I’m starting another novel and want to start it in a coal mining area in 1830. Are there any large towns that might have been near the mines of that time frame?
Thanks.
newcastle?
Here is an interactive map of English coal mines. Scroll in until you see one of interest and click on it: it often gives dates of operation.
There are similar maps for Scotland and Wales.
My vote would be for Manchester, which was not only close to coal mines but also has historical significance as one of the early hubs of the Industrial Revolution - so much that it gave its name to a school of thinking in economics
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Sheffield…
1830 also gives you the early days of the railway era, with the Manchester-Liverpool railway opening that autumn. Stockton-Darlington (also near coal mining areas) had been open for some years by then. Or you could look at Doncaster.
There was a major disaster at Jarrow Colliery on 3rd August 1830 Jarrow is just a few miles downriver from Newcastle Upon Tyne.
I don’t know anything about the UK coal-mining industry, and even I know that you shouldn’t carry coals to Newcastle.
Leeds - especially at this time since the rail network was not fully developed - which meant coal movement was a lot more limited
I suggest you also consider the other industries in cities that were major users of coal - such as steel/iron, fireclay(roof tiles, pipework etc) textiles.
This would put Leeds quite high up since at this time the pits were literally right in the built up area itself - Manchester was far more a textile city, but further along the M62 corridor you would look at Wigan, Bolton and Salford which were almost literally one or two industry towns - steel and coal.
Worth of mention would be Barnsley, and maybe Elsecar which was a fairly early pioneer in large scale coal mining and has since fallen away in terms of development - what you see there today is a former major coal mining operation that was already in decline by WW1
Leeds certainly had coal mines right next to the outskirts. But Sheffield had the Nunnery mine, right next to the city centre.
Towns built over coal mines tend to suffer from subsidence, so the presence of these mines causes problems in these post-mining days.
These are all pretty good. I basically want a city so a surgeon is available to help a miner hurt in an accident.
You probably won’t get a better fit than Edinburgh then, possibly anywhere in the world in 1830 - world class medical school, with coal mines 5 miles away (the bodysnatching scandal could add an interesting subplot).
The body snatching was part of the first novel (it focused on the London Burkers, who are lesser known than Burke and Hate, but more influential). But that’s an excellent suggestion.
Bristol would be an interesting - and perhaps unexpected - choice, as outside of locals it isn’t known for coal mining. However, by 1800, it had 18 collieries, right in the city centre.
I live ten minutes walk from Dean Lane Colliery (closed in 1905), which is a 15 minute walk from the very city centre. So if you need a doctor to be nearby, you have Bristol General Hospital which opened in 1832, and is (was) just across the river - ten minutes walk, with a short ferry ride to get to the colliery leaving from the Bristol Goal, another interesting landmark. Or there’s the Bristol Royal Infirmary, about a mile away and built in 1735.
!831 is an interesting time for Bristol as it marked the Bristol Riotswhich saw the goal burned down. 5 minute walk from the Dean Lane Colliery.
Wider context for Bristol - it’s a famous old port town with strong links to the slave trade and tobacco farming in the US. That was over by 1830, but the legacy lingers.
Bristol was also home to the first US consulate, in Queen Square (where the above Bristol riots took place).
I would second that. If the plot requires good doctors to be around (in addition to the coal mines), then Edinburgh, with its outstanding medical school, would be a good fit.
This event has been commemorated ever since by the two Bristol football teams refraining from ever scoring a goal.
Noted that all the suggestions are for English coal mines.
There were many hundreds of coal mines in Wales, so my suggestion would be Cardiff or Swansea.
The 2 areas traditionally associated with Coal mining would be Wales & Yorkshire. This can be borne out by the interactive map posed above
Eh?
Not all collieries were run by the old idea of virtual forced labour, certain owners had schemes in places that retained medical staff full time, IIRC this was also true of the huge smelters in Swansea which produced copper for the Royal Navy to plate the hulls of their warships.
Elsecar was another such owner, coal was extracted to run the foundry that he also owned - the Fitzwilliam family.
(Well, part from the Edinburgh suggestion above). Problem with Cardiff and Swansea is that they’re not that close to the minings areas, certainly not if you want a doctor in 1830 to get to the mine fast. They’re both a good 30 minutes drive even with modern day transport.