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Soughs
A sough (pronounced /saʊ/ or /sʌf/) is an underground channel for draining water out of a mine. Ideally the bottom of the mine would be higher than the outlet, but where the mine sump is lower, water must be pumped up to the sough. Derbyshire lead mining The term is closely associated with the lead mining areas of Derbyshire (see Derbyshire lead mining history). Early Derbyshire lead mines were fairly shallow, since methods to remove water were inefficient and miners had to stop when they reached the water table. By digging soughs, miners found they could lower the water table and allow mines to be worked deeper. Soughs were typically dug from their open end near a stream or river back into the hillside beneath the mine to be drained. One sough would often drain more than one mine, since these were often very close, working the same vein of lead. This also helped spread the cost of digging the sough. Some soughs include branches to facilitate further drainage. Many soughs were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derbyshire Lead Mining History
This article details some of the history of lead mining in Derbyshire, England. Background It has been claimed that Odin Mine, near Castleton, one of the oldest lead mines in England, may have been worked in the tenth century or even as early as Roman Britain, but it was certainly productive in the 1200s. Derbyshire lead mines are mentioned in the Pipe Rolls. Recent analysis of a Swiss ice-core extracted in 2013 indicates that levels of lead in atmospheric pollution between 1170 and 1216 were as high as those during the Industrial Revolution and correlate accurately with lead production from Peak District mines, the main European source at the time. On one of the walls in Wirksworth Church is a crude stone carving, found nearby at Bonsall and placed in the church in the 1870s. Probably executed in Anglo-Saxon times, it shows a man carrying a kibble or basket in one hand and a pick in the other. He is a lead miner. The north choir aisle of Wirksworth church is dominated by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Geological Survey
The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS headquarters are in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, England. Its other centres are located in Edinburgh, Wallingford, Cardiff and London. The current motto of the BGS is: ''Gateway to the Earth''. History and previous names The Geological Survey was founded in 1835 by the Board of Ordnance as the Ordnance Geological Survey, under Henry De la Beche. This was the world's first national geological survey. It remained a branch of the Ordnance Survey for many years. In 1965, it was merged with the Geological Museum and Overseas Geological Surveys, under the name of Institute of Geological Sciences. On 1 January 1984, the institute was renamed the British Geological Survey (and often referred to as the BGS), a name still carried today. Competenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mining In The United Kingdom
Mining in the United Kingdom produces a wide variety of fossil fuels, metals, and industrial minerals due to its complex geology. In 2013, there were over 2,000 active mines, quarries, and offshore drilling sites on the continental land mass of the United Kingdom producing £34bn of minerals and employing 36,000 people. Brief history The United Kingdom has a rich history of mining. Mining of non-ferrous minerals, particularly of copper and tin, has been ongoing since the Bronze Age. For example, copper was mined in Wales during approximately 2200–850 BC. Metalworking debris found beneath the ramparts at Beeston Castle in Cheshire is evidence of bronze production during the Bronze Age. Later, lead and copper attracted the Romans to Britain. The Romans introduced iron tools and used local slaves to mine galena, an important lead ore mineral, from which they refined lead, tin and silver. These metals were used locally and also transported by ship throughout the Roman Empire. Gal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Derbyshire
The history of Derbyshire can be traced back to human settlement since the last Ice Age, over 10,000 years ago. The county of Derbyshire in England dates back to the 11th century. The origins of Derbyshire Derbyshire is first mentioned in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' in 1048 in Manuscript D, known as the "Northern Recension". Its creation appears to be a result of the dismemberment of the Mercian Kingdom's province of the Peak District and the chronicle says, under 1048: “her wæs eac eorðstyrung on Kalendas Maias on manegum stowum, on Wygracestre on Wic on Deorby elles gehwær, eac wæs swiðe mycel mancwealm orfcwealm, eac þæt wilde fyr on Deorbyscire micel yfel dyde gehwær elles.” ("This year also there was an earthquake, on the calends of May, in many places; at Worcester, at Wick, and at Derby, and elsewhere wide throughout England; with very great loss by disease of men and of cattle over all England; and the wild fire in Derbyshire and elsewhere did much harm"). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mine Dewatering
Mine dewatering is the action of removing groundwater from a mine. When a mine extends below the water table groundwater will, due to gravity, infiltrate the mine workings. On some projects groundwater is a minor impediment that can be dealt with on an ad-hoc basis. In other mines, and in other geological settings, dewatering is fundamental to the viability of the mine and may require the use of very large resources and management. History The act of taking water from a mine that is being operated has been done since Neolithic times. In the past it was done by using a shadoof, digging deeper dikes so that gravity would remove the water, by mounting leather water-filled buckets on water wheels or, if nothing else, carrying water-filled buckets manually. The Archimedes' screw was also historically used to pump water out of mines. Where no dewatering techniques were effective the mine had to be shut down due to flooding. In the 15th century mine dewatering techniques made some techn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glossary Of Coal Mining Terminology
This is a partial glossary of coal mining terminology commonly used in the coalfields of the United Kingdom. Some words were in use throughout the coalfields, some are historic and some are local to the different British coalfields. A Adit :An adit is an underground level or tunnel to the surface for access or drainage purposes. Afterdamp :Afterdamp is a mixture of carbon monoxide and chokedamp which replaces atmospheric air after an explosion. Agent :The agent was the senior colliery manager: the term "viewer", "captain" or "steward" also appeared in older regional terminology. Where the mine owner provided the capital and sank the shafts, the agent organised the development of the colliery, determined mining methods, advised the owner on the mine's commercial management and labour policy, and in later years was generally a trained mining engineer. In the management hierarchy the agent was superior to the colliery manager and under-manager, who had day to day operational resp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Haigh Sough
The Great Haigh Sough is a tunnel or adit driven under Sir Roger Bradshaigh's estate between 1653 and 1670, to drain his coal and cannel pits in Haigh on the Lancashire Coalfield. The sough's portal and two metres of tunnel from where it discharges water into the Yellow Brook at Bottling Wood is a scheduled monument. History Cannel coal had been dug from bell pits on Bradshaigh's estate since the 14th century where the seam was very close to the surface near the Old School Cottages. The sough was driven to drain the pits, which produced both coal and cannel and extended the life of their shallow workings, which were prone to flooding. The sough, a major investment, was considered preferable to winding water from the workings by the primitive methods available at the time. Bradshaigh recorded a detailed survey of the construction of the sough and its shafts with instructions for maintenance so that, "the benefit of my 16 years labour, charge and patience (which it pleased God t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adit
An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adits are also used to explore for mineral veins. Construction Adits are driven into the side of a hill or mountain, and are often used when an ore body is located inside the mountain but above the adjacent valley floor or coastal plain. In cases where the mineral vein outcrops at the surface, the adit may follow the lode or vein until it is worked out, in which case the adit is rarely straight. The use of adits for the extraction of ore is generally called drift mining. Adits can only be driven into a mine where the local topography permits. There will be no opportunity to drive an adit to a mine situated on a large flat plain, for instance. Also if the ground is weak, the cost of shoring up a long adit may outweigh its possible advantage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steam Engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transformed, by a connecting rod and crank, into rotational force for work. The term "steam engine" is generally applied only to reciprocating engines as just described, not to the steam turbine. Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separated from the combustion products. The ideal thermodynamic cycle used to analyze this process is called the Rankine cycle. In general usage, the term ''steam engine'' can refer to either complete steam plants (including boilers etc.), such as railway steam locomotives and portable engines, or may refer to the piston or turbine machinery alone, as in the beam engine and stationary steam engine. Although steam-driven devices were known as early as the aeolipile in the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coal Mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a 'pit', and the above-ground structures are a 'pit head'. In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine. Coal mining has had many developments in recent years, from the early days of men tunneling, digging and manually extracting the coal on carts to large open-cut and longwall mines. Mining at this scale requires the use of draglines, trucks, conveyors, hydraulic jacks and shearers. The coal mining industry has a long history of significant negative environmental impacts on local ecosystems, health impacts on local communities and workers, and contributes heavily to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cromford
Cromford is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, in the valley of the River Derwent between Wirksworth and Matlock. It is north of Derby, south of Matlock and south of Matlock Bath. It is first mentioned in the 11th-century Domesday Book as ''Crumforde'', a berewick (supporting farm) of Wirksworth, and this remained the case throughout the Middle Ages. The population at the 2011 Census was 1,433. It is principally known for its historical connection with Richard Arkwright and the nearby Cromford Mill, which he built outside the village in 1771. Cromford is in the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. The Cromford mill complex, owned and being restored by the Arkwright Society, was declared by Historic England as "one of the country’s 100 irreplaceable sites". It is also the centrepiece of the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2018, the ''Cromford Mills Creative Cluster and World Heritage Site Gateway Project'' was listed as a finalis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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