Bell Mining
Bells Pits was the type of mining used during the 17th century. This involves digging bore holes to search for coal.
Bell Mining
This is an illustration of a bell mine, so called because of its bell shape underground. Shafts were dug about 20 to 50 feet apart, and the coal was extracted as far as the miners could go, making a tent or bell-shaped cavity. As soon as the ground around the pit became undermined, the bell pit was abandoned and another one opened.
Bell Mining
Bell Mining
This is an illustration of a bell mine, so called because of its bell shape underground. Shafts were dug about 20 to 50 feet apart, and the coal was extracted as far as the miners could go, making a tent or bell-shaped cavity. As soon as the ground around the pit became undermined, the bell pit was abandoned and another one opened.
Shafts were dug about twenty to fifty feet apart, and the coal was removed as far as the miner dared. He would do this by making a tent or bell shaped hole. These were joined by an underground tunnel to allow the easy movement of air.
The miners manually cut out the coal with picks and hammers as there were no explosives available. Pillars of coal were left as supports. When the coal was brought to the surface it was broken up into smaller pieces and then transported on its way.
Opencast mining
Opencast mining occurs when the earth is dug up near the surface until you can see the seam of coal. The coal is then picked by hand and sorted by machinery.
Some of the pits in Castlecomer were very deep and a lot of the ground was dug up. Where once there was level ground, now there are hills and hollows.
Today, we can still see the various levels of the earth's crust; soil, rock, shale, coal and fireclay.
Pit mining
First of all, the engineers would bore holes with a drill to find out where the best seam of coal was. They would go as far as 300feet below the surface.
Once a location was decided, a pit was dug up to allow them to remove the coal. They would dig a passage of roads and tunnels below the surface to help them access and transport the coal.
Some of these tunnels were only two feet high and grown men would have to wriggle their way underground for hours at a time.
Things became slighty easier from 1830 on when explosives were often used to break up the coal seam. The coal would then be gathered in baskets and brought to the surface, sometimes using ponies.