The Daughter of River Valley by Victoria Cornwall

Author:Victoria Cornwall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, historical, romance, Cornwall
Publisher: Choc Lit
Published: 2019-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

Bodannock mine, one of the largest in Cornwall, was in fact made up of three engine houses. There was a rare beauty to the mine. Unusually, the steam engines were built upon protruding rocky stacks at the base of the cliff, with the sea lapping close to their foundations. Though constructed by man, they were part of the fabric of the coastline. Their eighty-foot towers, with the sea and cliffs as their backdrop, would have resembled castle towers in a fairy tale, but for the deafening noise, dirt and mine labourers on the cliff above. The mine employed up to four hundred people, women above ground and men below, in a network of complicated tunnels, which led out under the seabed. Unlike other mine owners in the county, Joss refused to employ anyone below the age of fourteen. Although it would have been cheaper, they were not as strong and he did not want a child’s death on his hands.

Joss and Edward sat on horseback looking down on the mine workings and watching the bal maidens breaking the ore with their hammers. They were hardworking women, plain-spoken and coarse in their language. They spent their days breaking up the ore into smaller pieces before loading it onto trolleys and pushing it to the ore-crushing machine. Although their work was hard, they were paid well and preferred working at the mine to domestic service. Their large hoods protected them from the sun and flying debris. Their dresses, unusually short and showing their ankles in order not to hinder their work, did nothing for their appearance. Steadying his agitated horse, Edward saw a woman wipe her nose on her sleeve.

‘They are an uncouth lot,’ Edward said. He watched two of them converse using their own sign language, as the noise from the steam engine and tin stamp machinery made talking difficult.

‘They are honest and reliable, Edward,’ replied Joss. ‘And they would have a few choice words with you if they thought you were disrespecting them.’

Edward nodded thoughtfully. ‘Of that I have no doubt. Do they know that in a year only half of them will still have employment, and within two the mine will be closed?’

‘No, not yet.’ Joss looked down at his muddied boots. ‘I have just been down Piper’s shaft. I wanted to check the ladders are still sound and I spoke with Jacob, the mine captain. He says he can sniff more tin and he wants me to dig another shaft, but he has said this before and it came to nothing.’

Edward looked at him. ‘You do not want to take a chance?’

Joss shook his head. ‘No; if you take a chance and it does not work, you are considered a fool. I have not told Jacob I plan to close the mine, but he has been a mine captain since I was a boy and he knows the lie of the land. I can see it in his eyes that he knows that closure is on the cards, and it is the reason he is trying to persuade me to dig further.

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