Britain 1740 – 1950 by Richard Lawton Colin G. Pooley

Author:Richard Lawton, Colin G. Pooley [Richard Lawton, Colin G. Pooley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Human Geography
ISBN: 9781000390285
Google: KRhREAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-12-02T04:28:02+00:00

Coal mining and energy use

By the early 1830s coal production in Britain averaged nearly 32 million tons per annum. All surface coalfields were actively mined, but some smaller fields – such as Shropshire, North Wales and Cumberland – were in decline. Coal production was progressively focused on the larger coalfields as the development of deep mining enabled the concealed coal measures to be exploited. Large inland coalfields benefited as railway companies competed for the coal trade to distant markets such as London.

Technological innovation enabled pits to become bigger and more productive through improvements in mining techniques, particularly the long wall method of extraction. A key to such methods lay in improved ventilation by air pumps from the early nineteenth century and, from the 1830s, by steam-powered fans. Detection of and safeguarding against fire-damp, a major cause of explosions, through the improved Davy lamp (1816) made mines safer. Improved drainage by more effective steam pumps and developments in shaft-sinking and lining facilitated deep mining so that by the late 1830s coal was being raised in east Durham, for example, from depths of over 2,000 feet.

Underground transport by wagon way and pony, then by stationary steam engine linked to continuous rope-haulage (introduced at Wallsend on Tyne in 1844) greatly extended the range of underground haulage to the shaft. From the 1840s, better engines and winding gear brought coal to the surface in bulk. Such innovations lowered production costs and helped promote wider use of coal in industry, transport and domestically. As the price of coal dropped in real terms, that of wood fuel rose, so that coal became virtually the sole supplier of energy in most places from the 1850s (Table 10.4).

Table 10.4 Coal output and consumption in the United Kingdom, 1869-1950 18691 18871 19132 19292 19322 19372 19503

T(m.t.) (%) T(m.t) (%) T(m.t) (%) T(m.t.) (%) T(m.t.) (%) T(m.t.) (%> T(m.t.) (%)

Output 107.4 162.1 287.3 257.9 208.7 240.4 216.3

Export and foreign bankers HOME USES 10.2 (9.5) 23.3 (14.4) 94.4 (32.9) 76.7 (29.8) 53.1 (25.4) 52.0 (21.6) 13.6 (6.3)

Gasworks 6.3 (6.5) 9.5 (6.8) 16.7 (9.1) 16.8 (9.7) 16.4 (10.9) 18.2 (10.0) 26.2 (13.3)

Electricity - - - - 4.9 (2.7) 9.8 (5.7) 9.8 (6.6) 14.7 (8.1) 32.9 (16.7)

.Railways 2.0 (2.1) 6.2 (4.5) 13.2 (6.8) 13.4 (7.7) 11.7 (7.8) 13.1 (7.2) 14.2 (7.2)

Mines 6.7 (6.9) 10.9 (7.9) 18.0 (9.3) 13.7 (7.9) 12.0 (8.1) 12.2 (6.7) 10.7 (5.4)

Blast Furnaces 16.3 (16.7) 14.3 (10.3) 21.2 (11.5) 14.5 (8.4) 6.5 (4.4) 14.7 (8.1) 9.9 (5.0)

Other Industrial and domestic uses 65.9 (67.8) 97.9 (70.5) 109.8 (56.9) 105.3 (60.6) 93.1 (62.2) 109.9 (59.9) 104.9 (53.3)

Total home consumption 97.2 138.8 183.8 173.5 149.5 181.8 198.8

Surplus over home consumption N.A. N.A. + 9.1 (+4.7) + 7.7 (+4.2) + 6.1 (+3.9) + 6.6 (+3.5) + 3.9 (+2.9)

Column 2 of home uses gives percentages of: total available for home consumption in 1869 and 1887; actual consumption from 1913, less than the coal available for home use, giving surpluses shown in the last line

N.A. = not available

T(m.t.) = Total (million tons)

Sources: 1 Mitchell and Deane

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