Читать книгу The History of Mining - Michael Coulson - Страница 25

9. Great Britain

The stirring words of the great English hymn ‘Jerusalem’ speculate that Jesus Christ may have visited England and more precisely Cornwall before he began his ministry. This idea came about as a result of a theory that the Phoenicians from the eastern Mediterranean used to trade finished goods such as cloth for Cornish minerals, particularly tin. The myth was that Joseph of Arimathea came to Cornwall with his nephew, Jesus, on such a trip.

In fact there is no evidence of trade between Cornwall and the eastern Mediterranean, although it is likely that there was trade in minerals and other goods with the western Mediterranean and particularly with Greek traders who operated from Marseilles. In support of this thesis has been the discovery in both Cornwall and Brittany of silver coins used around Marseilles, and believed to have been minted in the 3rd century BC. A number of ancient writers such as Pytheus and Timaeus also mention Cornish tin.

Cornish tin

The earliest indications of a tin mining industry in Cornwall date from the early Bronze Age (around 2000 BC) – tin slag from that period has been found near St Austell. The discovery that tin, when added to copper, produced bronze, a hard but easily workable metal that could be used for weapons, was a major technological breakthrough and Cornwall’s substantial tin resources undoubtedly made Britain a magnet for traders from the Mediterranean long before the Roman invasion.

Cornish tin was initially mined using alluvial methods as the tin was often found in streambeds having been washed down from surface outcrops. Plenty of evidence has also been found of continuing tin mining in Cornwall in the middle Bronze Age, with the unearthing of mining tools and bronze objects in old tin environments. Bearing in mind the development of copper mining in Cornwall in the Middle Ages it is likely that some of the surface copper lodes would have been worked during the Bronze Ages and some bronze objects found indicate that likelihood.

As well as alluvial tin mining it is likely that early miners would have mined from tin lodes found on the surface and exposed for quarry-style extraction. There is also strong evidence of a tin smelting capability with discoveries of smelting vessels, some from the Iron Age, indicating a steady development of technology over the centuries. Whilst the greater proportion of ancient Cornish tin output came from alluvial sources, there is clear evidence that in pursuit of richer lodes some underground working was done. Miners at the Wheal Virgin mine in the 19th century came across a wooden shaft 30-feet deep dating from the Bronze Age, suggesting that ancient miners had found a potentially very rich tin lode and followed it underground. There they would probably have driven a gallery along the strike but this would only have been done because of the richness of the ore, there being plentiful surface tin to mine.

Although there were records of mining of copper and iron ore in Wales during Roman times it was Cornwall, and to a lesser extent Devon, where Britain’s mining industry was primarily located. Despite that, Roman records regarding their occupation of Britain do not have much to say on the subject of tin mining, probably due to the fact that the Romans had established mines in Spain and these provided them with the bulk of the tin they needed. Cornish mines, however, continued to operate and by the 3rd century AD production expanded as rising prosperity led to increasing use of pewter for household plate and drinking vessels. Tin mining and smelting continued in the West Country through the Dark Ages, from the withdrawal of the Romans around 400 to the Norman invasion in 1066.

Mining in Wales

One of the major mining sites in Britain beyond the South West was the Parys Mountain area on the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales, where copper rich base metal mining took place spasmodically from 3500 BC until the early 20th century. Evidence of this was unearthed when underground mining exposed collapsed ancient bell pits, which were surface areas containing minerals that had been mined by crude scraping.

Other copper mining sites in Wales included Great Orme near Llandudno where, as at Parys, charcoal used for fire setting was found, which has enabled carbon dating. There is also evidence at Great Orme of a network of underground tunnels and workings which indicate that it was an extensive mine by the standards of the prehistoric era; there are suggestions of around 200 tonnes of copper having been extracted then. Since these Welsh mines are thought to have operated during the same period as the copper mines of the advanced world (then the Near East and eastern Mediterranean) it is likely that some of the mining techniques were imported, probably by traders or visitors from the European continent and beyond. Another ancient Welsh mining site was the Copa Hill copper mine near Cwmystwyth in west Wales, where extensive radiocarbon dating suggests significant mining took place between the 3rd millennium BC and the 12th century BC.

The Roman invasion of Britain also led to the development of a gold mine at Dolaucothi in the Welsh region of Carmarthenshire. Mining in this part of Wales is believed to go back to the Bronze Age but the Roman operation was on a different scale and used the hydraulic techniques of the Spanish gold mining industry recorded by Pliny. The existence of gold mining at Dolaucothi was uncovered in the 18th and 19th centuries when gold objects and then gold ore were discovered at the site. Later, other discoveries were made at Dolaucothi suggesting that the Romans had constructed a very sophisticated mine.

At Dolaucothi underground tunnels that chased the gold ore veins were discovered, as was part of a water wheel that would have been used to de-water the deeper levels of the mine which went down as much as 80 feet. Scorched timber was also found, indicating that fire setting to crack the rock hosting the gold seams was practiced. A number of pits, which were probably workings of surface veins, were also found.

The most interesting discoveries were of a number of tanks found in the proximity of the network of watercourses (aqueducts and leats) built by the Romans to bring water to the site. These tanks stored water which could then be poured over the loose and crushed rock at various rates of intensity to wash the gold out of the material; at that point there would likely have been a number of large trays that would have captured the gold as the water poured away. Some carbon dating work done on residue from the site indicates that the Romans may have worked Dolaucothi until the time that they left Britain in the 4th century AD.

Coal mining

Coal mining is also thought to have been carried out during the Roman occupation of Britain as there is evidence that Roman troops guarding Hadrian’s Wall used coal for heating in the cold of England’s north east, digging the coal from surface seams. There is also archaeological evidence that coal was used millennia before then in Wales to fire funeral pyres. It is also possible that coal’s heating properties were appreciated as a result of observation of spontaneous combustion of surface coal seams under certain conditions.

It appears though that wood remained the preferred method of heating, cooking and metal smelting in Britain for many centuries, probably as a result of its natural proximity to towns and settlements. This is something we will pick up again later.

Base metals

Whilst recorded evidence for ancient mining is difficult to obtain, particularly in the less developed world, which of course included Great Britain, archaeologists have uncovered clear proof of base metal mining activity in Wales and England, as well as in Ireland, going back to the Copper and early Bronze Age (4000 to 2500 BC). In Ireland two copper mines have been identified, at Ross Island and Mount Gabriel in the southwest. The origins of copper mining in Ireland were believed to relate to the Bell Beaker people who travelled throughout Europe and are thought to have developed important skills in mining and the treatment and working of metals.

However, it was another wave of visitors, the Hallstatt people from central Europe, who brought the knowledge and skills necessary to take Britain into the Iron Age. The Hallstatts are believed to have used their commercial position as salt miners and pig farmers to export to other continental markets and in due course were in a position to absorb foreign ironworkers and finance the development of their metal working skills. The Hallstatts were particularly interested in the manufacture of iron for weapons and were knowledgeable about bellows furnaces and carburising, which would have enabled them to make semi-steel.

The Hallstatts eventually arrived in Britain around the 5th century BC, bringing their iron-making skills with them. Britain had abundant supplies of iron ore and in due course a widespread iron-making industry grew up. One of many iron-working sites uncovered by archaeologists was Kestor near Chagford in Devon. Here an ancient settlement has been excavated and within some of the identified dwelling structures were small furnaces and signs of a forge for working the iron.

The quantities of iron used suggest that sources of the raw material came from surface accumulations such as bog iron. Apart from weapons, particularly swords and iron blanks for blades, archaeologists also found standard size iron bars which were used as currency. By the time of the 1st century BC British blacksmiths were also hammering iron into relatively thin circular shapes for use as hoops to strengthen wooden barrels and, critically, iron tyres for chariots and other heavy duty vehicles.