Nenthead, Mine shops
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By David McAnelly
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When the London Lead Company obtained the leases previously owned by Col Liddle, Nenthead became the centre of their operations on Alston Moor and in 1753 they began designing and building the village. They built cottages near to the smelt mill and beside Gillgill burn for the smelters and officials while they encouraged the development of farmsteads (to house the miners). These small farms and cottages were scattered around the fell side, many now in ruins are still to be seen.  They also began plantations of trees, especially after the enclosure of Alston Moor and Priorsdale in 1815.
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The development of the village started with the improvements made to the Smelt mill, and associated buildings, and the building of a small group of cottages near the junction of the River Nent and Gillgill burn in the 1750's. They also purchased the Cherry Tree Estate from the Alston Brewery Company for £990, on which they built a house for their mine Agent (Two Centuries of Industrial Welfare: The London (Quaker) Lead Company 1692-1905. A. Raistrick 1988). The company recognised the value of a more varied and contented life for their workforce and saw the health advantages of outdoor work. In recognition of this they soon began to provide cottages with small pieces of land, and allotment gardens for the miners.
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Some cottages were built with six acres of land, for the small holder, and with these large areas of common land and upland pasture were acquired for sheep-run; some cottages had one acre and a small building for cow shed, pig-sty and so on, while other cottages had one-sixth of an acre for a garden. (A History of Lead Mining in the Pennines. A. Raistrick and B. Jennings 1989). The rent for the Company houses in 1862 was £3 10s or £4. If the house had four rooms and a garden then the charge would be £4 10s. Some of the men invested their savings by buying their own houses. (Kinnaird Report of 1864)
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The first school house had a pulpit and was also used as a Wesleyan chapel, in 1816 it was rebuilt on the same site (now the site of the Miners Arms), again being a chapel and school room, the school room being attached to the west end of the chapel. In 1826, this was purchased for £220, and a piece of land, for a site for a new chapel by the London Lead Company. The new chapel was built in 1827, and then rebuilt in 1873. (Alston Moor W. Wallace 1890) The old inn, the Miners Arms was purchased in 1823.
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In 1825 a new village was built which included a ready money shop, market hall a chapel, reading room and 35 cottages. The Company paid for the cost of cleaning and lighting the reading room. The members attending the reading room paid 3d monthly towards the purchase of newspapers and periodicals, an exception being made to youths under 18, who only contributed 2d monthly. The management of the reading room was left up to the members themselves.
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A Company plan of the village shows how it was set out. The main street ran north to south, with the Market place at the south end. Travelling from the north to the south, on the west side of the village backing onto the Rampgill low washing floor was the Company school and play yard, then the market house and clock designed to be visible from every part of the village. Next was the ready money shop and directly to the south of that was the Company warehouse, stables and yard.  At the south end of the village on the east side we first find the Company stables, then the Underground Agent's house and gardens, between this and the chapel there is a space which was later used for the reading room.  Travelling north we then find the New Inn and next to that the Surgeon's house, garden and yard. There were then a row of houses (Hillersdon Terrace), the first two being occupied by the Mill Agent and the Schoolmaster; beyond these the Company map shows twelve smelters' cottages and gardens and six overmen's houses and gardens, the plan also shows continuing to the north ground set aside for twelve more miners and smelters cottages and gardens which at the time of drawing the plan had not been completed.
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The provision of the ready money shop was an important move on the part of the Company. Dr Mitchell wrote. "The Company encourages people paying in ready money for what they have, and discourages their getting into debt. They advance to the men 40s at the beginning of every month, and to the young persons and boys in proportion. They have encouraged the establishment of ready money shops, in which goods are sold at a lower rate than when credit is given. If any person let the workmen get into debt with them no facility is afforded to them in recovering their money, and the Company will not keep back any part of the wages to pay such debts, nor at all interfere with their influence in the matter."
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Improvements continued, a church was built in 1845, the site, burial ground and parsonage house were presented by the London Lead Company; a post office was built in 1848, and a water supply was provided in 1850. In 1863 Dr Peacock visited the cottages in Nenthead. "The cottages built by the Company for the smelters are very good; they are pleasantly situated on one side of the valley with a bank sloping to the Nent, laid out as gardens. The cottages have two large and high rooms, are properly drained and have a yard behind, with a coal cellar, dustbin, and privy. The only objection is that the rooms are only two in number, and this, for large families, is too few, and was complained of by some of the residents. "In a group of recently built miners cottages the Company have so enlarged the dimensions as to admit of two rooms on the ground floor and two bedrooms above."
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He also visited some cottages in the area which were not owned or built by the Company, these he describes as defective, and some to be, "... most objectionable. A portion of these cottages are thatched, have only two small and low rooms, the upper in the slanting roof, and sometimes only reached by a ladder; there is no under drainage, sometimes no privy, and rarely any garden ground. One row was especially defective, the house being divided across so that there was one tenement in front and another behind, and of course no through draught."
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He described the men as, "generally temperate in their habits, there may be some few who take a pint of ale after they finish their work in the evening, but the majority take none, except on pay nights, and then some may perhaps take too much.  They smoke too much.  The men live much upon tea and bread. They do not usually get animal food, except a little bacon, but they generally have a good dinner on Sundays.  The men, some of them, have gardens and others ground enough to keep a cow, which helps them much, for generally there is difficulty in getting milk."
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In 1865 the cottages beside Gillgill burn were rebuilt and a bathhouse and public washhouse were added. (A Raistrick 1988) The market hall, clock tower, washhouse and baths were demolished in 1905 to make way for the crushing mill.
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Mine Shops/Lodging Shops
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Those miners who did not live near to the mine, in which they worked, would either have to walk a long distance or use a "Mine Shop". These were built by the mine owners to house their workmen, and were often very basic in nature. The London Lead Company started to build mine shops around 1818 (A Raistrick 1988).  James Mitchell in his report of 1842 describes these shops. "The first one of them which I saw was about nine miles across the fell south from Stanhope. It was a plain building, constructed of sandstone, covered with a coarse slate, and all very substantial. There was no opening or window at either end, or at the back, or on the roof. On the front or south side was a door towards the west end, and two windows, one a little above the other. On entering the door it was seen that the lower part was one room, lighted by one of the windows, and had a great fire burning at the east end. By pacing the floor the length was ascertained to be about 18 feet, and the breadth about 15 feet. Along the one side, that next the window, was a meal table, extending the whole length of the room, and alongside of it was a form, and there were two other forms in the room. All along the other side on the wall were little cupboards, 48 in number, in four tiers above each other, six of the cupboards with the doors off, but most of the rest carefully locked with padlocks, and in which the several miners had deposited their wallets, with their provisions for five days. Throughout the room, more particularly at the end farthest from the fire, were hung, from hooks and nails in the joists, miners trousers and jackets, to be ready to be put on in case of the owners returning wet from their work.
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          In addition to the articles already named were the following: -

          One earthen pitcher to fetch water.

          One tea-kettle.

          One pan for boiling potatoes.

          Two pans for frying bacon.

          Iron fender, poker, and shovel.

          A besom.
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"There was a large box in the room, secured by a padlock, said to contain the cloths which the masters put on when they came to see the mines”. "On ascending to the upper room by a ladder, it was seen to be a sleeping-room. The dimensions of the floor were of course the same as of the room below. There was no fireplace, which indeed was not wanted, but neither was there any opening into the chimney to produce circulation of air. Along one side of the room were three beds, each six feet long, by about four feet and a half wide - the three beds extending the length of the room, then there were three other beds on the other side; and at the farther end was a seventh bed, extending from the one line of beds to the other. Immediately over these seven beds, and supported on posts, were seven other beds, placed exactly in the same way. Of course the person who slept in each of the six beds next the wall of the upper tier could raise his head only a very little way, on account of the roof. Each of these 14 beds was intended for two persons, when only few men were employed at the mine, but they might be made to receive three men each; and, in case of need, a boy might lie across at their feet. There was no opening of any sort to let out the foul air. Yet from 30 to 40 persons might have to sleep there, the men perspiring from their work, and inhaling the small dust from their clothes floating in clouds. The beds were stuffed with chaff. There were blankets, but no sheets. "The furniture of the lodging-shops is supplied by the masters”. “The beds and blankets are supplied by the miners themselves”. “They are taken home sometimes to be washed”. "On Friday, when the miners leave, the beds are rolled up to prevent damp. I visited the lodging-shop on Monday morning. The beds had not been slept in for the Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights preceding, yet was the smell most noxious”.
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"There was one excellent thing connected with this lodging-shop. There was a small but beautiful stream of water, which was conducted across the fell to this spot, and came through an iron pipe near the door, so that the men had an abundant supply of the pure element”.
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"I next went to see another lodging-shop on a larger scale. On the ground floor were five rooms. The first is a blacksmith's shop. Next to it is the cooking and eating-room of the miners, exactly like the room of the lodging-shop already described. Adjoining to it is a room in which they hang up their wet clothes. At the end is a stable for the horses, which are employed to draw the wagons with ore from the pits”. "By a ladder close to the wall, between the cooking-room and drying-room, an ascent to a room exactly like that in the lodging-house already described, with the same number of beds. One little pipe of about two inches diameter was the only communication with the exterior air”.
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"Through the partition wall is an opening into a bed-room, extending over the drying-room and the stable. Across this room extended two beds, leaving a space for passing. Above these two was a tier of other two beds. Then at a short interval was a second set of beds, four in number, and farther on a third set, similarly arranged four in number. Thus in the space above the cooking-room, drying-room, and stable, were 26 beds, each intended for two or three men, as it might be, and perhaps more, and the same beds for sets of miners in their turns, as one set came from their work and another went off”.
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"Though the beds had not been occupied for the three preceding nights the smell was to me utterly intolerable. What the place must be in the summer's nights is, happily for those who have never felt it, utterly inconceivable. The medical men are best able to give a judgment on these matters, but, for my own part, I cannot but believe that these lodging-houses are more destructive than the air of the mines. I should think it no hardship to have to remain 24 hours in a mine, but I should be terrified at being ordered to be shut up a quarter of an hour in the bedroom of a lodging-shop”.
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"Many miners speak of the horrors of lodging-shops in the former days; but the only difference I could learn was, that at many mines there were not now so many men and boys at work, and consequently, the lodging-shops were not so crowded. Some mines are not now wrought which formerly had large lodging-shops, for example Manner Gill, of which a miner stated to me that he was one of 120 who lodged in a suite of rooms there, and he declared that the nuisance was much aggravated by the great number”.
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"In such a dense accumulation of bodies, one man who might be ill was a disturbance to the rest.  The coughing of a few interrupted the sleep of others. Men coming from the mine at 12 o'clock at night, and frying their bacon at the fire below sent up an odour which added to the already too suffocating smell in the sleeping-room above.  The great number was an aggravation of what is intolerable at best”.
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"The miners showed me a tank through which running water passed, in which they had placed their bottles of milk which they had brought with them for their coffee. "There was an excellent supply of running water of the best quality, and it was the only beverage which the men had, for they stated that there was no public-house or beer-shop nearer than seven miles, and, if there were one, they durst not go into it for fear of being discharged”.
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"The men all said that their lodging-shop was a fair sample of all the lodging-shops in the country, the only difference being the greater or less number of men lodging in them, which would depend entirely upon the state of the mine.  I have, however, since seen one refinement of which these men did not seem to be aware, and that was a lodging-shop in which were not only the beds in tiers all round the room, but there was also a bed suspended or swung from the top of the room, which economically filled up a space which otherwise would have been vacant."
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The miners he interviewed gave equally unpleasant accounts, William Eddy said: - "Our lodging-rooms were such as not to be fit for a swine to live in.  In one house there were 16 bedsteads in the room upstairs, and 50 occupied these beds at the same time.  We could not always get all in together, but we got in when we could. Often three at a time in the bed and one at the foot. I have several times had to get out of bed and sit up all night, to make room for my little brothers, who were there as washers. There was not a single flag or board on the lower floor, and there were pools of water 12 inches deep.  You might have taken a coal rake and raked off the dirt and potato peelings six inches deep. At one time we had not a single coal. After I had been there two years rules were laid down and two men were appointed by the master to clean the house upstairs twice a-week. The lower apartment was to be cleaned twice a-day. Then the shop floor was boarded, and two tables were placed in the shop. After that two more shops were fitted up, but the increase of workmen more than kept up with the increased accommodation. The breathing at night when all were in bed was dreadful. The workmen received more harm from the sleeping-places than from the work. There was one pane of glass which we could open, but it was close to a bed-head."
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And Joseph Eddy another miner believed that the lodging-shops were, "More injurious to the health of the miners than their work itself."
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The situation in 1864 was very similar, in the mine shops owned by the London Lead Company, two men were expected to share a bed; Robert Bainbridge informed the Commission that; "there are beds which will contain two men each, two men are allowed to sleep together. When asked if the beds are used in shifts, being occupied all of the time he answered.  "In general I apprehend that two men appropriate a bed and stick to that bed, they do not like sleeping indiscriminately in each others beds." On the question of how many beds would be in a room he said. “That varies very materially; the beds are six feet four inches in length, and four feet four inches in breadth, if I mistake not; we generally fill a room with beds, and we have two tiers in general, but I may say that practically the upper tier is seldom used; the lower beds are generally those which are used, the upper tier is only put into requisition when there is a greater number of men than are sufficient to occupy the lower."
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The ventilation did seem to have been improved, there was an opening under the eaves to allow fresh air in, as well as an opening in the ridge; he also described a ventilation system that was also used; "With regard to the ventilation, I may state further that we carry up a tube parallel with the chimney flue. The object of that is to carry off the impure and heated air. When the fire is on, the heat in the chimney flue extends to this tube and rarefies the air in it, so that it will either carry the vitiated air off or bring fresh air in, and whichever it doe it is beneficial; that is our means of ventilation which we have; we make use of that also in our cottages here; the company have built a number of cottages for the use of the miners upon the spot, and we make an opening under the ceiling, and carry up a tube, so of three or four inches in diameter, parallel with the chimney but quite distinct from the chimney, still the air in that parallel tube is affected by the heat in the chimney, and it will create either an internal or an external draught; it will either admit pure atmospheric air down the tube or it will carry off the vitiated air of the room into the open air at the ridge."
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These mine shops usually had separate, changing, mess, and bedrooms, with a washing room provided with a stream of spring water, which would flow into a wooden trough.  There was also a separate room or pantry for the miners to keep their food in, which they would have brought from home to feed themselves during the week. (Kinnaird 1864).
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David McAnelly
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ã The Content and photographs used in the above article are Copyright and must not be reproduced without the permission of the author  

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