The History and development of Mining in the UK

A short history of mining throughout the ages and how it has developed from the earliet records of mining to the present day

Introduction

Mining has dramatically changed across time in the British Isles from an individual extracting ore from a surface exposure to automated deep underground strip mining. In this piece we will look at how mining has evolved and changed from its earliest days to the modern age.

The Earliests evidence

The Earliest recorded evidence of mining in the UK dates back to Bronze age Britain(2500-700 BC). Several early Bronze age mines have been discovered across mid and north Wales. The earliest of these being the mines of Cwmystwyth(Cambrian mines, 2020). Two other mining sites being at Orme head and Pary Mountains in North Wales. Due to the age of the time period there are no written records, so data has had to be gathered by finding left over equipment from periods of mining. A number of bronze tools were found at Orme head with the majority of tool consisting of stone or bone (great orme mines, 2020) and aloowed archeaologists to successfully date them. Mining of minerals such as tin and copper for the manufacture of bronze tools was essential for the development of early human civilisation into what it is today.

A map showing the locations of the earliest mines found in the UK. All three of these mines were worked for copper. Legend for maps can be found at the end of the document.

Roman mines- First signs of mine shafts

The presence of ore deposits across the British Isles led to the invasion of the isles by the Romans. The Romans set up a number of large mines across the isles to extract a number of valuable minerals such as copper, lead, gold, iron, and silver which were valuable resources that were necessary for the further development of the Roman Empire. The Romans also implemented a number of techniques not seen in earlier bronze age mining sites. Evidence of the Romans building shafts is visible at some mines (such as Dolaucothi, Wales) and there is some written evidence to support this from the period (Earthsci,2020). For the Romans mining was not just done in order to make better tools, its sole purpose was to export large quantities of ore back to continental Europe for a large number of uses. As we can see on the map, the Romans mined a wide range of minerals all across the UK from the Weald in the South East, all the way up to county Durham in the north.    

Locations of Roman mines found throughout the UK

Middle Ages- The Mining Farmers

After the abandonment of Britain by the Romans in roughly 390-400 AD mining efforts decreased substantially with the loss of knowledge that the local Britannia tribes lacked. Gone were the days of large groups of slaves toiling every day in the mines extracting large quantities of material. From this point up to and including the Middle ages mining took a back seat to being the most important piece of industry for England. Not much data from the Middle ages is available to determine the amount of small mining operations across the British Isles. But data from Ian Blanchard’s 1973 paper “The Miner and the Agricultural Community in Late Medieval England” does shed light on a number of small mining operations south of Sheffield and in the Mendip hills. These miners were first and foremost farmers, who used their free time in the spring and summer to prospect and mine for lead in the surrounding hills. Output was small, usually at a few tonnes per capital per annum and a portion of the collected material was given to the local Lord as a form of payment for being allowed to work on the land (Blanchard, 1973). Most of the data shown on this map is that of lead mines, as this was one of the only sources on the period I could find and incorporate into this piece. 

Middle Ages Mining site

The Industrial Revolution- The Age of Coal Mining

With the coming of the Industrial revolution many technological innovations such as steam engines allowed for a mine shaft to be dug far deeper than previously done. The main resource that was sort after was coal. A vast number of coal mines were set up across the north of England and South Wales to extract vast quantities of coal for the use in heating and in the transport infrastructure for vehicles like trains and boats. Three of the major coalfields mined for there resources were, The vales of south Wales and Pembrokeshire, the great northern coalfield (Northumberland and co. Durham) and the South Yorkshire coalfield (Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield, Sheffield, and Doncaster). Also included on the map is the small coalfield of The Forest of Dean. The reason for its inclusion is due to the unique way the field is managed. Individuals wanting to mine here can apply to become a freeminer. A freeminer is an individual who has been given permission to mine a personal plot of land for materials in the Forest of Dean. This practice seems to extend back as far as the 1240’s and is unique to the Forest of Dean (forestfreeminers,2020).         

A map of the major coalfields and collieries across the UK

Modern Day Mining- The End of an Era and The Search for Unique Materials

The 20th century saw a continued rise in mining. The jump in technology and the incorporation on higher grade equipment such as stronger mining drills and electric belt systems allowed mines to increase their output dramatically. But over the course of the 1980’s due to both political and economic changes many of these mines, some over 100 years old, were finally shut for good. But this was not the end for mining in Britain. With the advancements of technology in the 21st century there has been a high demand for rarer minerals. Due to the lack of already existing mines as well as the scarcity of product, a number of companies have set up new mines in order extract these unique and valuable resources. A number of these mines are shown on the map below. Mining for Lithium has not begun yet and is still in the exploration phase, but according to the company (Cornish Lithium) if the construction of a mine is successful then Cornwall will become the only operational Lithium mine in the whole of Europe(Cornish Lithium, 2020). Lithium is a vital element as it is needed in large quantities for the construction of Lithium-ion batteries, which it is hoped will be the replacement for combustible fossil fuel currently used in cars. Another Site that is looking to set up a new mine is that of the site at Duntalich, Perthshire. If given permission the company M-I SWACO wishes to begin operating a second Barite mine. The main use of Barite in this case would be as a weighting agent in the fluids used in the process of drilling for oil and gas deposits in the North Sea (Duntalich mine, 2020). As the map shows there are a number of mines extracting precious resources that are vital to the continued operation of the modern world, such as the mining of Tungsten and tin near Plymouth and the expensive and hard to extract polyhalite mined on the Yorkshire coast. Also included on this map is the location in Hampshire that mines for aggregates. This is worth mentioning as aggregates are mined in large quanities across the UK and are important for a number of engineering and industrial jobs.    

Modern mines sites across the UK showing the resources being mined and their locations

Conclusion

It has been very interesting and an insightful experience looking into how the UK’s mining landscape has change over the past two and a half thousand years. I was also quite surprised on how the ancient mining landscape rose and fell after the exodus of the Romans and took at least a thousand years to truly surpasses them in the scope of annual tonnage mined from the underlying strata. It is a shame that there is not much data to rely on when looking at these past mining sites and I imagine quite a bit of guess work has gone into trying to piece some of this data together. Eventhough the mining sector has shrunk in terms of the amount of large mines it will still be a common sight across most of the UK for some time to come  

Map legend:

Orange- Copper

Yellow- Gold

Maroon- Iron

Light grey- Silver

Dark grey- Lead

Light red(translucent)- Coalfields

Dark red- Collieries

Blue- unique/interesting mines

References:

Ian Blanchard, 1973 "The Miner and the Agricultural Community in Late Medieval England "https://www.bahs.org.uk/AGHR/ARTICLES/20n2a1.pdf"

Cornish Lithium,2020 "https://www.cornishlithium.com/"

Information on the location of Roman mines and Britain’s coal fields was obtained under licence from creative commons, links to both images can be found here respectively, author unknown.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman.Britain.Mining.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British.coalfields.19th.century.jpg