TIN MINERS

Some of the larger mines installed man engines (often referred to as gigs) to replace the ladders. Miners only got paid when they started work so they welcomed the device which spared them the physical ordeal of climbing up and down numerous ladders.

The first man engine was installed at the Tresavean Mine, Gwennap in 1842. The man engine had a good safety record and undoubtedly prevented many deaths and injuries, particularly at the end of the working day where men were exhausted and most ladder accidents occurred. These continued to be used until the 1930s but were sometimes still subject to accidents.

The man engine was a series of platforms fastened on a rod which moved up and down with the strokes of an engine on the surface, but it was easy for the rod to break or miners to fall off. By late 1880s, cages were common in Cornish mines, which were only slightly safer, but it did stop automatically if the rope broke.

Besides their own tools and equipment, most miners had to carry their dinner with them, as mealtimes were nearly always underground. They carried their meal in a metal box known as a “dinner pail”, and they carried their water in a small wooden barrel known as an ‘anker’.

Miners, including the women and children who worked on the surface, worked a ten-hour day, six days a week. Despite many mining families living in cottages that were rented from the mining companies, some would still have to endure a walk of several miles to and from work, in uncomfortable clothes due to sweat from hours underground. Some miners used to carry a lantern - a candle placed in a treacle-tin pierced with holes - while others stumbled home in the dark as best they could.  On winter nights the women would be out on the cliffs with lanterns, waiting for their husbands to come home.

The term ‘miner’ relates to all who worked underground which included many different jobs. Besides those breaking ground, other jobs were as trammers, kibble fillers, pitmen, sump men, carpenters and binders. Most of these jobs related to building and clearing the structures of the mine. The mining for tin (and earlier for copper) was a gruelling job for anyone to undertake. Working underground was specifically a man’s job.

Mining was modernised during the nineteenth century and was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution but remained a dangerous and arduous job. Some miners who suffered accidents were able to go back to work; others recovered but had to seek work elsewhere and some suffering greatly needing to rely on a sick and hurt fund to live.

The conditions underground often resulted in general health problems over the long term. Everyday events included croust time which usually took place at 11am. Miners would take a break to eat food sitting at benches built underground for the miners while they ate. Their normal meal consisted of a pastie because the conent of the pastie was protected from the dust and dirt by the crust. The rest of the working day was manually breaking ground and collecting the ores.

Miners worked in cramped tunnels and stopes (galleries) where temperatures would often become unbearable. Some mines in Cornwall were between 1,000 and 2,000 ft deep which together with the high temperatures made working conditions generally appalling. Temperatures could become so high that mines had to be left to cool for a few weeks before they could be worked again.

For many miners thery had to walk to work, often about five or six miles across rough country to reach the mine following which there was a long descent to the face. After a gruelling eight to ten hours work, that journey was repeated to reach home. This was one of the hardest aspects of Cornish mining which affected their health. 

Bad air was another daily problem that miners had to endure, caused mainly by the burning of candles and blasting. Candles were the only source of light underground, and as they burned constantly, they filled the atmosphere with smoke so there was not enough pure oxygen within the mine, so miners still had fight for breath. In the earlier days of the century, hempen candles were used and they were so smoky that only a few candles burning was sufficient to make the air suffocating. Blasting powder had the same effect as candles.

When pneumatic rock drills (widow makers) were introduced in the late nineteenth century, mineral dust became a further problem These drills meant that miners had an average life expectancy of four years underground, but employers were not at all keen to acknowledge the long-term damage that these drills had on the health of their workers. 

Explosions in the mines were another common hazard. The earliest fuses used were quills or lengths of straw and these were dangerous. Safety fuses were invented in the 1830s which helped to minimise the risk of unwanted explosions, and although the new fuses saved lives, misfires still occurred which could be deadly.

A miner’s health was affected by their everyday living. The bad air placed a heavy burden on a miner’s health. Miners frequently complained of a persistent cough and headaches from the stuffy atmosphere in which they were forced to work. Contributing to this was the fact they had no proper changing facilities which left the miners cold and wet; this then caused illnesses such as lung problems to develop which in turn led to consumption.

Accidents often occurred, ranging from minor injuries or cuts to the more serious ones. Most accidents maimed rather than killed the men. There were many causes of accidents in the mines including those on the man engines and the dangers from blasting of rocks. Misfires were common which could result in blowing fingers off a hand.  Occasionally, mines flooded which led to drowning. Many suffered from bruising or even broken bones.

Treatments normally consisted of bleeding the patient by the application of leeches and a rich healthy diet. During the nineteenth century, a fund was set up by each mine where every man contributed a monthly amount from his wages which provided medicl services for the whole family. This sick and injured fund, only covered injuries, not ordinary sickness. Consequently, the miners who suffered general sickness had to apply for outside relief for his family.

Tin miners were prone to many different diseases because of working in hot, damp and dusty conditions underground. "Miner's lung" resulted from breathing the dust and killed many men at a young age. Most miners feared suffering from bronchitis, silicosis, TB and rheumatism which were all common complaints for miners, effectively shortening their life expectancy. Arsenic present in tin and copper mines was another hazard faced by miners daily. Few miners were fit to work beyond the age of forty.

The cottages in which the miners lived varied according to the character and means of their occupants. They were generally built of cob or clod, a mixture of clay stiffened with straw and beaten to make the material hard like concrete.

Newer miner’ houses were generally cleaner and more comfortable than agricultural labourers’ homes. They contained up to six rooms, the upper one being in a high-pitched roof. Sometimes more than one family were in occupancy. They usually had good gardens to grow vegetables and potatoes.

The older cottages contained two rooms and most had thatched roofs.  Few had privies. Floors were usually lime ash and tended to be damp.  In the older cottages, there were no facilities for washing clothes indoors and none had running hot water.  Water from the mines was used for domestic purposes where it was not unusual to see many women washing the linen of their families in the warm water from the steam engine at the engine house,

Most miners married young from the age of sixteen although there was a tradition in Celtic communities where marriage was often delayed till the circumstances of the girl with whom they had been 'keeping company' rendered marriage indispensable'. Desertion was rare and prostitution was almost unknown in the mining areas.  As a result of early marriages, children consequently had to be sent to the mines around ten years of age.

Like elsewhere infant mortality was also high with almost half the children dying under the age of five, mostly from debility within the first year of their life. Those that survived were generally unaffected by hereditary disease and remained healthy until they were affected through working underground.

The miner's usual dinner consisted of salted fish, potatoes and tea.  But if the family could not afford tea, then the dried leaves of the mugwort plant were a good substitute.  Alternatively, the main meal sometimes comprised of home cured bacon with eggs and potatoes or a meat stew with potatoes.

In many cases when the miner rose at 4.30 in order to get to the mine and be underground by 6am, his breakfast would consist of only a cup of tea., bread and butter. Bread and pastry were usually made from barley.  In the early days neither food nor drink was taken underground, but later it was customary for the men to take bread and butter together with water with them. 

The Cornish pasty was created as a portable, durable and hearty meal for eighteenth-century tin miners. It was designed to be eaten underground during breaks as its thick and durable pastry could survive being carried in a pocket or bag. It provided a full, high-calorie meal without requiring cutlery. Miners often held the thick, crimped edge as a handle and threw it away to avoid eating arsenic or other toxins on their hands. The discarded crust was said to appease the "Knockers", mythical mischievous spirits that traditionally inhabited the mines, which, when appeased led miners to rich ore!