Price Agreement at Denton Colliery in 1899
Obscure and/or illegible words are highlighted in blue.
A load
of coal was equivalent to 4 tons 16 hundredweight or 4.8 tons.
DENTON COLLIERY
BIG MINE
Round Coal per load, 6s 8d or 1s 4¾ per ton. Burgy (Coal) per load, 5s 8d or 1s 21/6d per ton. Driving Levels, per yard, Bottom Coal 3s 0d, Tops 10d. Driving Brows, 9ft to 10ft wide, 5s 0d per yard, laying rails in brow, 1s 0d per yard. Driving Boch Brow, 4s 0d per yard. Driving Down Hill, 6d per yard extra.
The different types of coal were given names but the meanings of 'round coal' and 'burgy coal' are now lost.
ROGER MINE
Round Coal per load, 7s 9d or 1s 7¾ per ton. Burgy Coal per load, 5s 3d or 1s 11/8d per ton. Driving Levels per yard, 3s 6d. Driving Brows, 9ft to 10ft wide, 5s 0d per yard, laying rails in brow, 1s 0d per yard. Driving Boch Brow, 4s 0d per yard. Driving Down Hill, 6d per yard extra.
PRICES PAID IN BOTH MINES
Jigging, 3d per load.
Jigging and Taking-off, 6d per load for first length, and 3d per load
extra per every length afterwards, in Levels beyond Boch Brow.
Bochening 3d per load for a pillar over 14 yards, and 6d per load over
21 yards, and 6d per load if one pillar is bochened through another.
'Jigging' refers to underground inclined planes that followed the fault lines. 'Taking-off' refers to full coal tubs being detached from the haulage rope and empty tubs being attached to it. It is possible that the words 'boch', 'bochening' and 'bochened' were derived from the word 'toboggan', which is a sledge for going downhill, and it would relate to the underground inclined planes or brows, pronounced 'brews'. The word 'pillar' might refer to pillars of coal that were left supporting the roof as the coal face advanced. The meaning of the last part of this section is obscure.
Jenneying, 6d per load for first length and 3d per load extra for
every length afterwards.
Winching up brow 1d per load per yard.
Pulling up rails 1d per yard as pillars are brought back to be paid for every
50 yards and in other places when finished pulled up by the day.
Setting brow couples or bars, 2s 0d per pair.
Setting round couples, 1s 0d per pair.
A Jenney/Jenny/Ginny was a stationery steam engine used to haul coal tubs. The length of a 'length' is unknown. The price lists makes a distinction between jenneying and winching. Jenneying possibly refers to the coal tubs being hauled up the shaft to the surface by the stationary winding engine in the engine house. Winching refers to the underground inclines and this could have been done either by means of an underground stationery steam engine or by a pit pony operating a gin situated at the top of the incline. The remainder of this section is difficult to interpret at this distance in time from the events. It seems to be concerned with the removal of rails from galleries prior to pillars of coal left supporting the roof being removed to allow the roof to collapse. It was this that caused mining subsidence.
Waggoning over length, 6d per load extra 250yds, and 6d extra for every
100 yards afterwards.
Cutting one post side, half-price.
Lurking proper, half-price, but as per agreement (when only taking loose
coal) between the workmen affected and the underlooker; and in case of
difference, the matter to be referred to the manager and a representative of
the Federation.
The phrase 'lurking proper' might refer to miners who were temporarily waiting to commence hewing coal again while some other essential work was being done. In this case they would be paid a reduced amount for their waiting time. An 'underlooker' was a sort of health and safety representative.
Setting props under 5ft in length, 2d each; over 5ft, 3d each Filling ordinary tubs of dirt 3d per tub. Emptying, 2d per tub. Setting chocks, 1s 0d each. Drawing chocks, 1s 0d each. Repairing roads, &c, paid by the day. Walling in Levels, 1s 0d per yard. Drawing props, 1d each. Stone chocks to be paid by day wage.
This section concerns the setting of pit props and their removal. Props were usually mounted on wooden blocks and wooden wedges were driven in between the top of the prop and the roof. 'Repairing roads' refers to the maintenance of the haulage galleries. As the coal was taken away any stone available was built into dry stone walls or packs. Typically, these ranged from 6 to 20 feet wide and they were arranged in parallel lines at right-angles to the advancing coal face. This was referred to as 'walling in levels'. 'Filling tubs with dirt' refers to the practice of removing unusable waste from the mine altogether. It was this dirt that produced the once familiar slag heaps in coal-mining areas. The miners were paid less for this work as it was a waste product and hence it was kept to a minimum. A 'dataller' was a casual workman paid by the day and in this instance they would be employed to repair roads and do stone chocking work.
District percentage to be added to the above list.
Signed on behalf of the Colliery Co. by
Wm. Ollerenshaw, Manager.
On behalf of the Miners' Federation and workmen by
Thomas Ashton,
Jesse Butler,
John Lloyd,
Richard Cowcill.
November 1899.Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement and
thanks are due to Mrs Annie 'Ann' Etchells.
