Part 2! ( for part 1 see my post on 14th Aug ) I often say that mid Wales must have been a little bit like the 'wild west' for the people who came here to work in the mines, this is about them, from one of the old fact sheets written by Peter Lloyd Harvey in the 1970's for the old Llywernog Silver Lead mine Museum. Its in part about people who moved to another country to work in new lands.

The Mining Communities.

The following villages in Cardiganshire traditionally had a high proportion of lead mining families living within them. From north to south these were:- Tre'r-ddol, Tre Taliesin, Talybont, Elerch (Bontgoch), Penrhyncoch, Penbontrhydybeddau, Cwmsymlog, Cwmerfin, Darren, Salem, Goginan, Cwm-brwyno, Llywernog, Ponterwyd, Ystumtuen, Devil's Bridge (Pontarfynach), Aberffrwd, Trisant, Cwmystwyth, Pontrhydygroes, Yspytty Ystwyth, Llanafan, and Pontrhydfendigaid. Certainly in the early years, the Cornish communities kept apart from the local inhabitants. Big concerns, such as the Lisburne Mines Company, actually built acc-ommodation for their own 'key workers' from Cornwall. New Row, between Trisant and Pontrhydygroes, is an example and a gravestone in Goginan village tells of a long forgotten terrace known as 'Cornish Row.' Not only did the Cornish live apart from the Welshmen, but they upheld their own peculiar brand of religion; Wesleyan Methodism. The very first Wesleyan chapel to be built in the Cardiganshire circuit was provided by the Lisburne Mines Company, close to New Row and the giant Fron-goch Mine complex. Later, chapels were also built for the mining communities at Goginan, Cwmystwyth, Pontrhydygroes, Tre'r-ddol, Cwmsymlog and Ystumtuen.

The Mine 'Captains.'

These men were the elite of the mining industry. In the village communities, as in the dark depths of the mine workings, they commanded the utmost respect. Many were Cornish, or of Cornish extraction, but as the industry expanded in the 1850's, their ranks were joined by local men such as John Hughes of Talybont. In an age of illiteracy, the Captains kept the mine ledgers, surveyed the workings and paid the men. Some, such as Absalom Francis & Sampson Trevethan, found time to write numerous letters in the columns of the 'Mining Journal', usually describing the hectic activity in the ore-field and imploring investors to 'venture' a little more capital in the Welsh hills! The captains acted as consultants, inspected mining properties and reported on their merits, and inevitably said the right thing as far as the shareholders were concerned. Apart from this tenancy toward the 'overstatement', they were nevertheless good fundamental engineers who understood the pumps & winding gear, knew perhaps a little less about geology and ore-dressing, and were the absolute 'king-pins' of the entire industry. The names of some of these men have been preserved within the faded pages of the 'Mining Journal' and in other lists of mines & Inspectors Reports. These were some of the better-known mine 'captains' of Cardiganshire:-

Absalom & Mathew Francis (from Perranuthnoe, Cornwall), Henry Tyack, Michael Barbery, George Pearce, Sampson & John Trevethan (from Chacewater, Cornwall), Arthur Waters, Thomas Pascoe, James Sanders, John Trewin, Robert & Richard Northey, James & Henry Boundy, James Lester, Andrew Williams, John Davis, Charles & Richard Williams, James Raw, Richard Harvey, James & John Paull, Richard Clocker, William Michell, Thomas Ball, John Williams, John Hughes, James Corbett, John Kitto, Thomas Kemp, Thomas Hodge, John Tregonning, John Glint, John, James, Peter & Thomas Garland, Richard Rowse, John Owen, Nicholas Bray, John H. Croucher, Jonathan Pell, Joseph B. Rowse, Robert Uren, William Brammell, John Ridge, Thomas & Lyle Glanville, Edward Evans, Richard Claridge, & Robert R. Nancarrow.

The System Of 'Cornish Mining.'

Wherever the Cornish miners went, they carried with them a whole system of mining practice which had evolved in the tin and copper districts of the West Country. This 'standardization' not only involved terminology, but also such things as pumping plant, the 10-fathom interval in-between levels and the method of employment of the labour force. Not all the employees on a mine were miners. There were tributers, tutmen, labourers and ore-dressers, besides specialists such as stone masons, carpenters & blacksmiths, all under the direction of one or more Agents or Captains. The following account, written in 1868, gives a clear description of the differences between the groups of workers:-

'There are three classes of miners - those who work on the surface, dressing ore etc., who are paid a weekly wage; those who work on "tribute", and those who work on "tut-work." Of the first we say nothing, except that they consist chiefly of bal-maidens and children, - the former receiving about I8s. a month, and the latter from 8s. to 20s., according to age and capacity. In regard to "tributers" and "tut-workers", we may remark that the work of both is identical in one respect - namely, that of hewing, picking, boring, and blasting the hard rock. In this matter they share equal toils and dangers, but they are not sub jected to the same remunerative vicissitudes.

Tributers & Tut-workers.

When a man works on "tribute" he receives so many shillings for every twenty shillings' worth of ore that he raises during the month.... If his "pitch" turns out to be rich in ore, his earnings are proportionally high; if it be poor, he remains poor also. Sometimes a part of the mineral lode becomes so poor that it will not pay for working, and has to be abandoned. So as little as a shilling may be the result of a "tributers" work for a month at one time, while at another time he may get a good pitch, and make 100 or 200 in the same period.

The "tut-man" (or piece work man), on the other hand, cuts out the rock at so much per fathom, and obtains wages at the rate of from 2-IOs. to 3 a month. He can never hope to make a fortune, but so long as health and strength last, he may count on steady work and wage. Of course there is a great deal of the work in a mine which is not directly remunerative, such as "sinking" shafts, opening up and "driving" (or lengthening) levels, and sinking "winzes." On such work tutmen are employed. The man who works on tribute is a speculator. He who chooses tut-work is a steady labourer ........'

Home Life.

The Cardiganshire miner, when not crawling around in the damp and dark of a mine level, was often-as-not a small-scale farmer, earning a supplementary living from a patch of marginal land. All around Llywernog, Ponterwyd & Ystumtuen you can see the ruins of these tiny small-holdings which once provided a rudimentary home for the miners and their families. This fact was an advantage to mine owners for it enabled them to keep wages low, but it could also cause high absenteeism during times of potato planting and at harvest time. There was also a great tradition of peat harvesting from the numerous 'turbaries' throughout the mountains; peat providing the main source of heat for the home and for cooking. The most prolonged stoppages in the mines occurred in September when a whole succession of harvests of one sort or another might keep the men occupied for eight weeks or more. The 'Mining Journal' of 1877 stated that in Cardiganshire it was still the general custom for men to combine a 40-hour week at the mines with small-scale farming, and that employment, therefore, tended to pass from father to son. To many of the local men, mining was merely a means of earning enough to pay the rent for the small-holding. This was in complete contrast to the Cornishman, who was a professional 'career' miner and prepared to stake everything on the gambling element of the 'tribute' system.

Barrack Life.

Many of the Cardiganshire lead mines were located high up in the mountains and far away from the village communities. Barrack accommodation was often provided for the miners, who spent the whole working week away from home. The 'barracks' became a traditional part of the working life of the lead miner, a tradition that survived right up till the early part of the 20th century at Bryn-yr-Afr, Cwmystwyth & Bwlch-glas Mines. The men left home before dawn on Monday morning and walked up the little footpaths that led from the villages into the hills, taking with them all their food supplies for the week. At the barracks they slept two or more to a bed, bedclothes were rarely washed and there were few, if any, sanitary arrangements. Where a 3-shift system was being operated, the beds were never empty. It is hardly surprising that tuberculosis was one of the most common complaints amongst lead miners.

EPILOGUE.

After the great slump of the 1880's, migration away from the mining area of Cardiganshire gathered pace. Gradually, the old mining villages became depopulated. Chapels & schools closed down and decaying small-holdings dotted the landscape. As a breed, the Cardiganshire miner is no more, but his memory will continue to haunt the green hills of Mid-Wales for many generations to come.

100. 1981. SPLH.