Irish Odyssey Day 3 concluded. The Engine House
“Around 1700, a strange noise began reverberating around British mineshafts. That noise – harbinger of the Industrial Revolution – was subtle at first, but it grew louder with each passing decade until it enveloped...
Irish Odyssey Day 3, Part 2
“By Ros, Car, Lan, Tre, Pol and Pen shall ye know Cornishmen”. (Survey of Cornwall, Richard Carew, 1602) The white walls and plain, utilitarian lines, (none the worse for that), tell a tale. In...
Irish Odyssey Day 3 part 1- A Unique Cable Car, a Model Enthusiast & “Cousin Jack” at Allihies.
I refer you back to the teasing trailer elsewhere on this blog called “If there is a hole dug anywhere on earth, you’re sure to find a Cornishman at the Bottom”. At Allihies, the...
The Great Laxey Wheel & the Miners of Laxey and Snaefell
Caroline said “What about the Isle of Man? I’ve always fancied going there.” We were planning a few days away, somewhere not too arduous, for around the time of my 86th birthday in June...
“If there is a hole dug anywhere on earth, you’re sure to find a Cornishman at the bottom”
This is a version of my short article in South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group’s Newsletter 67, Spring 2025 with an added, UNEXPECTED SEQUEL. My title was filched from “Trelawny’s Cornwall”, by the BBC Radio...
Francis Creswicke, an old friend: visiting Hanham Court Gardens Open Day, 9 June 2024.
When I was a stripling of about 40, I first came across Francis Creswicke aged eighty-nine on a gravestone at Bitton, my paternal home parish.[1] Now I am rapidly catching up with him, though...
A Trip to Hopewell Colliery, Forest of Dean
On 27 July 2022, my son Kevin took me for a grand day out to celebrate my 85th birthday. The venue chosen was the Hopewell Colliery at Coleford in the Forest of Dean. We...
Killed in a Coalpit – revisited
I was recently contacted by Andrew Plaster, a fellow member of Bristol & Avon FHS who, via the Facebook Group (Bitton, Hanham, Longwell Green & Oldland Memories, (administered by Julie Johns) discovered a...
Brislington Coal
There are references to coalmining in Brislington from the early 17th century: the first being in 1614 when Anthony son of William Roache, collier, of Brislington was apprenticed to Chris. Powell, a Bristol weaver....
‘Killed in a Coalpit’ – Ram Hill – seeing the place where it happened
Years ago when researching my paternal family I came upon hitherto unsuspected connections with an ancient industrial history. From that time I became obsessed (not too strong a word) with the lives of coalminers,...
About Me
I have been researching the social history of the West Country for 50+ years. During this time I have collated information on a wide range of people living and working in the West Country including miners, ethnic minorities, petty criminals, sailors, tommies, benefactors, brassmakers and many more. The thing that I find amazing is that ordinary people always lived extraordinary lives. I hope you like my blog that brings together my lifetime of research.
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