I'm in the middle of a project involving the village of Eyam, in the plague years of 1665/1666.

Does anyone know which lead mines were active near Eyam at that time, and generally what the working conditions were like? What would a lead miner actually do in his work?[i]

Cheers, Ant.

http://www.pdmhs.com/ 

They will likely hold all the info you seek in the area :thumbup:

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Sorry to disappoint you Edd, but we don't know everything about the mines!

It'd be hard to say exactly which mines were at work around that time unless a barmaster's ore measurement account survives for the liberty at that time, and most of the surviving accounts are 18th/19th century. 17th century records tend to be from court disputes, so we really only see the mines appearing when something's gone wrong, plus many of the records are down in London so haven't been as well studied as we might like. Jim Rieuwerts has told me he thinks he's really only scratched the surface of what's in the Duchy of Lancaster and Chancery court records...

As for working conditions and what they did, the fictional descriptions in "Year of Miracles" do convey some of what it would have been like, although there are some mistakes - for example, Derbyshire miners didn't throw water onto the rock face when firesetting, they lit the fire at the end of a shift, got out of the mine and came back next day when the fire had gone out and cooled to remove the ore and waste rock.

In normal operation, you'd normally have had small groups, (probably families) working at a late C17th mine with a pickman working at the face winning the ore, boys dragging the ore back to the shafts and winding it up, and women dressing/washing the ore, usually on the surface but sometimes underground if there was a reliable source of water in a mine.

I'd suggest getting in touch with the Eyam museum, as that will get you in contact with Doug Nash, who's extremely knowledgeable about the area and has been into most of the still-accessible mines around Eyam.

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Sorry to disappoint you Edd, but we don't know everything about the mines!

Pah i dunno call yourselves a historical society thats just poor :tongue: lol I didnt know there was an Eyam museum but would be very interested to hear what findings come out of your research Ant :flowers:

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Is this you volunteering for a couple of months in the National Archives reading and transcribing 350-year old court records then? :devil:

The museum is on the road that heads up to Ladywash and New Engine. I have to admit to not having been myself on account of rarely being in Eyam during the hours of daylight.....

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Is this you volunteering for a couple of months in the National Archives reading and transcribing 350-year old court records then? :devil:

The museum is on the road that heads up to Ladywash and New Engine. I have to admit to not having been myself on account of rarely being in Eyam during the hours of daylight.....

Erm maybe not then :lol:

Ah cool nope havent seen it although i suffer from the same problem and am usually underground in that area in daylight rather than above ground :lol:

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sounds a thankless task...

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Eyestrain and headaches from trying to decipher erratic handwriting and idiosyncratic spelling is usual, and like the actual mining, you have to shovel through a lot of deads before you find the prize you're looking for....

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In the 60's did a survey of the Bagshaw Documents in the John Rylands library Manchester.
Basically Hucklow Edge Rake was being worked from around Milldam mine and then worked Eastward.
I cannot remember actual dates for this but it was all written up and published in the P.D.M.H.S. Journal.
I would have thought that Jim Riewarts in his new books would be the obvious place to start as he has drawn on all of this info over many years.

http://moorebooks.co.uk/shelves/cart.php?target=product&product_id=19981&category_id=326  or if you're in the area, Castleton tourist information centre.

The Hucklow Edge vein in the Eyam area wasn't exploited until 1712/13 due to the depth of cover of the shale and gritstone, instead you'd be looking at the mines close to the village and those driven from Middleton dale in the 1660s.

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My wifes' Granny knows more than anyone alive about the Eyam Plague and giggles to herself at some of the rubbish that is spouted.

Incidently, have you looked at the research done on the link between plague survivors and HIV survivors in the USA? Very strange but it makes a strong case.

I remember seeing the documentary about that from 10-15 years ago, which was pretty interesting.

To summarise that documentary, both the plague baccilus and HIV use a similar method of propagating themselves in the human body. There's a particular genetic mutation found in Europeans, which if present as a single copy (about 1 in 3 people) makes you less susceptible to these and able to survive plague/not develop AIDS and if present as a double copy (about 1 in 100 people), makes you immune to these. When it arose is uncertain, but the culling effect of the Black Death and subsequent instances of plague have meant it's got relatively common among Europeans.

The reason Eyam was picked for the study used in the documentary was that if they could test descendants of the Eyam plague survivors, they would be expected to show a higher than average instance of the "protector" mutation, which they did. They also studied a gay man in San Francisco who'd lived through the height of the AIDS epidemic there, lost several friends and lovers, yet remained HIV free. No surprises to find he had a double copy of the mutation!

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Astonishing recall :ohmygod:

I doubt very much whether a virus and Yersinia pestis use 'similar methods of propagation within the body'unless the bacterium has some method of intracellular reproduction :lol:

So there's a bit more to it than that.

There may well be, but given I'm going on memory of a documentary I saw over a decade ago, I think it's a bit much to expect accurate details of thwe biologicals! :tongue:

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Yes, I realised that about 30 seconds after typing it..... 😞 :lol:

It does say something about the quality of the documentary that I can remember most of the key details after all this time! One thing I can't remember is what series it was from, I think it was either Horizon or Timewatch - wouldn't mind seeing it again....

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I would pay serious money (at least 4 groats.... 😞 ) for a full set of the Horizon strand. Cutting edge science for the masses.

http://www.eyammuseum.demon.co.uk/DELTA32.HTM 

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I would pay serious money (at least 4 groats.... 😞 ) for a full set of the Horizon strand. Cutting edge science for the masses.

I'm fairly sure theres an enormous torrent that had years of it kicking around, I remember finding it for a mate who left the country and was missing it.