History | The Workers
Striking a Bargain
The London Lead Company employed Mine Agents who, every fourth month, announced which would be the next veins to be worked.
Miners worked in ‘partnerships’ usually made up of a group of family or friends. The partners calculated the price they wanted to mine one of the ‘lengths’ of mineral ground. The Agent knew the price of lead at market and the miners used their skill to estimate the amount of lead in the vein. Between them, they struck a ‘bargain’ for mining the ore.
A skilled team of joiners and engineers supported the miners. Blacksmiths made and repaired tools for the partnerships, which they paid for from their bargain money.
Quality Control
The Mine Agent needed to know the quality of the ore coming out of the mine and the quantity of lead and silver it contained.
To test the lead, the Assayer heated small samples of crushed ore in purpose-built hearths in a process known as ‘fusion’. He used another process called ‘cupellation’ to see how much silver was in the lead. From the middle of the 19th century ‘wet’ chemical analysis began to be used increasingly for mineral assaying followed by instrumental techniques, for example using x-rays, in the second half of the 20th century.
Duty Ore
As a condition of the mining and smelting leases, the Company made a ‘duty’ payment to the landowner, the Greenwich Hospital. The rate of duty was usually one fifth of the value of the concentrated ore.
Washer Boys
Boys sorted the ore, or ‘bouse’ to remove barren ‘dead’ rock.
The next stage was to wash it and crush it into small pieces for smelting. After it had been dressed the concentrated ore was taken to a ‘bing stead’ ready for smelting.
The Hottest Job
Smelters had a hot, dangerous job. They worked in teams and were the highest paid workers on the site. It was their job to roast and smelt the ore and obtain pure, molten lead, which they poured into moulds to form ‘pigs’.
Pigs to Market
In the earlier years lead pigs were sent by carrier pony, then horse and cart, to market on Tyneside.
When the railway station opened at Alston in 1852 the lead only had to be carried 5 miles to be loaded onto wagons. The Vieille Montagne Company transported concentrated zinc ore to Belgium for smelting.
Power for the Workers
Water power was harnessed throughout the mine site. Waterwheels were used for pumping and winding and, in some areas, ingenious water ‘blasts’ provided fresh air to workers underground. On the dressing floors water-powered machinery gradually replaced many operations that had previously been done by hand and, in the smelt mill, a waterwheel drove the bellows that provided the air blast for the ore hearths. The biggest water wheel at Nenthead, at almost 16 metres (50ft) diameter was the one that drove the pumps for the condenser installed as part of the smelt mill flue system.
Occupational Hazards
As well as the obvious dangers associated with working underground, the workers and villagers risked the additional hazard of poisoning from gases and particles given off during the smelting process.
This waste was highly toxic and contaminated water and earth, poisoning both humans and animals. To take the ‘fume’ away from the mines and village along flue was constructed that ran across the fells on a slight incline. The fume was periodically scraped from the flue and re-smelted.