At the time that this author wrote only the coal that was got in these working places appears to have been extracted, no attempt having been made at all to remove the pillars, and probably the method of transporting the coal underground was by wheelbarrows or sleds. Hoisting was performed in large baskets known as corves, which were probably drawn up by means of a whim gin or windlass worked by horses. In the commencement of the eighteenth century, when workings became more complex, and the number of people engaged in one and the same mine greater, we first meet with records of serious accidents, due to explosions of fire-damp. The first of these appears to have occurred in October, 1705, when over thirty individuals lost their lives. In 1708 another explosion took place at Fatfield in the parish of Chester le Street, where the loss of life was even greater. In 1710 an explosion took place in Bensham Colliery, whereby seventy-six people lost their lives, and in 1763 another explosion at Fatfield Colliery is recorded. It must have been soon after the latter period that Spedding’s Steel Mills were first used in this part of the country, they having been invented some time previously in the Whitehaven district.

The manufacture of coke in the county of Durham appears already to have assumed some importance in the second part of the eighteenth century, but the coking was probably carried on in practically all cases in open piles. The earliest mention of a coke-oven appears to be in the year 1763, and Jars, in his Voyage Metallurgique, gives a drawing of so-called ‘kilns erected at Newcastle for reducing coal to cinders and coakes.’ About the year 1770 wooden screens seem to have been introduced for screening coal. In 1788 it is stated that 61,300 tons of pigiron were made throughout England, of which 48,200 tons were smeited with coke and the rest with charcoal. According to the Hornsby MS. in the possession of the duke of Northumberland, printed amongst the Surtees Papers, the export of coal during the seventeenth century increased very rapidly; the export in the year 1691 is given as 693,000 tons, whilst in 1784 it already exceeded 1,000,000 tons. In the year 1800 the vend from the Tyne amounted to 685,280 chaldrons (11,816,000 tons), and that from the Wear to 303,459 chaldrons (804,000 tons).

The end of the eighteenth century was characterized by the increasing use of iron in all departments of colliery working. Rails were still for the most part made of wood, though in places cast-iron plates had been employed, laid on top of the wooden rails. Cast-iron wheels were replacing wooden ones as early as 1753, and thereis a record of cast-iron rails being used in the year 1797. Iron beams (for beam engines) were beginning to replace the wooden ones that were still very largely in use, although before the end of the eighteenth century cast-iron beams up to 16 in. in diameter were obtainable. It has been seen that beam engines had come extensively into use for pumping, and before the end of the century attempts had been made to use steam-engines for drawing coals as well as for pumping water. Cast-iron was first employed for the tubbing of shafts about the year 1759. Just about this time, the old practice of cutting a coal seam up into small pillars was abandoned in favour of the method of leaving larger pillars, which were to be subsequently won. In the latter half of the century gunpowder began to be used in the stonework of the collieries, sinking of shafts, in the driving of cross-measure roads, but was not used in coal until a much later date. In 1800 the vend of coal for the Tyne was about 1,600,000 tons, and for the Wear about 800,000 tons. These two ports still appear to have been the only ones from which coal was exported in the county of Durham.

Coke-ovens were now in pretty general use, and were worked largely along the outcrops of the Brockwell Seam at Cockfield, Woodland, and other places in the southern part of the county of Durham, the coke made being used by founders and brewers. Previous to the end of this century women had ceased to be employed in the mines of the county of Durham. No doubt the rapid development in the uses of steam had much to do with the increased demand for coal that took place about this time. Steam navigation had already been shown to be successful on an experimental scale, and Richard Trevithick had built his first locomotive in 1804. It was very soon after this that George Stephenson, who was engineer to the Killingworth Pit, and also engineer in charge of all the machinery of the various pits worked by the Grand Allies,, commenced to work out the problem of steam locomotion, being encouraged in his efforts by his employers, and especially by one of them, namely, Lord Ravensworth. As is well known, his first locomotive was completed in the year 1814, and was used for drawing coals along the colliery railway. This was followed in 1822 by the Hetton Railway, near Sunderland, a line of 8 miles long, built to convey coals from the Hetton Colliery to the banks of the Wear. Finally, in 1825, the Stockton and Darlington Railway was opened, and from this time onwards the construction of railways spread from the county of Durham over the whole kingdom, favouring the development of the coal trade, not only by the increased consumption of fuel, but also by affording a means of cheap and easy transport for quantities of mineral which it would have been practically impossible to handle without their assistance. The locomotive engine and the railway may fairly be said to be the direct products of the northcountry coal-trade, and as such deserve notice here. Furthermore, it will be remembered that the early years of the eighteenth century saw the introduction of coal-gas for illuminating purposes.

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