Looking at Carnkie's picture reminds me that the 'Ballroom' flat in Smallcleugh is so named because the local Masons held a dinner there just after the turn of the 20th century.

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Sparty, I have heard about this from over 40 years ago and was told by the late Eric Richardson of Nenhead that the ladies were carried in to the mine in the tubs that were covered in sacking or hessian to protect their fine dresses. I did a fair bit of research to get a date, which Eric said was about 1880, but without success. Is there any contemporary documentary evidence for the event?

Cornish Pixie's detailed piece mentioning Oddfellows certainly seems to hold water as the pub in Caldbeck, at the centre of the Northern Fells lead mining is the Oddfellows Arms. The only other pub of this name that I know about is on the fringe of the West Cumberland Coal Mining area.

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The new interpretation board the heritage trust have put up at the mine entrance says 190?4 I think, but I've not seen any original references.

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Sparty, I have heard about this from over 40 years ago and was told by the late Eric Richardson of Nenhead that the ladies were carried in to the mine in the tubs that were covered in sacking or hessian to protect their fine dresses. I did a fair bit of research to get a date, which Eric said was about 1880, but without success. Is there any contemporary documentary evidence for the event?

Cornish Pixie's detailed piece mentioning Oddfellows certainly seems to hold water as the pub in Caldbeck, at the centre of the Northern Fells lead mining is the Oddfellows Arms.

The only other pub of this name that I know about is on the fringe of the West Cumberland Coal Mining area.

There is or was an Oddfellows pub in Falmouth.
One society that seems to be overlooked here is the Buffaloes and I would suggest they are closer to the masons than anything.

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There are many pubs in Britain today which are named 'The Oddfellows' or 'Oddfellows Arms' and point towards these places being past meeting places of Lodges. Many rooms over the pub were used for such meetings.

The Buffaloes (R.O.A.B.) is another friendly society and is currently structured in a manner similar to all Masonic Orders in that it is a three tiered system of Minor (Private) Lodges, Provincial Grand Lodges and Grand Lodge. Lodges and Provinces are at liberty to undertake whatever activity they consider appropriate for the needs of the community in which they work and live. Charitable funds exist at Lodge, Province and Grand Lodge levels to assist members of the Order and/or their dependants who are in necessitous circumstances.

The R.A.O.B. grew up in London in the early C19th and was started by actors, stagehands and theatre technicians. Their meetings were commonly held in inns and taverns. The R.O.A.B. in Lanner used to meet above the Lanner Inn. It seems that some men are Masons as well as Buffaloes.

There are/were a bewildering number of friendly or fraternal societies: the Ancient Order of Foresters (set up in England in 1834 and which had an American/Canadian counterpart: the I.O.F.); The Independent Order of Rechabites (founded in England in 1835 as part of the temperance movement to promote total abstinence from alcohol. A branch was established in the United States in 1842, and the Order was active in Australia from the nineteenth century); The Ancient Order of Hibernians (an Irish-Catholic Order founded in New York City in 1836) and the Order of the Sons of St George (established in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1871 to counter the effects of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and open to first-, second- and third-generation Englishmen residing in the USA. It offered sick and death benefits to members). Interestingly, there was quite a lot of friction between the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the the Order of the Sons of St George in Scranton and in Butte Montana.

There were also some female friendly societies too.

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There is a pub in Pool that use to be called Oddfellows (called something else now) where in latter years the upstairs room was used by the R.O.A.B. I'm told they had a head of a Buffalo on the wall with the lodge number.

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Sparty, I have heard about this from over 40 years ago and was told by the late Eric Richardson of Nenhead that the ladies were carried in to the mine in the tubs that were covered in sacking or hessian to protect their fine dresses. I did a fair bit of research to get a date, which Eric said was about 1880, but without success. Is there any contemporary documentary evidence for the event?



Cornish Pixie's detailed piece mentioning Oddfellows certainly seems to hold water as the pub in Caldbeck, at the centre of the Northern Fells lead mining is the Oddfellows Arms. The only other pub of this name that I know about is on the fringe of the West Cumberland Coal Mining area.

Details of Smallcleugh Mine at Nenthead with regard to Freemasons and early tourists..........

The Ballroom Flat is one of the many large flat working chambers in Smallcleugh Mine. It is 40m long by 6.5m wide and was so named because on September 2nd 1901, 28 masonic members (Alston Branch) celebrated their first anniversary by holding a dinner underground in this chamber. It was an evening of songs and speeches with the chamber lit with candles and filled with tables covered with cloths. The Nenthead Brass Band gathered on a timber stage built at one end. Guests travelled up the level in mine wagons as did the drink, food and china packed in straw. J.C. Fernau (manager of the Belgian V.M. Company) also gave an address.

1821 quote by the Moor Master who was running the mines on behalf of the landowners
In 1821 the Moor Master noted that “Smallcleugh Flats” were a tourist attraction
“The workings on account of being so easy of access are much visited by strangers, persons may go directly up to them in wagons ........very pretty appearance.........the sides and roof are covered with fine rich looking spar. These workings are an exception and are the richest flats yet found in the country for producing ore”.
Thomas Sopwith (1833) added that:
“They are so easy of access that ladies visit them”

Hope this info supplies the details you were asking about.

Info on Masons dance in Smallcleugh very much appreciated. It does make life difficult if you are 20 years out when researching an event. I went back to the ballroom last year after a break of 36 years (I'm sure Hetherington's must be a foot lower now, or so my knees and back told me) and there certainly was a lot more graffitti on the walls and not a vestige of straw about the place. In 1969-72 period there were the odd pieces of "straw" although they looked more like rushes from boggy farmland.

The timber stage tallies with what Eric Richardson told us. There is a rill cut into the floor towards the bottom end and Eric said this was chopped out to anchor the wooden stage which had slipped "on a previous occasion", thus implying there had been more than one dance held there.

Incidentally, most libraries carry a load of book on freemasonary and these will tell you all about the aims and beliefs and, in most cases, how to make the secret handshake.
And to those who are saying "he must be one". I'm not!

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