Day Three: The Coal Mines

The next stop for my travels was a coal mine. I visited the Middleton Colliery in Leeds, a coal mine located just south of Yorkshire.  Also, I noticed many little white miners' cottages that families often rented (Century Mines). These houses were owned by the same person who owned the coal mine. With some hesitation, I decided to see what the coal mine was like inside. So, I walked to the pithead, which was quite a distance from the cottages. As I walked closer to the mine, I saw many children emerging from the pit, coughing and covered in black soot that had caked onto their faces. From above, the mine appeared as a dark, endless pit, which made me feel uneasy. 

Then someone lowered me into the mine with a rope. And the moment I descended into the shaft, everything around me went completely dark and black. The deeper I went, the more difficult it became to breathe; the surrounding air was hot and thick with dust. Not surprisingly, I felt extremely claustrophobic since the underground roadways were extremely narrow and uneven (Century Mines). Often, I bumped my head due to the lack of light, which only came from the candles. I was scared for my safety as miners swung pickaxes in order to carve coal from the mine. Most shocking of all, when I visited the coal mines, I found an abundance of children. Small boys and girls, some no older than ten, were hauling substantial amounts of coal or working machinery. Many of those kids looked pale and sickly after breathing in the dust all day for years. One 14-year-old boy had been working in the mines for almost five years. After working in the mines for so long, he experienced pain in his legs almost every day (“E. Children’s Employment”). I was stunned to hear the testimony and witness what working in the mines was truly like. 


Coal Pits & Factories, Internet Archive Book Images



Works Cited


Century Mines. www.ncm.org.uk/app/uploads/2023/02/C19-working-conditions.pdf.


“E. Children’s Employment Commissioners Report on Heaton – the Mining Institute.” Mininginstitute.org.uk, mininginstitute.org.uk/research-education/archive-teaching-unit/e-childrens-employment-commissioners-report-on-heaton/.


Images, Internet Archive Book. “Coal Pits & Factories.” World History Encyclopedia, 6 Feb. 2023, www.worldhistory.org/image/17015/coal-pits--factories/.

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