Rotogravure for December 5, 2011
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LR: Fred Varker, Len Williams, Lew Bird, Margaret Carne, Edith Trengove, Joan Wheeler, Anne Stephens, Sally Sayle, Gerry De Lazier
Gerry is holding one of her treasures, a historic milk jug from the Seton Pottery in Scorrier (near Redruth).
A two-man crosscut saw nearly dwarfs Fred. This saw was used by his grandfather in the Alden Coal Mine, near Nanticoke in NE Pennsylvania, to cut the oak timbers that shored up the roofs of the mines.
Fred also showed this Davy Miner's Lamp. They were used in coal mines to determine the presence of dangerous gases - blackdamp (carbon dioxide, suffocating) near the floor and firedamp (methane, explosive) near the ceiling.
This old photo is of Margaret's great-great-grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. Arthur (she was a Scovern) and their son Michael. Photo by Chenhall, Artist/photographer, Redruth. Her bonnet is typically beribboned! All the women wore ribbons on their bonnets, not just the young ones!
Anne is holding a book on Cornish bal maidens by Lynne Mayers (women who worked above ground at the mines). Lynne has included a few histories of the life of a bal maiden. Anne's great-grandmother, Caroline Riddle Rodda, was a bal maiden in 1851. Her history and her photo are in this book. Caroline later worked at the Seton Pottery in Scorrier where Gerry's milk jug was made
Margaret is wearing a Cornish fisherman's smock. The smock is made of tough cotton twill with 2 pockets and 3/4 sleeves and is worn over a fisherman's jumper made of tightly knit 5-ply wool.
Execept for the ribbon iron, these are carvings made by John Richards, a miner from Redruth who suffered a broken back while working in the Franklin Mine in New Jersey. He and his wife Emma (daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur) and 5 children moved to Butler, NJ. Although he was bedridden, he occupied himself with drawing and carving from bone, old cigar boxes, etc.
Ribbon iron. The ladies would put a hot poker into the iron so that they could run their wet ribbons over it to iron out the wrinkles. Ribbons were very important to the young ladies, especially for the bal maidens when they wore their Sunday best bonnets.
Bal Maidens
From the early 18th century women and girls were employed above the ground in growing numbers doing low paid manual work.
The majority of women and girls employed at the mines were involved in the various stages of ore dressing. Known as Bal Maidens or Bal Maids, their work was hard and physically exhausting - breaking chunks of rock into fragments or manually sorting ore from rock.
The term 'balmaiden' is found in the accounts of Victorian travel writers in the 19th century. Bal is the Cornish word for mine, but this word was replaced by 'Huel' and 'Wheal' from the 18th century.
All of the work done by women and children was at the surface of the mine. They worked in all weathers, totally exposed to the elements with little in the way of protection except for basic clothing; a skirt, apron, shirt, shawl and bonnet. Balmaiden's had very distinctive outfits. A Gouk was a bonnet worn by the Bal Maidens to protect them from the weather and flying fragments of rock.
Women did not work underground at modern Geevor.
Traditionally many miners believed that it was unlucky to allow women underground. However, by the mid-1990s women were working at other Cornish mines; including 2 female mining engineers at South Crofty. At Geevor women worked above ground in the mill and as secretaries and administrators. In the 19th Century women's earnings were very little - but often a vital part of the income for a mining family. As mechanisation of tin dressing took place, less labour was required. During the World Wars women and older girls were drafted in to undertake some of the 'men's work', working on the picking belts in the mill at Geevor.
Source: Geevor Tin Mine Museum http://www.geevor.com/