Hon. Sec: A.R. Thomas,
Hon. Editor: – S.J. Collins, Homeleigh, Bishop Sutton,
Contents
Editorial
Councils and All That
Reading a bit in last months Monthly Notes about caving
politics gave me a sort of sick feeling in the stomach far worse than any
Mendip cave has done; even under the nastiest circumstances, and I wondered how
many readers of the B.B. felt the same way.
It seems a pity that caving clubs cannot be allowed to get
on with the activity for which they were formed, without a great proliferation
of bodies of one sort or another telling them what they are to do (presumably)
what they are not allowed to do. I realise,
of course, and I expect that most readers of the B.B. do as well, that some of
the control we now have was bound to happen. The Waterworks, for example, were bound to have some minimal
requirements for co-existence with the caving clubs and very few people would
argue with the way in which the C.C.C. has managed to intrude as little as
possible in their job of providing an interface between the clubs and the water
board. In a similar manner, it is
probably a good thing to have a method whereby all the local caving clubs can
combine on occasions when some sort of joint action is required. The danger, however, would seem to lie in the
possibility of this type of body attracting the type of individual whose hobby
is not caving so much as organising other people and this is a thing we would
all do well to watch very carefully in the future. In general, the club system has worked very
well on Mendip. It is true that we all
have our setbacks from time to time but thats life! If we get the wrong side of a local farmer
(and its often our fault, as at times with digs arranged and then not worked
on, for example) we have to wait a while for the storm to blow over. If some other club opens a new cave and then
makes it a bit difficult for us to get in whenever we want to, we cant grumble
all that much. The place wouldnt be
there at all if they hadnt dug it. These things all sort themselves out in time.
As in many fields of life today, we hear a lot about peoples
rights and not so much about their obligations and responsibilities. We would do well to watch the progress of the
organisation boys and to resist any state of affairs arising whereby every
caver has unlimited access to caves that are no longer worth a visit.
Letters
An issue or two ago, we suggested some useful topics that
budding authors might well provide us with articles about. Luckily, due to some of our old established
writers, we are not too badly off for the near future (i.e. next months B.B.). One thing which would help the B.B. to be a
two-way affair would be a number of lively letters from readers. A letter does not take long to write, and we
are sure that there must be a number of topics applicable for inclusion in the
B.B. on which club members hold views. Looking back over old numbers, quite a bit of correspondence went
on. How about it? Have you got a pet theory which wants
airing? Have a good think!
Alfie
Mendip Mining
Large areas of gruffy ground containing old mineshafts are a
feature of Mendip; and this article is intended to give a resume of the history
and development of these landmarks, with which we are so familiar at the
Belfry.
Lead mining on Mendip was almost certainly commenced by
Early Iron Age people, perhaps two hundred years BC. Evidence of this was the discovery of lead net
sinlers at Mere and at the later lake village at
galena (lead sulphide) in an open fire, and then allowing the molten lead to run
over the stone fire base into rough clay moulds.
It took the Roman brain to organise the Mendip mines into a
large concern, and these were under imperial control within a few years of the
Claudian invasion of 43AD. Large pigs of
lead have been found at Charterhouse; Wookey Hole; Bristol and other places,
all bearing Roman inscriptions and clearly having been mined on Mendip. A pig of lead found near
bore the inscriptions EX.ARG.VERB. which could be translated as either from
the silver mines or desilverised lead. Whether the practice of extracting silver was a common or widespread one
in Roman times is not yet known; much of the smelting having been carried out
in villas and other small sites where few remains exist on which to base tests
for desilverisation. In a field south
west of Fair Lady Well, the plough has turned up many fragments of Samian ware,
and several lumps of a heavy, pink, crystalline material, together with a few
weathered pieces of lead and galena. X-ray diffraction has shown that this pink substance is crystalline
litharge (lead monoxide).
Crystalline Litharge can only be found by the cooling of a
litharge melt its melting point is 879 degrees centigrade and this
temperature is considerably greater that is usually associated with
galena. Further examination showed that
silver was conspicuous by its complete absence and that the material contained
no sulphite or sulphide. Thus, the material
could have not been normal slag from the process of smelting galena. In any case, it would have been a very
inefficient process to leave a third of the slag behind as lead. This, plus a comparison of the silver content
with normal galena found near the Belfry site, proved that the desilverisation
was actually carried on at the site of the Roman villa behind the Belfry.
The method the Romans used for extracting the sliver is
known as cupellation. It is mentioned by
Pliny a Roman historian. After roman
times, the process is lost, and was rediscovered by Patterson in 1833.
The early method of desilverisation lead was to allow the
molten metal which contained all the silver from the ore, to cool slowly. The first crystals to appear were pure lead
and these were removed, usually with a perforated iron ladle. This process was repeated until about
seven-eighths of the lead had been removed. The remaining alloy, rich in silver, was then melted on a flat cupel
or hearth, usually made of limestone clay or a barites/clay mixture, in a blast
of air. As the temperature obtained was
greater than 900 degrees centigrade, the litharge formed; flowed away, and took
with it some of the calcium, manganese, aluminium and other metals present as
impurities. On cooling, it crystallised
into the pink crystalline litharge which was found near the Belfry site. The rest of the litharge was absorbed in the
porous cupel, leaving a shining globule of metallic silver about 99.95% pure.
Just when this sophisticated process was introduced by the
Romans on Mendip is not known. Caesar,
in De Bello Gallico makes no comment of silver when referring to the economic
value of
when writing to a friend, says, it is well known that there is not a
pennyweight of silver in the whole island. Nevertheless, according to Strabo, silver was one of the main exports of
Britain by the time of Augustus, and we can be reasonably certain that some of
this came from Mendip lead refined on the spot, one of those spots being
behind the Belfry.
Excavation carried out by the Rev. Skinner and indirectly by
the Mendip Mining Company in the last century revealed Charterhouse as the hub
of Roman mining activity. The Town Field
and Raynes Batch Field contained a number of square and circular mounds around
which were found pottery; coins; smelting refuse and the remains of
furnaces. A small amphitheatre was also
found, the remains of which are still conspicuous today.
A fairly large Romano-British community must have lived,
mined and smelted in the area from AD49 to the end of the Roman occupation in
AD410. Mines were probably open trenches
following the ore veins. The
amphitheatre was used for sports like bear-baiting; cock-fighting and
wrestling. The provision of food for
this community must have been a problem but the excavation of a Romano-British
farm in the
by Ratz and
has given rise to a theory that this valley may have supplied the miners with
farm produce.
Several postulates have been made about the route used by
the Romans for transporting Mendip lead. Certainly, there is a Roman road from Tynings Farm down to Cheddar
which, unlike the usual Roman road, is not straight but was designed to drop
off Mendip at an almost uniform gradient all the way. This would have been a very convenient
arrangement for a road used for the transport of heavy loads. Hoare, who surveyed a Roman road from Old
Sarum to Uphill, considered that the ingots travelled to the continent by boat
from Uphill. An alternative, and more
likely route, was the overland route to the south coast, and then by sea to
South Wales and, since some pigs were found in Bristol, the port of Sea Mills
(Portus Abone) may also have been used for lead cargoes.
No records exist of the Romans mining metals other than lead
on Mendip, although iron furnaces were unearthed at Camerton and at Chew Park
Farm. The intense mining operations of
the Middle Ages must have obliterated many of the earlier traces.
Towards the end of the Roman occupation, mining activity on
Mendip declined, and during the seven hundred years immediately following,
there is no evidence of British or Saxon mining. Gough suggests that lead was still worked to
some extent to provide roof for churches. However, very few remains of this period have been revealed. Possibly the
was a more important centre for the lead. It would be interesting to hear from anybody who knows of any Saxon or
early English finds in the Mendip district.
Collinson, in his History of Somerset, quotes some
Domesday Book records of the sizes and wealth of MANORS, which later became
important mining centres, but these Norman records give no hint of any lead
mining industry.
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, mining and
mineral rights charters were granted to the Bishop of
enable them to work lead on Mendip. From
this time onwards, numerous records of the lead industry are known.
The mining areas, during the period from 1300 to 1700, were
governed by four Lords Royal. These
were the Lords of Chewton; the Bishop of
and Wells; the Lord of Harptree and a fourth Lord, who was always the current
owner of HYDON or Charterhouse-on-Mendip. These lords were guided in their rulings by a code of ten laws. Two of the most interesting of these are
quoted: –
When a workman hath landed oare he may carry it to cleansing
and blowing to what mineries he do please for ye speedy making of same so that
he do truly pay the tenth thereof to the Lord of the soyle.
If any man do pick and steal ye lead to ye value of 13½d,
the Lord may arrest his lead with all his works and keepe them as a forfeit and
shall take ye person and bring where his house, and his tools belonging to his
occupation be and put him in his house and sett fire about him and banish him
from that occupation for ever.
Lead mining reached maximum productivity during the period
1600 to 1670, but another branch of mining was established by then. Brass was first introduced to
mined on Worle Hill. The zinc mining
industry soon became established in the dolomitic conglomerate of
lead mining.
Methods of raising and smelting ore are of interest. Shafts or gruffs were dug everywhere and,
although not usually vertical, they could attain a depth of one hundred and
eighty feet. Single ropes and wooden
ladders were used for descent and for the sides or bottom of the shafts,
timbered leers followed the ore veins. Ventilation was sometimes obtained by running a subsidiary shaft into
the main shaft some ten feet below the surface. This caused a flow of air through the working. People were often digging in such close proximity
to each other that they broke into one anothers workings, causing complex
legal arguments about ownerships.
On being raised, the ore was taken for one of the four
mineries for cleaning (buddling) and smelting in a rotatable hearth
furnace. These were turned to catch the
wind form any quarter and bellows were used to increase the draught from the
wind. After smelting, the miner had to
give one tenth of his lead to the lord of the manor in which it was
raised. This toll was known as lead
lot.
The seventeenth century produced a lot of the old slag in
the Belfry area. It was also the time
during which most of the pits and hollows were made. The present forestry land north of Stock Hill
was extensively worked for lead about 1690.
At the onset of the eighteenth century, the production of
the Mendip mines was decreasing. The
Lead Reeves book for Chewton Minery, during the period form 1700 to 1708
showed and average return of three tons of lead lot per year. This compares unfavourable with production in
the period 1660 to 1666 which averaged fourteen and a half ton per year. Apart from this peak of prosperity and it
became completely extinct in 1908.
The reasons for the start of this deterioration were mainly
the competition from the superior quality peak lead of Derbyshire, and the
exhaustion of ore veins near the surface on Mendip. Working the deeper lodes required drainage
and hauling equipment which were both expensive items and the miners were not
prepared to finance this equipment because they feared that Derbyshire and
foreign lead industries would eventually overwhelm that of Mendip. The water drainage problem must have been
serious, as some of the richest of the mines, at Rowpits to the north of Stock
Hill, had to be abandoned because of flooding. This suggested that many of the eighteenth century pits must have been
two or three hundred feet deep in spite of the poor equipment used. Some shafts well over a hundred feet deep and
still open, show no signs of extensive flooding.
As the lead mines declined, so the calamine industry at
Shipham, Rowberrow and
and, in 1778, an agreement was made to apply the mineral code for lead to all
other minerals zinc, iron and manganese mined on the hill.
Large quantities of zinc were sold to a
in 1793, described Shipham as having up to one hundred mines working in the
streets, the yards and some in the very houses. However, soon after this, even the calamine
industry was to die out.
Through the eighteenth century, some lead was still being
mined, but another crippling blow was struck when the import duty on foreign
lead was reduced in 1825. The mining
privileges and customs died with the enclosing of the land in the early
nineteenth century, and the position of the Lead Reeves was abolished; first at
Chewton and finally at Harptree in 1834. In connection with the enclosing of land at this time, it is of interest
to correct a misconception which seems to be widespread, that the dry stone
walls which are such a prominent feature of Mendip to-day are of great
antiquity. In fact, two hundred years
ago, hardly any of them existed.
At this time also, a Dr. Somers made a few attempts to find
lead and ochre and was responsible for digging Dolbury Adit (now sealed). Also, a Mr. Webster attempted to drive a tunnel
through Sandford Hill while somebody else put forward a plan to drive an adit
from Compton Martin to Wookey in an attempt to drain the mines. This project was not even started. (What a pity! Ed. If it had been carried out, we could have a
through trip right through Mendip!).
With the mining industry virtually dead, Dr. Somers turned
his attention to smelting the Roman and Medieval slags at Charterhouse. Some of these contained up to 25% lead, and
from 1824 to 1848, Dr. Somers made the re-smelting pay. In the 1840s, he also worked the slag at
Priddy. After Dr. Somers death in 1848,
a Cornishman, Nicholas Ennor, started smelting at Priddy. Ennor introduced mechanical buddling and
reverbatory furnaces and was responsible for building the horizontal flues
the remains of which can still be seen. The main flue for collecting lead is eight hundred yards long. In 1863, Hodginsons of Wookey Hole Paper Mill
brought a successful lawsuit against Ennor, restraining him from putting
buddling water into the swallets (
and St. Cuthberts) and soon after this, the works were taken over and further
mechanised by Horatio Hornblower. Hornblower used blast furnaces to smelt the slag, erected a number of
buildings and built a railway from the old workings north of Stock Hill to St.
Cuthberts. By smelting the old slags,
he produced up to one hundred and thirty tons of lead in six months. Lead was then priced at about thirty shillings
a ton. (Sorry, thirty POUNDS a ton
Ed.)
At the same time, another Cornishman was operating a works
at Charterhouse, where a Pattinson plant for silver recovery had been installed
which often produced a thousand ounces of silver in a year.
In 1869, St. Cuthberts Lead works closed, through falls in
the price of lead, but in 1879 work re-started and continued under various
ownerships until 1902. A new firm, the
New Chaffers Extended Mining Company, was then formed to produce metal and sand
dressed ore for smelting in
hundred tons in 1906 but then declined, and the works finally closed in
1908. This was the last smelting
activity to finish on Mendip, the Charterhouse and
Harptree
between 1980 and 1908 and now contains less than 1% of lead.
On three occasions since, lead smelting and mining almost
came back to Mendip. Bert Russell used
to tell how a company was formed in 1923 or 4 to re-open the smelting and
mining activities at Priddy. It appears
that they even got as far as holding a celebratory dinner in Wells to mark the
re-birth of the industry. Money was,
however, not forthcoming, and the project never got started.
During the Second World War of 1939 to 1945, some interest
was aroused in the subject of home produced lead from Mendip, and the subject
was examined yet again. It was decided
that, even at wartime, the idea would not have been sound, and the project was
dropped.
Aroused by the success of German chemists who successfully
re-smelted the tin slag from Kitty Wheal in Cornwall in the 1950s, a
suggestion was put forward by a London chemist to re-smelt the slag for the
recovery of a number of elements on a branch-top scale using electricity. This might have paid on a one to one basis
for a number of years. The chemist
concerned subsequently took a job in
and the scheme remained a paperwork project.
Thus, the activity from which Mendip is generally thought to
have got its very name (mine Deep) and which inspired Blake to write the well
know poem
is no more and is very unlikely indeed to ever be revived. Mendip mining is now part of history, and
likely to remain so.
Editors Note
This article is mainly that as written
by Mervyn Hannam, with parts of G.A. Faulkners articles on Desilverisation
added where appropriate. Some further
additions have been supplied by the editor.
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Roger Stenner would like to thank all those who helped in
the collection of water samples in Cuthberts and G.B. Without this help, he would not have been
able to have successfully completed his M.Sc. Degree.
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Are you fed up by the continual appeals for money for the
Hut Fund and for running the club? Before you answer, make sure you are in a position to grumble! IF YOU HAVE NOT YET PAID YOUR SUB FOR 1970,
NO WONDER WE ARE STILL SHORT OF MONEY! Take the hint now!
Just a Sec
By Alan Thomas
Dont forget the Grand Opening of the Belfry on May the
Ninth! A landmark for future historians
of the club. Would anybody have imagined
a few years ago that the little old B.E.C. could have raised the wherewithal to
build itself a place like the Belfry which now stands on our site? Money is still needed, but Bob is beginning
to cheer up again. As these notes
invariably seem to begin with an appeal, lets ask for what you have got
anything you can get your hands on that might be of use to the Belfry. Offer it to John Riley, your Hut Engineer or
to Pete Franklin, your Hut Warden. Come
and stay at the Belfry m- it just needs living in.
I had a letter from Clare Coase in
recently. Damion is like Don in looks
and already has bigger feet!
It is with regret that we learn from the executors of Gerard
Platten of his death. His work for
caving generally and for the British Caver in particular is well known to
all. He will be remembered by the older
members of the club.
On Monday, May 11th, Mr Albert Goede will be talking to the
U.B.S.S. at 8.15 in the Geography Lecture Theatre on the subject of Caving in
The Cambrian Cave Registry in its report to members of the
Cambrian Caving Council asks for help and criticism. It asks all who cave in
it informed of discoveries, however minor. The person to contact is Noel Christopher, Oriel Lodge,
Frome, Som.
WHO HAS MY BELFRY KEY, PLEASE? I lent it to someone in the Hunters and it
has not been returned. It has
sentimental attachments, having been given to me by
key gives access to the new Belfry via the changing room.
The M.R.O. is seeking information about bad air in caves and
would like reports form the caving fraternity. There is a proper report form that can be obtained from me.
Monthly Notes No. 33
by Wig
A new edition of Caves of Mendip is to be published during
July and August this year. The price
will be about 14/-. This edition is
being completely re-written by Nick Barrington and Willie Stanton and will
contain over four hundred entries! Copies can be obtained from Dave Irwin as soon as they are
available. A small profit will be made
for the hut fund.
Since re-writing the description of Cuthberts for the new
edition of Caves of Mendip, your scribe (acknowledgements to O.C.L.) had to
do some quick addition to determine the length of the cave.
For those who collect records of such things, here are a few
facts and figures to be going on with: –
Cuthberts I Surveyed
length
.16,000 feet
Remaining
passage estimate
3,000 feet
Cuthberts II Length
…………..
1,000 feet
TOTAL PASSAGE LENGTH
.20,000 feet
Depth of Cuthberts I = 405 ft. Cuthberts II = 60 ft. Total depth 465 ft.
1. SWILDONS (23,000 ft.)
2. CUTHBERTS (20,000 ft.)
3. G.B. (7,000 ft.)
4. AUGUST/LONGWOOD (5,000ft.)
5. WOOKEY HOLE (4,000 ft.)
Spaeleologist R.I.P.
When the first Spaeleologist fits made its appearance, one
thought that at long last, here was a magazine of all round interest to the
caver. Unfortunately, irregular publishing
dates, lack of topical information and the thought that it might never appear
again made it a doomed publication from its early days. Changes of format and price increases did not
help any, and cavers appeared to have had their backs to the publication
without whose help any such magazine must fade out. After five years, it has finally
happened. The lack of caving editorial
staff when faced with the more popular Descent did little to help the cause
of the Spaeleologist. It would appear
that Descent has an assured future with virtually no competition in the
national field. Another National The
British Caver is also in a doubtful position. Its founder and editor, Gerard Platten, whose death has been recorded in
this B.B., makes one wonder if A.D.O. will carry on the good work.
At the Belfry
By Verspertilium
Yet Another Column 2
I can imagine the reader of the B.B. on seeing this title,
thinking to himself We dont want the B.B. to consist of nothing but a series
of columns. Its quite enough with
Monthly Notes and Just a Sec. Why have
yet another?
This column is being launched for a number of reasons. Our club now has a brand new headquarters,
and it will not be fully used unless members are made aware of what is going on
there. Not just the social side, but
every event which will be scheduled to take place there. It is by club members becoming involved with
events at their headquarters that any club
prospers and stays a close knit group. Our club magazine is called the Belfry
Bulletin, so it should keep members everywhere in touch with the Belfry. That will be the job of this column.
Whats in a name?
The use of pen names may have its drawbacks, but in my case,
it is essential that I should have a name, as I am to be a composite
character. Some of my news will have
been contributed by the Hut Warden and others on the committee and other times
will be picked up by other parts of myself. It was decided that I should be a bat perhaps a cross between a
long-eared bat (for picking up information) and a natterers bat (for chucking
it out again). The traditional name of
Bertie was suggested, but the editor thought that a bit of Latin would be
more in keeping with an image not confined to the merely frivolous, so now to
work
Belfry Fitting Out.
The job of fitting out is proceeding, although more helpers
could be used.
and most of the painting of walls is now finished. Plumbing is coming along and temporary wiring
has been installed. Most of the old bunk
frames have been repaired and repainted, although not many yet have
mattresses. Has any member got a
suitable mattress he or she no longer wants? A new slow combustion stove has been acquired and fitted. There is still, however, a lot to be done.
Opening Day
It may be that this B.B. will not reach members before this
event takes place. I shall be listening
hard to members views as to what we should be doing now that we have this new
building, and will keep readers informed on current events, progress and
thought AT THE BELFRY.
Committee Meeting
The April meeting of the Committee was, again, largely
concerned with arrangements for the Belfry. The sale of the barn to the Shepton is going forward. This will help to some extent to balance the
books. Insurance for the new Belfry is a
matter which is still being settled. The
Belfry is being covered for any major calamity, but there are a number of
smaller points which have been gone into.
Progress on the Stop the Clock was reported by Pete and it
looks as this will bring in some useful funds. The proper wiring is being arranged by Prew, and this will be started
very soon. Material for the showers was
another subject dealt with, and there are firm proposals of materials. Pete and John Riley are arranging for some
from of roof insulation; so that the Belfry will keep reasonably warm next
winter. The club has agreed to store
M.R.O. tackle and a part of the stone hut will be used for this purpose.
Social News
It is not often than an Hon. Sec. of the B.E.C. gets
married. Any future Hon. Sec. who
contemplates taking the plunge has had a precedent set him which he will find
hard to equal yet alone beat. Priddy
church was packed to capacity for Alan and Hillarys wedding. A feature of the actual service was the
playing of the tune of We are the exploration club on the organ. After the bride and groom left the church
under an archway of caving ladder (which was borrowed from the Shepton and then found to consist partly of B.E.C. ladder anyway!) they repaired, with the guests, to a sit down reception
at the Wookey Hole Restaurant. A fine
meal was provided, and you can tell that the organisers had been properly
briefed on the requirements of a caving club! At one stage of the proceedings, two characters sang a poor mans
version of the Wedding Song a traditional folk song. One of the locals was heard to remark I never
heard Alfie sing a clean song before! The couple left for
must have been one of the best weddings to be seen on Mendip.
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Stencils prepared 20th May, 1970.