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Mining Terms 'n' Technology
Our book, 'Pitmatic: the talk of the North-East coalfield', groups mining terms in subject chapters: on surface features, the shaft, underground workings, ventilation, drainage, coal, officials, employment practices, working the coal, putting, automation, safety and health.... Its 270 pages permit a comprehensive description of mining processes past and present, interspersed with plenty of entertaining poems and stories.
For order details, see main page.
For a description of North Walbottle Colliery / Annfield Plain / Horden, click here - this is a new feature, and more accounts of individual pits will be welcome! For a story by Joe Dyer click here.
Below, a small selection of words sent in...
aard yakka former miner. George Darby (Co.D'm)
amain when tubs went over an incline without the securing rope being attached, running loose. Brian Davidson, Ashington
gan amain uncontrolled tub or set of tubs running down an incline. Tony Sharkey
baff week in the 19th. and 20th. century men were paid fortnightly - a baff week was when they worked for nowt. Brian Davidson, Ashington
beat hand or knee blistered from hard work. Brian Davidson, Ashington
bonny on in difficulty: "we're bonny on heor lads". Ronald Orange, Horton Grange Colliery
bratticing from brattice meaning a shaft lining or a wooden partition used underground in mines. Brian Davidson,Ashington.'
buzzer A contribution from my wife is the saying, "you're gettin yerself ahead of the buzzer (getting above your station, being forward). Again from Sherburn Hill area. The Buzzer being the pit alarm for changing shifts. Tom McGee, Brandon
caddy box for powder (explosive). A Geggie, Ashington
cansh (proper word caunch or ripping) - making mine road higher by removal of stone above or below: "borrum cansh coal seam" Ken Johnson (Dawdon pit, 1960s)
check tyable It's the syam wi'sum folk wot reets to the papers , they're aal reet see far, then thee get off the way and thi've got to set back to th' check tyable ter get put on the way again. After some thought I realised he was referring to a tub getting off the rails underground. John Etherington, Hartlepool 1974
chum empty e.g. empty tub, empty water-bottle, empty pint-glass etc. East Durham (Pitmatic) via Kenn Johnson
- tyum, or tchum: empty. Empty pit tub: any tchum'ns down there? Also I'm tchum (hungry). Tom McGee re Sherburn Hill
coal bogie on New Yeor's Eve they carried men yem in coal boagies. Ashington Colliery Magazine 1928, p84
crow coal - A term sometimes used for 'anthracite', due to its shiny black appearance. Crow coal (sometimes Craw Coal) a thin seam of inferior coal. It is at a transitional state between bituminous coal and graphite. It is sold for engine fuel and for domestic purposes. It has a high proportion of iron pyrites, burns very slowly, is intensely hot, with a little blue flame, and emits a strong smell of sulphur. It is usually found in thin seams near the surface, and by mixing with clay, is formed into fire balls, and used by miners. It is used for burning lime. Derek Reynolds
ester man Another one for tha agyen: afore the waar a lot on the pits were werkin short time, sometimes a day or two, other times langer. We had an 'ester man' - he used ta gan from street te street rattlin a crake and tell the men te lye back till they were sent for (when the pit was ganna start werkin agyen) and anounce that there would be a meetin in the miners hall. So there yer hev yer 'ester man'. George Darby
fettled "fixed" or "finished". So banging in a nail which on the last bang splits the wood: "That's fettled it". John Seed (Chester-leStreet)
fever van used for the colliery ambulance transporting injured miners (S.W.Durham)
greaser A saying I recall one used a lot was "Canny ower the greaser", meaning
mind how you go. The greaser in question being a mechanism on the rails that
lubricated the tub wheels and if care wasn't taken the tub could derail at
this point. You would say this to someone who was departing instead of take
care. However, you might say "tak had"(Take hold) as in steady yourself (in
the cage) or use the handrail to take care of yourself. Tom McGee, Brandon
- greazer: place in pit where tub wheels automatically got greased: "gan steyady owr the greaser." Wheatley Hill meet, May 2004
hasky rough and dry: My dad was born 1904, and used to say his hands felt "hasky" when he meant rough and dry. Isabel Adams, Seaham
hogger airhose. George Darby, Co.Durham
hoggers boxer type underpants worn by aarl fyes wurkers except cutters we used te keep their trousers on mind am tarkin here about when aarl the coals cyem off the showlder. George Darby (Co.D'm)
idle out of work: 'Are ye working?' 'Na, aam idle' (Dave Neville, Tyneside)
jell piece of wood: "get us that jell" John Patrickson (Seaham) re C20/mid
jowling a means of communicating through the mine particuly after roof falls (knocking on walls etc). Ivor Lee (Hunwick, B'p Auckland)
keepa hadd farewell expression e.g. when passing a marrer at Dawdon pit. Kenn Johnson
keps "dropping of at the keps" (nodding off, feeling tired. After a shift maybe.) Tom McGee, Brandon
kist wooden chest: in the mines, the deputy had a meeting station where he kept his report books in a large wooden chest called a kist. Bob Brown, Ryhope 1937 - 1974.
lamps "I have in my personal possession, handed down from my granddad and father, a collection of seven miners' flame safety lamps. They range from an early model, which was the basic type of a wire gauze surrounding the light source (a flame), through lamps with attempts to improve/focus the light into a smaller and more effective area to the most modern type . I have a certificate that authorizes me to use a safety lamp to test for the presence and percentage of methane gas in a coal mine. This last was my actual lamp that I used and which was presented to me when I left the coal industry in 1965. Of course the normal method of light in the pit was a battery-powered light worn on the safety helmet with the battery pack carried on a belt. This was a distinct improvement over the rotting fish skins that were a very early attempt to shed some light in a mine before there were any safety lamps." Peter Kendal
low flame: "a cannel... macks a berra low" Charles Trelogan (New Herrington)
metal dog spike to nail rails to wooden sleeper. A.Geggie, Ashington
pit-yack mining dialect. Phil Cheesman re Bedlington, Blyth, Cramlington
plates the last bit of track between the end of the rails into a working place and the face itself. "Plate ends" meant that you had literally gone as far as you could. (Tony Sharkey)
powder Box steel cannister in which was carried (by the workmen) 5 pounds of explosive. A variation of the law later allowed explosives to be carried in bulk in specially constructed cars or tubs from the surface to the face. Tony Sharkey
puffler man in charge of long wall in mine (Sacriston via Miners Gala 2003)
rammel rubbish (originally mine waste) Terry Hagan (Wheatley Hill)
roundy large piece of coal: "Hoy a big roundy on the fire, son" Alan Brown re Durham mining villages
snicket back road, short cut. John Seed (Chester-le-Street)
spletter "th' spletter" glossed as 'air splitter, pit ventilation worker' surtees / harker p.124. ca.1812
stannin' hacky - in danger: "we're stannin' hacky heor, marra". Ronald Orange, Horton Grange Colliery
stife "equals a fog in the air e.g. By, it's stifie in here" Pete Greig (Hartlepool)
- stythe (hard th): gas, methane. South Moor (Stanley) meet, Jun 2003
workie or workie-ticket a troublemaker, awkward customer. Michael Makepeace (South Shields C20/2)
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