Act 18
The Miners
The family story of mining, mainly
for ironstone, the primary resource behind the industrial development of
Cleveland
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This
is a new experiment. Using Google’s Notebook LM, listen to an AI powered
podcast summarising this page. This should only be treated as an
introduction, and the AI generation sometimes gets the nuance a bit wrong.
There are a some instances in this podcast where there are mistakes about the
exact relationships and an overlap of generations. However it does provide an
introduction to the themes of this page, which are dealt with in more depth
below. Listen to the podcast for an overview, but it doesn’t replace the text
below, which provides the accurate historical record. |
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A
short summary of ironstone’s importance to Cleveland’s history |
Ironstone
William and Mary
Farndale, the innkeeper of Egton, who we
met in Act 15 Scene 3,
had seven children. Three of the family, part of the Whitby 5 Line, were ironstone
miners.
William Farndale was an ironstone miner by 1871. He lived with his wife Hannah and their family, the Loftus 3 Line, in a cottage in the flourishing and rapidly increasing town of Lofthouse in Cleveland, and now in the several occupations of Mr Mortimer and Mr Farndale. The property is in good repair, and contains a frontage of about 30 feet towards Lambs lane, and as the town of Lofthouse is rapidly extending in that direction, is well adapted for carrying on a large and successful business. Freehold building land, either for business or residential purposes, in the town of Lofthouse, is difficult to procure, and the present offers a very favourable opportunity to anyone wishing to secure a good business premises, or to obtain a safe and lucrative investment.
William was
a mines deputy at the Loftus mine when he
gave evidence on 9 May 1885 after a mining fatality. An inquest was held
yesterday afternoon that the Miners’ Hospital, Skinningrove, before Mr W
Robinson, deputy coroner, on the body of the man Henry Durham, who was killed
by a fall of stone at Messrs Pease’s Loftus mines on Wednesday last. The
inquiry was attended by Mr Toyne, president of the Cleveland Miners’ Union; Mr
Atkinson, assistant inspector of mines; and Mr William France, manager for Mrs
Pease. George Mabbitt was working with the deceased on Wednesday. During the
day they found no faults, and just finished work, the deceased, Wallace, and
witness remaining to discuss where a hole should be fired in the morning, when
Durham, who was nearest to the face, was struck by a falling stone and killed.
He was not able to say whether stone came from the roof or the face. After the
last shot had been fired they thought the roof was not good, but did not think
it would fall so soon. They kept from underneath as much as possible. Evidence
was given by William Farndale, a deputy, and the jury returned a verdict of
accidental death.
William
died, aged 45, and was buried at St Leonards, Loftus
on 22 February 1894.
William’s
brother, John
Farndale was a farm worker at Hunt House, Goathland, near Whitby in 1871, but when he married the 21 year
old farmer’s daughter, Susannah Smith of Pickering
at the Parish Church at Egton, on 7 September
1872, he was a miner. He then worked as an agricultural labourer for the last
two decades of the nineteenth century, but by 1901, he had become an ironstone
mines deputy, living at 9 John Street, Loftus.
He seems to have followed his brother William into
that role and in 1911, he was still the mines deputy, aged 60, living at 19
Tees Street, East Loftus. His son, George Farndale,
a blacksmith striker, was killed in action on the 27th of May 1917, during the
Battle of Arras, barely a month after arriving in France. His older son Harry Farndale
died on 14 August 1918 aged 36 years. By 1921, he was a widower of nearly 70
years old and still working as an ironstone miner deputy with Bells Brothers at
Carlin How Mine. He died aged 87 on 3 January 1939 and was buried on 7 January
1939 at Loftus Cemetery.
A third
brother, Samuel
Sanders Farndale was a labourer of Egton,
when he married Mary Hogarth aged 17, at the Parish Church of Egton, on 29 May 1880. By 1881, he was an iron
miner, aged 26, living with his new wife’s family at Hose Mires, Egton. He was still an ironstone miner in Egton in 1891 and 1901 and by 1911, he was a
fifty six year old miner, living at 43 Whitecliff
Terrace, Loftus. He died that year and was
buried at Loftus cemetery on 1 May 1911.
William Farndale,
the son of George
& Mary Farndale was baptised at Stokesley
on 30 June 1817. The family lived at Easby. He married Jane Richardson and by
1861 he was working as a farm labourer at Hilton, Stokesley. By 1881 he was working in the
mines at Margrove Park.
Margrove
Park Mine, known locally as Magra, was
connected to the Boosbeck to Middlesbrough railway by a single
track. The village of Margrove Park was known as Magra
Park, after the deer park which preceded the mine.
By 1891
William was working as an agricultural labourer at the age of 80 at Broughton
and was still working as a gardener there in 1901 at the age of 90.
George Farndale was a tile maker in Stokesley by 1861 and he was working as
an ironstone miner at Middlesbrough
by
1861 and was later a brick maker.
John Henry Farndale,
the son of Henry
& Elizabeth Farndale, was baptised on 13 April 1828 in
Stainton-in-Cleveland. By the age of 13, in 1841, he was working as an
agricultural labourer with the Sleigh family at Cross Field House, Kirklevington, south of Stockton.
In 1861 he was a boarder with Mr Ackroyd and working as an ironstone miner at
Ormesby. He married Sarah Walker on 29 December 1862 in Hartlepool. Four years later, at the age of
37, he was killed on 9 March 1866 by a fall of iron stone at the Poston Mines,
Ormesby, Middlesbrough. An Inquest
was held on 10 March 1866. The incident seems to have been an isolated
accident, since the records
do not show it as a mining disaster event.
Ormesby mine
was short lived and operated between 1865 and 1892. It was built to extract an
outlying deposit under Ormesby Bank. The seam occurred quite near to the
surface, and roof falls at the site of the mine occurred relatively frequently.
The leaseholders for 1865 to 1879, at the time of John’s accident, were Swan, Coates and Company, and
later from 1879 to 1892, Cargo Fleet Iron Company.
George Farndale
was born on 8 March 1843 and baptised on 12 March 1843 in Brotton. By the age of 18, in 1861, he was working as a miller with
the Child family at Kilton Mill. He married
Hannah Mary Walker, a servant of Loftus and
daughter of William Walker, a blacksmith, on 9 November 1867. By 1871 he was
working as a blacksmith himself in Liverton,
possibly with his father in law. By 1875 he was an ironstone miner, living in Loftus. In 1881 he was an ironstone miner
and the family were living at 2 Liverton Terrace, Liverton with his parents in law. His father
in law, William Walker, had been summoned at Guisborough
Police Court on 20 May 1873 for a breach of contract as a mine manager in Brotton, but he was the manager of Ormesby
mines from 1878 to 1881. We also met George in Act 14 as he
developed his skills to create a magnificent clock frame made of black walnut
and white maple and a fretwork duchese dressing
table, which he showed at exhibitions of the Skinningrove Miner’s Institute. He
later joined the Loftus branch of the
Cleveland Liberal Association and the Order of Rechabites and became a picture
framer in Middlesbrough.
My great
grandfather, Martin
Farndale of Tidkinhow was born at Fogga Farm near
Skelton on 19 September 1845, the son of Martin and Elizabeth
Farndale, a farmer of Fogga. He grew up in the
around Brotton and probably went on working
for his maternal grandfather for some time, taking on some responsibility for
looking after his two younger brothers and his mother after his father died in
1862. By 1871 he worked for a farmer, John Rigg at Brough House, Brotton. By 1873, he was an in door farm servant but also started to work
in the ironstone mines.
In a mining
dispute in 1873, an arbitration judgment was issued in the dispute between the
mine owners and the miners of Cleveland, one which has been looked forward to
with eager interest by all classes of the community.
As a
prelude to setting forth the text of this important award, all we need to do is
very briefly to recapitulate some of the leading features of the dispute
referred to. In March last an application was made by the miners of Cleveland
for an advance of 2d per ton upon their output of ironstone, being equal to
about 12% upon the rates then current; a demand being, at the same time, also
made by other classes of work when employed at the mines, for an increase of
10% in their wages. The masters’ reply to the men was that, looking at the
advances already given, and the wages earned, as well as the ability of the men
to earn more, they could not accede to the demand. At this, the Cleveland
owners formed themselves into an Association, upon similar a similar basis to
what had in 1872 being done by the collier owners of the county of Durham.
After
much negotiation and I'm sorry to say, a stoppage of production for a
considerable time in this great mining district, it was agreed, at a meeting of
representatives of miners and mine owners, held on the 28th of may, as follows: “That it be left to an Arbitrator to
determine whether the wages of the Cleveland miners should be advanced or
reduced, and to what extent, measured by the standard of wages now prevailing
in such industries in the north of England as the Arbitrator may deem it
reasonable to consider in making his award.”
The
contending parties requested me to undertake the duties of Arbitrator; And all
preliminary arrangements having been made, and the case on both sides prepared,
an Arbitration meeting was commenced at Saltburn on the 23rd of
June. Witnesses were examined by each party, and much valuable information was
given on both sides by means of extracts from account books, and by carefully
prepared statistical tables, upon every subject bearing upon the matter in
dispute. At the close of our settings, I was prepared to give my award.
There was
much uncertainty of opinion as to the time which elapses before an ordinary
labourer becomes a thoroughly practical miner. Upon the main point, however,
the workmen's witnesses confirmed, so far as individual cases can be said to
confirm the results of statistics taken over a wide range, the case made out by
the employers. Martin Farndale, an indoor farm servant seven months ago, was
now earning 7s 10d a shift. Richard Vayro, a farm
labourer, after nine months working in the mines, was earning 8s 1d a shift.
These were said to be exceptional, because they worked a “Pick Place”.
It was later
clarified. Sir, will you kindly allow me space in your paper to say a few
words in my defence, in connection with the late arbitration at Saltburn, as I
understand Mr Shepherd stated at a public meeting at Brotton that if the miners did not get the 2d
per tonne it would be on account of the evidence given by Robert Campbell. It
seems that the part objected to was that I was paying my mate 6s per day, the
average wage in Cleveland being 7s, therefore leaving 8s for me. He contended
that this injured our cause. Now, if the Cleveland miners will read and think
for themselves, they will see that truth did not injure our cause. Mr Shepherd
asserted that our average wage was 5s 11d per day; and the first two
witnesses he called on our side, Mr Farndale and Richard Nayro, those men but a few months out of a farmyard, the
one received 7s 10d per day, and the other 8s 1d, so that the owners could not
have called two better witnesses on their part. Some say I should not have gone
there; neither I should, but Mr Shepherd sent a messenger to Eston on the
Monday evening for the witnesses, as he said that Mr Lee had asserted that the
ironstone miner could work with his vest on, while the collier worked in a
state of nudity, and the steam rising out of his back was greater than the
heaviest explosion of powder in the mine.
The
following year, in December 1874, Martin Farndale took a tenancy on a small
holding, a parcel of land of 135 square yards with the four stone houses built
on it. However Martin was clearly continuing to work as a miner as by 1877
Martin was described as a miner of Brotton on his marriage certificate. When he
married Catherine Jane Lindsay, the newly wedded couple moved to a cottage at
Kilton Thorpe. He was still working as a miner when their eldest son, John Farndale, was
born at Kilton Thorpe in 1878. However when their second child, Elizabeth
Lindsay Farndale, was born in late 1879, they were still living at Kilton
Thorpe, but Martin was a farmer. In 1881 however, Martin was again working as
an ironstone miner, aged 34 and still living at Kilton Thorpe. Sometime in the
next two years Martin and Catherine and their young family moved to Tranmire
Farm near Whitby where their next two
children were born.
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The
engine of Cleveland’s Victorian development was its mineral supply,
particularly its ironstone. Individuals in the Farndale Story worked in an
extensive network of mines throughout the area |
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The ruined site of the Kilton mine |
Coal
Thomas Farndale,
the son of George
& Mary Farndale of Easby, a farmer, was baptised at Stokesley on 17 February 1822. By 1841 he
was working on the farm of his uncle, Matthew
Farndale, in Kilton at the age of 15.
On 25 May 1850, he was a pitman, when he married Isabella Bowes at the church
of St Helen in Bishop Auckland. In 1851, at the age of 30, he was a coal miner,
living with Isabella and his 2 week old son, William Farndale
in Bishop Auckland. Their daughter Mary Ann
Farndale was born on 17 March 1853. William was not very strong and Mary
Ann looked after him until his death in 1919. Thomas died of phthisis or
tuberculosis in his early thirties and Isabella had a hard life bringing up two
young children as a single parent.
By the age
of 15, Alfred
Leperton Farndale, known as Fred, was working as
a pony driver at an underground pit at Aberford. He died at the age of 16 and
was buried at Aberford on 13 July 1901. He was working at Garforth, southwest
of Aberford, which was a coal mine. The record of Garforth Colliery by the Durham
Mining Museum shows that on 11 July 1901, Farndale, A, aged 17, a driver,
was run over by a set of tubs when travelling out bye on engine plane. Tried
to save his pony.
Alum
John Farndale, ‘Old
Farndale of Kilton’ was an alum house
merchant. As John
Farndale wrote My Grandfather, who was a Kiltonian, employed many men at
his alum house, and many a merry tale have I heard him tell of smugglers and
their daring adventures and hair breadth escapes.
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The
alum trade in Cleveland |
Jet
Jet mines
although numerous were small and individual mines tended not to acquire names
or documentary records. During the nineteenth century hard jet fetched a good
price and it was mined extensively in East Cleveland and along the edge of the
moors between Roseberry and Kildale. The mines typically took the form of
parallel drifts into the side of hills, with headings also driven at right
angles to the original drifts at regular intervals, so that the plan of the
mine looked like a chequerboard, with square pillars of rock left in place as
support.
The semi precious mineral is found in thin lenses in the jet
rock generally at some depth below the alum shales. It was extracted in
Victorian times from numerous small drifts driven into the hillside. There are
spoil heaps at Gribdale Gate and evidence of some
open cast mining.
Whinstone
Running
through Cleveland, roughly east to west, there is a ridge which marks the line
of igneous dyke. This is composed of very hard rock called dolerite or
whinstone. This stone has been extensively mined and quarried since the mid
eighteenth century. The production of cuboid setts occupied many men and boys.
These, with their regular shapes, can still be seen around Great Ayton. Most of the whinstone was
taken out of the area by rail and much of it was used for road surfacing in
places such as Leeds. Extraction had ceased
by the 1960s.
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Go Straight to Act 19 – Dark
Satanic Mills