Our Visit To Skinningrove

We arrived at Skinningrove mine and were made welcome and were issued with hard hats.  We then watched a film made by Clive Hornby.  We then went in a room where we were told the procedures the men went through and the end process.

We went through and saw a model of Nelson the horse and we saw the clog irons the men would wear in the cabinets.  We also saw the midge candles that were used.  We walked through and saw the ventilation fan which was on the wall and then we went through and saw the old poss tub and the mangle.

We were then passed on to another guide who issued us with a disc as the miners would have been issued with before going down the mine these would have been handed in at the end of the shift.

We then went to the drift mine we were shown he tools the men would have used.

We went through to another place and were given a demonstration of an explosion of how the iron ore was loosened.  I found the whole experience enjoyable especially as my Grandfather used to work at Skelton mines and I realised the life he lived.

This mine is definitely worth a visit’

Susan Scott

Our Visit to the Mine

I really enjoyed my visit to the mine and found it most interesting. After watching the video telling us how the iron ore was found and how the mine was started,we were shown photos of tools and old helmets etc. and a model of one of the horses that worked down the mine.  We then put on hard hats and entered part of the drift mine and were told how the men worked in complete darkness only using candles,which they had to buy themselves. We then  were shown how the men used explosives and how the ore was extracted and hauled away through the mine. After hearing about the young boy sitting by the gate in the darkness and making friends with the rats, made us aware of the hard life these miners lived, for very little money and very little reward.

ironstone mine experience

Bang, crash wallop this is what I expected when I visited the mine and yet wait for it, it was calm. There was a clanking of chains and a waggon shunting into the sidings, One thing that the visit did was to stop Ged smoking for the first time as he had to give up his cigarettes for a minute as he might have blown us up. A big achievement. We had the feeling of all those men that had worked for a long time in very poor conditions and our hearts went out to them. The men had to bring their own powder and candles in which was purchased from the mine owners this limited the amount of explosives used. We heard of the experience of the tally boy and his job of opening the gate to enable the ventilation and learnt the value of the candle that his dad had bought needing to eek it out to the end of the shift. The candles were used to “flash off” the build up of the methane which was slight.
Then there was Gladstone not Roland, although I did think of him and the surprise of it all but we failed, didn’t we, as no one photographed him. Have you ever shared a meal with a rat, the tally boy did, as he made a friend of him and he nursed him on his knee whilst sharing his bait. The poor horses stayed down there for as many as 18 years, they also had leather helmets. Cam drew the short straw and lit the fuse to extend the length of the mine, then we all had to evacuate to the safe area. We all sat in the dark to eperience what it was like to know what black is black and this was the hardest part of the visit. While waiting for the explosion and rock fall, it eventually came and then we trooped back to see the effect and experience the smoke and the dust. The miners in the past would be wondering how far was the new area to work on, this would be important to support the family. It was a wonderful sensation to go out into the daylight and leave the darkness behind knowing we did not have to go back there again.