My first job was horse driving down the pit. The old blokes had the same horse for years they were like family to them. Being the kid I had the worst possible horse, beautiful to look at, glossy black coat, but I couldn’t do anything with him. I would end up dragging the stuff myself, soon got fed up and left. The colliers called them horses not ponies. That other reference to canal barges, that would get boatmen’s hackles up, they are narrow boats. Barges are those big wide things on the Thames. The colliery I worked at had 4 and 5 feet seams, Hamstead had a 30 feet seam. During training they told us about Hamstead, they said columns of coal were left to support the roof the weight caused spontaneous combustion, cement was used in usually vain attempts to put the fires out. The fires are probably still smouldering. The 1908 disaster was caused by fire. In the sixties a person was killed everyday on average, in the mining industry. Fires in ships bunkers were common place, caused by spontaneous combustion, the Titanic set sail with a bunker on fire. That is probably why it was hot, all the pits I have been down were cold, particularly by the downcast shaft the onsetters always wore overcoats. Nearer the upcast shaft the air was warmer after it had circulated round the pit. The stables were by the upcast shaft so the smell would be ventilated.
I recall those buckets going over the road, presumably carrying spoil. Where was it going, and was the colliery on Spouthouse Lane?