Ownership, technology and patterns of coalmining activity in Northumberland between 1600 and 1850
This thesis attempts to describe and explain the spatial changes which occurred in the development of coalmining in Northumberland between 1600 and 1850. The explanation is derived from an examination of primary and published sources of various types, of which colliery records, documents and plans have been the most important. The study is divided into two main parts. The first is concerned with the movement of mining away from the outcrops into areas of deeper coal culminating in the colonisation of the remoter coalfield. It begins in the early seventeenth century when mining was confined to a few manors on the banks of the Tyne and traces chronologically the great changes in the nature, scale and location of the industry which occurred during the ensuing two-and-a-half centuries. The second part analyses the major influences which controlled the location and movement of mining, dealing primarily with the roles of land and colliery ownership and of changing technology. In conclusion an attempt is made to evaluate the predictability of the mining process and to assess its amenability to model-building and generalisation.
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