet and lever implement for removing roof supports at a safe distance with the use of a chain.  

BUMPER

Loud thuds, which could shake a whole underground district, believed to be caused by the above strata settling after the removal of the coal. More frequently heard at night.  

BUNKING

A soft layer of black shale usually found at the bottom of a coal seam.  

BUNTONS

Timbers placed horizontally across a shaft.

BURROW

A spoil heap or dump.

BUTTIE OR BUTTY

Your work mate. This term probably derived from the days of canal transport when the lead barge sometimes towed a smaller barge or barges called Butty or Butty's  

CAGES

The conveyances consisting of platforms with frameworks used for transporting men and materials up and down the shafts

CARTERS

Children who hauled carts or wagons underground

CHAIN AND GIRDLE

Harness used to haul trams or sledges.

CHOCKS

Stacks of pieces of timber laid horizontally with alternate layers at right angles Also known as COGS.

CHOKE DAMP

Carbonic Acid, CO₂. (same as BLACK DAMP)

CLEATS OR WEDGES

Small pieces of timber sharpened at one end used to tighten props or laggings.  

CLOD

A layer of soft rock on the top of some coal seams.  

COGS

Stacks of pieces of timber laid horizontally with alternate layers at right angles Also known as CHOCKS.

COLLIER OR HEWER

Someone who worked at the coalface.

CORVES

Small wagons used for the conveyance of material.

CREEP

The forcing up of the floor by the pressure of surrounding beds in mine road and workings.

CRIB

Framing timbers in a shaft.

CROPPING OUT

The appearance of a vein or bed at the surface.

CROWNTREE

A piece of timber set on props to support the roof.

CURBS

Frames employed as foundations for walling or tubbing in a shaft.

DISTRICT

Area of a coal seam isolated by means of barriers of untouched coal to ensure safer working conditions.

DOBBY OR DOUGHTY

Two types of hydraulic props manually pumped up and released using a special "key".  

DOWNCAST

The shaft through which the downward current of fresh air passes into a mine.

DRAGGER

Labourers who drew the coal to the surface by means of a winch, work usually undertaken by women or young girls. (The same as a DRAWER.)

DRAM

Small mine car or truck.

DRAWERS

Labourers who drew the coal to the surface by means of a winch, work usually undertaken by women or young girls. (The same as a DRAGGER.)

DRIFT

Any horizontal passage underground.

DRIVING

Excavating main roadways into virgin sections of a seam to open up new workings or faces.

DUFF

Fine small coal.  

ENGINEMAN

The man who operated the Haulage Engine.  

FACE

The exposed surface of a coal seam from which coal is extracted.

FAULT

The dislocation of a vein or seam.

FEEDER

A small branch vein or a reservoir of water for the numerous steam engines required in the pit

FIRE DAMP

Methane or Marsh gas, CH₄.

FLAT

A length of half rounded timber, placed flat side against the roof and supported at each end by a prop.  

FOOT BLOCK

A short thick piece of wood used under roof props or the "legs" of rings particularly when the bottom is soft.  

HAULIER  

A man in charge of a pit pony.  

Heading

Roadway or Tunnel.  

HOLING OUT

The collier would dig a narrow channel into the bottom of the coal seam, in order to release the coal above, sometimes referred to as "cutting his legs off".  

GAD

A pointed wedge.

GALLERY

A drift.

GATE

The road leading into, or out from a coal face through which the face is supplied with materials (TAIL GATE) or along which coal is conveyed (MAIN GATE).

GIN

A primitive form of winding engine.

GOAF

The worked out ground of a coal mine, the same as GOB.

GOB

The area left behind as the face advances between the main and return headings, the same of GOAF.

HEADING

A main road in or out of a district.

HEWER

A miner who cuts holes in coal.

HOLING

Making the horizontal cut in a seam.

HURRIERS

Children employed to pulled the filled drams to the shaft bottom.

HUSHING

Flushing the surface away with water to show the hidden deposit.

INBYE 

Going from the shaft.

INTAKE

The road along which the fresh air passes in a mine.

JACK

A metal bottle.  Often filled with water bur more often filled with cold tea as it would slake the thirst better.

JOURNEY

Usually about 25 drams hitched together with shackles, hauled in and out from the pit bottom by an endless or main and tail steel rope.   

JOURNEYMAN OR RIDER

A man who looked after the Journey.  

JUD

A working place driven in a pillar of coal.

JUMP OR FAULT

Where the coal seam and rock strata is displaced either upwards or downwards.  

KIBBLE

A mining bucket.

KNOCKING WIRE

A length of thin wire rope, hung along a roadway, connected at regular intervals to a signal device. This was used by the Rider to signal to the Engine-man.

LAGGING

Small timber driven behind the main timbering in shafts or drifts to prevent loose fragments falling through.

LEVELS

Drifts driven along a vein.

LIFT

Any working place a few yards wide driven in a pillar of coal.

MAIN OR DUCKIE ROAD

The ventilation in-bye roadway.

MAIN GATE

The road leading into, or out from a coal face along which coal is conveyed.

MAN ENGINE

An appliance used for raising and lowering men in shafts.

MANDRILL

Also called "shaft and blade" the colliers pick. The blade could be removed from the shaft, and carried easily to the surface for sharpening at the Blacksmiths.
In the lower seams mandrills were sometimes used as gauges to measure the length for wooden props. If required, to make up the extra distance the fingers, hand or arm would be used also, e.g. example a mandrill's length and the thickness of two fingers.   

MANDRILL (BOTTOM)

A much heavier version of the above used for cutting pwkins (bottoms).  

MANHOLE

Small recesses driven into the sides of the headings at regular intervals where men could gain safety as drams past by, or when shot firing was taking place.  

MUCK

Rock or waste.   

MUCK, (BAND OF)

A thin layer of rock within the coal seam.

NICKING

Making a vertical cut or groove in a face of coal.

ON END

Headways course.

ON FACE

Broadways course.

OPEN CAST

Workings in the open air.

OSTLER

Man in charge of the horse’s welfare at the underground stables.  

OUT BYE

Towards the shaft.

OUTCROP

The part of a deposit exposed at the surface.

ON END

Headways course.

ON FACE

Broadways course.

OPEN CAST

Workings in the open air.

PACK

Large stones are formed into a wall and filled with "muck" behind the face and on the side of the heading, to support the weight as the worked ground settles.

PACKING

Filing a place with waste. Also called STOWING.

PAIR OF RINGS

Two halves of an arched girder roadway support, bolted together with fishplates.

PAIR OF TIMBER

Form of heading support used before rings. Two lengths of timber (arms) each pointed at the top, were placed upright at opposite sides of the heading, then a "collar" a length of timber with a notch cut into each end to facilitate the pointed arms was set against the roof. These would be set in pairs; each pair would be about 3 to 4 feet apart and where needed laggings would be used to secure the roof between.

PANELS

Areas of coal seam isolated by means of barriers of untouched coal to ensure safer working conditions.

PARTING

A junction in a roadway or tramroad. 

PILLAR AND STALL

A system of working in which the deposit is in the first working cut into blocks or pillars, which are subsequently removed in the second working.

PIT

A shaft.

PLAT

An enlargement in a shaft.

PODGER OR PINCH BAR

A long steel bar pointed at one end and wedge shaped at the other, generally used to prize down loose stones at the rippings.  

PUTTER

A man or child who worked the tubs. same as a Trammer.

PWKINS OR BOTTOMS

Heaved up floor of the roadways.  

POST AND LID

A prop (post) with a short length of timber on top (lid) driven tightly with a sledg ehammer to support the roof. 

RED INDIANS

Large red coloured Cockroaches, which were abundant in the warm, moist atmosphere of the return airways.  

REPAIR HOLT

Holt from the Welsh Hollt. A place where the roof of the heading is ripped down and the old rings replaced with new to regain the original height.   

RIB

The ends of the face where a right-angle corner was formed.  

RIPPINGS

Rock that is removed from behind the coalface and in front of the roadway to make room for the Rings.  

RETURN AIRWAY

All roadways along which stale air is returned to the upcast shaft.

ROOF

The stratum immediately above a seam or bed.

SAFETY LAMP

A lamp in which dangerous contact between the external atmosphere and a naked flame is prevented.

SEAM

A sheet like deposit of coal.

SHAFT

A deep pit sunk from the surface.

SHAFT PILLAR

A block or pillar left to support the shaft.

SILL

A flat block of wood upon which props or other roof supports are placed to prevent them sinking into soft ground.

SKIRTING

A road driven alongside fallen stone.

SPRAG

A short length of timber tapered at each end used to slow down or stop drams by placing through the wheel spokes.  

SQUEEZE

When the roof moves as a whole, gradually breaking props and bending steel rings.  

STALL

Space in a coal face made by dug out coal.

STAPLE

An underground shaft.

STENT OR STINT

The coalface would be divided into sections (stents) of about 8 to 10 yards in length, e.g. a coalface 150 yards long would have 15 to 18 stents. A collier would work his stent supporting the roof as the coal was removed.  

STRUT

A length of timber or a steel clamp used to keep the Rings the required distance apart.  

STOPPING

A wall built to stop the passage of air.

STOWING

Filing a place with waste. Also called PACKING.

TYTHE

Carbonic acid gas.

SUMP

The lowest part of the shaft.

TAIL GATE

The road leading into, or out from a coal face through which the face is supplied with materials.

TIMBERING

TOMMYBOX

A tin box used for carrying sandwiches, rounded at one end for easier access into a pocket. This rounded end was a perfect shape to accommodate an onion, the ideal companion for the usual cheese sandwiches. The metal box was essential to stop the Mice or Rats and in some cases Red Indians from stealing the food.  

TOOLBAR

A thin piece of metal rod with a flange at one end and a slot at the other. Miner’s tools had a hole drilled through the handles to accommodate this rod enabling them to be locked up at the end of each shift. Hence the saying "It's time to put the tools on the bar."

TRAMMER

A man or child whom worked the tubs

TWIST OR SCREW

Chewing tobacco, many miners chewed bacca (tobacco) underground has a substitute for smoking, which of course was banned. It was also thought to help in the dusty conditions by keeping the mouth moist and ensuring breathing via the nose. Was on of then major causes of cancer of the lip, a disease prevalent amongst miners. 

UNDERCUTTING

Holing beneath the bottom of a seam.

UPCAST

The shaft through which the stale air is returned to the surface.

UPTHROW

The upward displacement of a seam by a fault.

WEDGE AND FEATHERS

Used in the early days. The "feathers" two narrow lengths of steel were place into a split or a drilled hole in the rock or coal, then a wedge of steel was driven with a sledgehammer between them, this would break away the material being mined.

WHIP

The winding pulley.