Q-pits are kiln sites which were dug for the production of

white coal White coal is a form of fuel produced by drying chopped wood over a fire. It differs from charcoal which is carbonised wood. White coal was used in England to melt lead ore from the mid-sixteenth to the late seventeenth centuries. It produces more ...

prior to the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

when white coal was largely superseded by the use of coke.

Purpose

The white coal produced in Q-pits was largely used in the smelting of

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

from about 1550 to 1750, when a process was discovered that used coal. The large sections of white coal had previously been mixed with charcoal to give the right temperature, as charcoal alone was too hot and would have volatilised the lead.

Rackham, Oliver Oliver Rackham (17 October 1939 – 12 February 2015) was an academic at the University of Cambridge who studied the ecology, management and development of the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and wood pasture. His books inc ...

(2007). ''The New Naturalist Series. Woodlands''. London: Collins. . p. 205. Some evidence exists to suggest that some had a secondary use in the charking of coal into coke.

Location

Many Q-pits were located in

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

woodlands and as such they are an important landscape feature indicating both previous industrial activity and the presence of a

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

at the site or nearby.Muir, Richard (2008). ''Woods, Hedgerows and Leafy Lanes.'' Pub. Tempus, Stroud. . pp. 91 - 92. The pits are often found in association with

saw pit A saw pit or sawpit is a pit over which timber is positioned to be sawed with a long two-handled saw, usually a whipsaw, by two people, one standing above the timber and the other below. It was used for producing sawn planks from tree trunks, whi ...

Construction

The pits were created by removing soil to create a depression about 12–13 feet (4m) in diameter, breached by a 'spout' and thus forming a 'Q' shape. The pits were dug from the end of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

up to around 1760, the start of the Industrial Revolution.Muir, Richard (2008). ''Woods, Hedgerows and Leafy Lanes.'' Pub. Tempus, Stroud. . p. 92.

Potash pit Potash pits were kiln sites which were dug and lined with drystone walling for the production of potash prior to the Industrial Revolution. The scouring or degreasing of the natural lanolin from wool requires the application of soft soap produced ...

s were of a similar shape and size, however, they were used to make

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

for use in coursing or degreasing wool and were once found in sheep rearing areas.

Geographical location

The pits are a common feature in lead mining districts such as the

Leadhills Leadhills, originally settled for the accommodation of miners, is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, WSW of Elvanfoot. The population in 1901 was 835. It was originally known as Waterhead. It is the second highest village in Scotland, ...

in Scotland and East Derbyshire. Due to their small size, they are not likely to be confused with quarries, although bomb craters from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

can occasionally lead the landscape historian astray. In 2007 an isolated example was identified and excavated in

Westbury-sub-Mendip Westbury-sub-Mendip is a village in Somerset, England, on the southern slopes of the Mendip Hills from Wells and Cheddar. The parish boundary is formed by the River Axe. History There is evidence, from flint finds, of occupation of a site ...

near the lead smelting areas on the

Mendip Hills The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills ...

in Somerset. Over 200 such pits have been surveyed in

Ecclesall Woods Ecclesall Woods is an area of woodland in south-west Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, between Abbeydale Road South and Ecclesall. It covers approximately of mature semi-natural deciduous woodland which was previously used for timber and cha ...

, Sheffield.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Scotland Buildings and structures in England Archaeological sites in Scotland Archaeological sites in England Timber industry Lead mining in the United Kingdom History of forestry Forestry in the United Kingdom