TinnerStreet

About Jim (Tinner) Street

This article below was put together by Dennis Street and his daughter, Wendy about Dennis' dad's work down the pit and what it entailed. Jim Street (also known locally as Tinner) worked in the Kiveton Pit from the age of 14 in 1925 until December 1964 when he immigrated to Australia.

In Australia he worked as a hospital orderly in the same hospital where Wendy was born and was one of the first to meet his first grandchild. He worked there for 10 years before having to stop working due to ill health. Shortly after he stopped working, he died of pneumoconiosis, also known as Black Lung Disease, something which claimed many coal miners their lives.

The photos we have used have been kindly donated by the Kiveton Park and Wales History Society and are copyrighted to the very kind people of Kiveton and Wales who own the original photos. These photos are used with permission and not available to download from this site. If you wish to use any of their photos, please contact the History Society directly.

From the earliest times, at least as far as I know them, Jim Street worked the three shifts, starting at 6.00am, 2.00pm, and 10.00pm. Those shifts went from Monday to Friday, and then the miners started the next shift on the following Monday. So on the Monday, those who had worked the day shift, 6.00am start, moved to afternoon shift starting at 2.00pm, the afternoon shift went to the night shift with the 10.00pm start, and the night shift moved to the day shift.

For most of the time that he worked down the pit, he, after reaching the bottom of the shaft, or more properly the seam, walked along the seam to the coal face with others until they reached their working area along the seam, and back again at the end of the shift. Of course, in much later years, they had a small engine which pulled wagons on which they rode. At various times, as they worked different seams at the level, they would walk up to half a mile before reaching the face, and at other times would face a walk of 1 mile, and of course would be faced with the same walk back to the shaft at the shift end.

But before all that, Jim started work by getting his lamp and tally at the Lamp Office and the Tally Office. The lamp fitted onto the front of his metal safety helmet, with a thick cord going down his back to the battery, which fitted on his belt. The tally was a metal tag which also fitted on his belt, with each man giving his Tally Number to the Tally Clerk at the start of each shift. That tally stayed on his belt until he came from underground at the end of his shift, when he would hand it in, the Tally Clerk repeating his name, as a check that every man who had gone down had returned to the surface.

The Lamp and battery would be checked in the Lamp Office to see that they were working properly before leaving the office. The lamp and battery would also be handed in to the Lamp Office at the shift end.

The Lamp Clerk and Tally Clerks - there were more than one in each office - also worked the same shift as the miners. The next ones they saw on their way underground were the men at the shaft head, who counted the men into the cages which would lower them down the shaft to the level they were working. Those men were responsible for closing the gates as the cage was filled, and then signalling to the men operating the winding gear in the engine house, who would then start to lower the cage and the men underground. From the winding house, thick wire ropes would go up the top of the head gear, a large steel framework over the top of each shaft which had big wheels on its top, or near to it, which the ropes went over, and then down to the top of the cage, to which they were attached. The cages would be lowered quite quickly, with a lurch when starting, and would only slow when nearing the level. If there was coal or rock to be brought up, this would be loaded at the level on to the cage, and the winding house operator, at the signal, would take up the full cage, have it emptied for the next group to go down to their work.

This did not happen often, as getting the men to their work was a priority, and bringing up coal, rock, or even the odd pit pony was done after the shift had started work. So the winding house was busy throughout the 24 hours, the cage being lowered and raised for its various reasons.

Besides his lamp and tally, Jim would carry his Snap Tin and tea bottle with him underground. The Snap Tin was made of tin, of course, and contained his sandwiches for his meal, which was eaten underground and the tea bottle was merely a bottle full of tea. The tea was cold by the time he drank it, mostly without milk. Of course the Snap Tin would be opened only at Snap Time, signalled by a hooter through the levels, but the drink bottle would be opened a number of times through the shift, as it was dry work down below.

Miners could not smoke underground, as the danger from gas was always present, so smokers took with them either a snuff tin or chewing tobacco, Jim preferring to have chewing tobacco. This looked like a stick of liquorice, and a lump could be bitten off and chewed at any time. In fact, each man had to turn out his pockets before going underground, as cigarettes, matches, lighters, or anything metal which could create a spark could not be taken below. Naturally there could be no provision for a lunch room below, so the meal would be eaten wherever the miners were working. The level was anything but level, with hills and dales along its length as it had been dug out to get the coal. Some parts were as much as six feet high, but others were only 3 to 4 feet high, causing the men to stoop, or almost bend doubled over as they moved along. If they were working on one of these lower sections, their snap would be eaten whilst squatting on their haunches or leaning on the wall.

Normal working clothing while working underground was a pair of shorts and either a vest or short sleeved working shirt, together with a pair of strong boots. The reason for the little clothing was that the air at that depth was quite warm, the temperature rising by one degree for each 100 feet underground, and the only air flow was caused by the air dragged from ground level and forced by fans through the levels for ventilation. The conduits through which the air was forced were made of tin, and, yes you have guessed it, that tin was what gave us our TinnerStreet name, as Jim's Granddad, James Street was a tinsmith, so was called Tinner Street by the men, with Jim inheriting that nickname from him. Jim did not, as far as we know, work with tin. One other item of 'clothing' down below was a pair of knee pads, which were made of thick leather. Should a strap need repairing or re-riveting to the pad, or should the pad need repair, then he would bring it home on a Friday, and mend it during the weekend. Of course, he also mended the children's shoes and his wife, Doris' shoes when they needed re-soling or heeling.

Until 1938 there were no pit baths at Kiveton, so the miners would walk home in their filthy clothes and have a bath as soon as they got home. Of course the wives would have had the water getting hot in the copper for that for some time so that it was ready as soon as they reached home. When the baths were opened, the men had a shower before leaving the pit, using soap and a large sponge, which they would hand to one of the men alongside them for him to do their back, and then they would return the compliment.

On the pit top, there were also engineer's workshops, a carpenter's shop, the pit pony stables, and all the other ancillary sheds and departments needed to run the pit. There were pit pony stables underground too, as they also worked shifts, and also an engineers shop. In general only emergency maintenance work would be conducted during the week, apart from work that the underground engineers could do without stopping the miners working, with all general maintenance being carried out at weekends. Also on the pit top were the general labourers, who worked at washing the coal to remove a lot of the coal dust, plus those employed on loading coal onto the lorries for home delivery to miners, or railway wagons for delivery by rail through the country. Then there were others who drove the small locos which moved wagons around the pit, and moved and stacked timber for pit props and other uses. Electricians had their shop, and looked after all the electrical work throughout the pit, on top or underground, plumbers and all the other maintenance men. Then there were builders who built sheds or walls when and where needed, and of course, the blacksmith, who looked after the making or repairing of all the small units of equipment, from hooks, brackets, and of course the shoeing of the ponies.

Apart from the specialist tradesmen, the 'top of the heap' in the pit were those who worked underground. Of those, the shot firer and his deputy the ripper were again at the top. They were responsible for the drilling of shot holes and the insertion of the explosives for bringing down the coal face. Then the after the fuse wire had been attached, the wire would be lead down the level and into a side turning which gave sufficient protection to the shot firer and ripper, who would after giving the warning, fire the explosive.

A short period would be allowed to let the dust of the explosion settle, then the two would return to the coal face, where the ripper would use his iron bar with a hook on the end to pull down any coal which had been loosened, but was still hanging on the face, plus any coal on the roof which had been shaken free, but had not dropped. When that had been done, and the face declared safe, they would use shovels to move the coal further down the level, from where it would be collected by others and loaded onto conveyor belts which took it along the level. Once the shot firer and ripper had cleared the coal from the floor near the face, they would start the process once more on the newly exposed face.



Other underground workers came in order of importance, down to the pony drivers.

Jim Street took a course on shot firing to give him more money, and he passed all his exams, but was not accepted when he was found to have a slight ear defect, in that he could not distinguish the direction of some sounds.

Miners were thought by the general community to be highly paid workers, but when Dennis got his birthday rise for his 20th birthday he was disgusted to find that he was earning, or should it be better saying "He was being paid", more than his Dad.