History | Tools & Equipment
Hand Power to Horse Power
For almost 200 years most mining operations were carried out by hand using very simple tools - mainly hammers, chisels, picks, shovels and wedges.
Up to the late 19th century miners worked in pairs hand-drilling holes for gunpowder, which was used to break up the rock. To make the hole, one held a chisel (jumper) which the other hit with a hammer.
Ore was originally brought out of the mine using barrows or sledges and was hoisted up shafts by hand winches or horse gins. Later, horses were taken underground to pull wagons (or tubs) along rails in specially constructed 'horse levels'.
At the end of the 19th century compressed air powered rock drills replaced hammers and chisels and in 1912 a locomotive was used in Rampgill Mine for haulage.
