[Coquet]

I doff my hat to your ancestor's financial acumen!

Income is an interesting facet of social history - I was at Beamish a few years back , looking at the row of miners' cottages, I noticed they were furnished with some very high quality pieces of furniture - beautiful walnut etc - I asked the Beamish guide doubtfully if he thought such furniture was really representative of a miners cottage and he was adamant that it was - "many of the miners were very well paid" he said.

I suspect the truth is that mining wages waxed and waned over the decades with periods of rising/falling unemployment, wars, depressions etc.


I wonder how they (the mine owners) kept a lid on wages when the industry was expanding?
Radcliffe Colliery advertised for 300 men in one advert in the 1840 - that must have put some pressure on wages? Did men move from Shilbottle? Although the mine owners probably had some kind of gentlemen's agreement to keep things under control.