I did not put a date as I would have had to look it up in the many books I had about the mine and its closure.
It would be earlier in the century and the houses had no gas or electricity,- they did not come until the late 1950’s , no water or toilets.
Built hastily in the 1800’s it is amazing they still stand .
The old squatters’ rights pertained ie ie if smoke was coming out of the chimney by dusk they could live there so the massive chimney stack was built first then the family camped under I suppose tarpaulins or something then the rest of the cottage was built ,two downstairs rooms and two upstairs.
Everyone helped each other.
They still stand ,built of the local stone excavated from the hill side and waste from the mine shaft and adits.
This would be early 1800’s but still standing today ,modernised and
extended ..
I think most underground work had stopped when I went Christmas 1940.
Surface work continued as the spoil heaps were valuable themselves.
So a fifty year old man then would have worked from 14 years old ,so from 1904.The primitive equipment was added to by a special drill, which increased the dangerous dust in fact it was nicknamed “ the widow maker”.
No efficient masks or air filtration in those days .
Hence early retirement through silicosis so earning years reduced.
£65 in the time the men were becoming redundant was more than a year’s wages so hard to find.
But the cottages still stand , testament to the skills of the men and the material ,local stone but lead bearing!
The houses were tested in the 1980’s for strontium and had to have an impermeable membrane installed to cover the floor which was beaten earth and then linoleum , tiled floors were placed over the primitive floor after the membrane.
The £65 price would be in the 1900’ s ,they were owned by the inhabitants when I went 1940.
Many now bear no resemblance to their first appearance, pebble dashed or smooth white finishes, hardly any grey slightly sparkly stone now.
Barytes was still extracted for a time ,the huge spoil heaps that could be seen for miles now grassed over as the toxic dust blew about in dry weather.
Worth a visit if in the area.
I wish I could get there ,but a much reduced bus service from Shrewsbury
limits a visit and places I want to see well off the bus route.
My Great grandparents ‘ grave and my grandmother’s sister who cared for us for a time and her kind brother, then the graves of the people with whom I lived for the longest time , so kind to me ,their daughter like a big sister but another mum,making three —- mine in Manchester,”Auntie “and her daughter Ruth., and “Uncle “who was t he Methodist lay preacher.
I have gone down memory lane again ,
I like it there .
Viktoria.
