Dredging finds at Cannock

[noddyboater]

Not surprisingly,  quite a lot of coal has re-emerged from the Grove Colliery wharf area of the Cannock Extension during recent dredging. Proper lumps too, and I can confirm it burns beautifully. 

On the final day a miners pick was found,  still sharp and in good condition. 

[dave moore]

Pieces of coal of that sort of size were sometimes known as “ rakers” or “ bankers” here in the Black Country. They were placed on a low fire and surrounded with slack with the intention of keeping the fire alight, on a slow burn, for a good while, perhaps overnight. I remember them well from my childhood in the 50s.

[Athy]

2 minutes ago, dave moore said:

Pieces of coal of that sort of size were sometimes known as “ rakers” or “ bankers” here in the Black Country. They were placed on a low fire and surrounded with slack with the intention of keeping the fire alight, on a slow burn, for a good while, perhaps overnight. I remember them well from my childhood in the 50s.

My Dad, when he wanted to keep the fire in overnight, banked it up and then heaped the ashes from under the grate on top of it. Was that done round your way too?

 

I wonder what sort of car or lorry the wheel came from.

[ditchcrawler]

40 minutes ago, Athy said:

My Dad, when he wanted to keep the fire in overnight, banked it up and then heaped the ashes from under the grate on top of it. Was that done round your way too?

 

 

I think it was the same everywhere. We use to break up most of the big lump bit always kept some for banking up at night. That was Norfolk

[Athy]

4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I think it was the same everywhere. We use to break up most of the big lump bit always kept some for banking up at night. That was Norfolk

We were in Sheffield, so if you ran out of coal you only had to walk down t'road to t'nearest pit.

[TheBiscuits]

6 minutes ago, Athy said:

We were in Sheffield, so if you ran out of coal you only had to walk down t'road to t'nearest pit.

 

I thought roads in Yorkshire were uphill both ways ...

[tree monkey]

1 hour ago, Athy said:

My Dad, when he wanted to keep the fire in overnight, banked it up and then heaped the ashes from under the grate on top of it. Was that done round your way too?

 

I wonder what sort of car or lorry the wheel came from.

Exactly what my Dad used to do, he also used to sieve the ashes to extract all the unburnt noggings and use that to bank the fire

26 minutes ago, Athy said:

We were in Sheffield, so if you ran out of coal you only had to walk down t'road to t'nearest pit.

One of my Mums favourite childhood tales was pushing a trolly after the coal man and picking up dropped lumps, as well as sneaking onto the railway sidings and scrounging coal spilled out of the tenders

 

 

To add.

In fact that's just reminded me of a tale Dad told me of filling a bag full of coal and dumping it off the footplate on a slow bit to be picked up later

Edited January 20, 2022 by tree monkey

[Athy]

9 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Exactly what my Dad used to do, he also used to sieve the ashes to extract all the unburnt noggings and use that to bank the fire

One of my Mums favourite childhood tales was pushing a trolly after the coal man and picking up dropped lumps,

 

 

 

 

A greeno for the use of that word, which is a new one to me. Whereabouts were you brought up?

Your story reminds me of when we used to visit my Auntie Connie and Uncle Jack in Hasland, near Chesterfield. Their road was on a lorry route from a local pit. Just down from them was a bump in the road and, each time a Coal Board lorry went past, out would pop an old lad, flat-capped and cardiganed, with his shovel to scoop up the lumps which had bounced off the lorry. 

21 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

 

 

 

 

In fact that's just reminded me of a tale Dad told me of filling a bag full of coal and dumping it off the footplate on a slow bit to be picked up later

Just as, I believe, narrowboat crews never needed to pay for their coal. Some of our relatives who worked down the pits or had retired from them actually got a free coal allowance which a lorry would deliver to them each year; maybe the N.C.B. management reckoned that if they didn't give them the coal, they'd have nicked it anyway.

   Sad to think that modern children probably ask "What's coal?"

[noddyboater]

5 minutes ago, Athy said:

 

   Sad to think that modern children probably ask "What's coal?"

I was in a local solid fuel yard last year when a well dressed bloke came in and asked for a single piece of real coal.  It turned out he was a teacher and wanted to pass the lump around in class as his kids didn't have a clue what it was.

[tree monkey]

6 minutes ago, Athy said:

A greeno for the use of that word, which is a new one to me. Whereabouts were you brought up?

Your story reminds me of when we used to visit my Auntie Connie and Uncle Jack in Hasland, near Chesterfield. Their road was on a lorry route from a local pit. Just down from them was a bump in the road and, each time a Coal Board lorry went past, out would pop an old lad, flat-capped and cardiganed, with his shovel to scoop up the lumps which had bounced off the lorry. 

Just as, I believe, narrowboat crews never needed to pay for their coal. Some of our relatives who worked down the pits or had retired from them actually got a free coal allowance which a lorry would deliver to them each year; maybe the N.C.B. management reckoned that if they didn't give them the coal, they'd have nicked it anyway.

   Sad to think that modern children probably ask "What's coal?"

EPort on the Wirral, not sure where the word came from though but both Mum and Dad came from big Catholic families so slightly loose morals I suspect with acquiring a few freebies 

[IanD]

31 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Exactly what my Dad used to do, he also used to sieve the ashes to extract all the unburnt noggings and use that to bank the fire

One of my Mums favourite childhood tales was pushing a trolly after the coal man and picking up dropped lumps, as well as sneaking onto the railway sidings and scrounging coal spilled out of the tenders

 

 

To add.

In fact that's just reminded me of a tale Dad told me of filling a bag full of coal and dumping it off the footplate on a slow bit to be picked up later

 

A small book of a fireman's memoirs I read some years ago told how he used to drop off "free" coal for a signalman friend as he passed. One day the (goods) train was going a bit faster than normal and the "free coal" was one big lump, he misjudged the drop and it went straight through the door of the signal box. Which was closed at the time...

[ditchcrawler]

Remember the sacks that coal was delivered weight a few lbs, especially when wet, also the coal was weighed on the back of the lorry

[Athy]

14 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

I was in a local solid fuel yard last year when a well dressed bloke came in and asked for a single piece of real coal.  It turned out he was a teacher and wanted to pass the lump around in class as his kids didn't have a clue what it was.

One doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Coal was just part of the pattern of life for the great majority of British people until probably the 1980s - although I suppose our air is cleaner, it is sad to see it become a curio or a museum piece. I even note that some new houses are built without a chimney. I'd never want to live in a house without a fireplace or stove.

   But then, gas mantles were a part of everyday life for many thousands of people a few generations ago, but I don't think I've ever seen one working except in a museum.

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, Athy said:

One doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Coal was just part of the pattern of life for the great majority of British people until probably the 1980s - although I suppose our air is cleaner, it is sad to see it become a curio or a museum piece. I even note that some new houses are built without a chimney. I'd never want to live in a house without a fireplace or stove.

   But then, gas mantles were a part of everyday life for many thousands of people a few generations ago, but I don't think I've ever seen one working except in a museum.

Landline phones with rotary dials...

[ditchcrawler]

2 minutes ago, IanD said:

Landline phones with rotary dials...

After many times of trying my grand kids couldn't get the hang of dialling at the Black Country Museum.

[tree monkey]

2 minutes ago, IanD said:

Landline phones with rotary dials...

Sat put in the unheated hallway to ensure it was too cold to use for long

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, tree monkey said:

Sat put in the unheated hallway to ensure it was too cold to use for long

After checking next door wasn't on the line

[tree monkey]

Just now, ditchcrawler said:

After checking next door wasn't on the line

Sorry but I'm not that old 

[TheBiscuits]

7 minutes ago, IanD said:

Landline phones with rotary dials...

 

Rotary dialling was for wusses!

 

Calling a number by tapping the cradle buttons at the correct speed and intervals to generate the pulses was much more fun.

 

Especially if there was one of those little locks to stop you using the dial!

[noddyboater]

18 minutes ago, Athy said:

 I even note that some new houses are built without a chimney. I'd never want to live in a house without a fireplace or stove.

   

I watched a new estate being built nearby last year. The first "show" house had a proper brick chimney stack but all the rest had a fake fibreglass one popped on top of the fully tiled roof! 

[Athy]

5 minutes ago, noddyboater said:

I watched a new estate being built nearby last year. The first "show" house had a proper brick chimney stack but all the rest had a fake fibreglass one popped on top of the fully tiled roof! 

Bloody heathens. If they can build one right, why can't they build them all like that?

[noddyboater]

Getting back onto the original topic,  if we may..

It would be a real shame if what's left of the old Grove Colliery site gets lost without being recorded properly. There are several buildings,  including the engine shed, manager's house and offices. The wharfside office building which could also have been a residence has some interesting architectural details such as cast iron window sills, something I've never seen before. 

70% nearly went recently to make way for a few travellers static caravans,  luckily plans changed at the last minute. 

None of the buildings would look out of place at the Black Country Museum. 

[ditchcrawler]

17 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

 

Especially if there was one of those little locks to stop you using the dial!

 

[Rob-M]

45 minutes ago, Athy said:

One doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Coal was just part of the pattern of life for the great majority of British people until probably the 1980s - although I suppose our air is cleaner, it is sad to see it become a curio or a museum piece. I even note that some new houses are built without a chimney. I'd never want to live in a house without a fireplace or stove.

   But then, gas mantles were a part of everyday life for many thousands of people a few generations ago, but I don't think I've ever seen one working except in a museum.

Often we have to explain to children what the coal in the coal box is for when showing them in the cabin on the working boats.

[robtheplod]

36 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Rotary dialling was for wusses!

 

Calling a number by tapping the cradle buttons at the correct speed and intervals to generate the pulses was much more fun.

 

Especially if there was one of those little locks to stop you using the dial!

Was your Dad a tight wad as well as mine ??!!!