Social England : a record of the progress of the people in religion, laws, learning, arts, industry, commerce, science, literature and manners, from the earliest times to the present day . 422 AX ERA OF NEW DEPARTURES. [1742-1784 was to drive the pits deeper imd deeper. According- to a paperin tlie Annual Register tor 1769, the deepest mine in Englandat the time ^vas a copper mine at Ecton Hill in Staffordshire, thedepth of the shaft from the hilltop being more than 400 3^, however, was usually gained by an adit, varying inheight from 4 ft. to 6 ft., to a central platform for landin
Social England : a record of the progress of the people in religion, laws, learning, arts, industry, commerce, science, literature and manners, from the earliest times to the present day . 422 AX ERA OF NEW DEPARTURES. [1742-1784 was to drive the pits deeper imd deeper. According- to a paperin tlie Annual Register tor 1769, the deepest mine in Englandat the time ^vas a copper mine at Ecton Hill in Staffordshire, thedepth of the shaft from the hilltop being more than 400 3^, however, was usually gained by an adit, varying inheight from 4 ft. to 6 ft., to a central platform for landing theore, whence the descent to where the ore was got was 160 yards,by ladders, lobs, and cross-pieces of timber let into the BEOSELET BRIDGE. {From an old print.) In descending from the principal lodgment you pass thirt}^ladders, some half broken, others not half staved ; in someplaces by half-cut notches or steps in the rock; in others youmust almost slide on your breech, and often in imminent dangerof tumbling topsy-turvy into the mine. Sixty men workedbelow, six hours at a shift, for 2d. the hour. The ore was drawnup to the platform by a man working a winch, and then taken alongthe adit in waggons holding a ton and a half; these waggons hadcast brass wheels, and were run in orrooves throusfh the adit bvboys from twelve to fourteen years of age. The ore was brokenup by men, carried by little boj-s in hand-barrows to the sortingshed, where it was sorted by little girls, then further broken orIxickled by women with hammers, and finally washed in thehuddle. The price given for it b}^ the smelting houses was from£7 to £16 per ton; when purified and cast into bars it fetched
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidsocialenglan, bookyear1901
