Sources

Sources for the History of Mines and Quarries

Domestic Records lnformation 64

1 Introduction

The Public Record Office holds two main categories of records about mines and quarries: those relating to the numerous mines owned by the Crown, and those which chronicle the growing involvement of the State with mining and quarrying companies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Except in the case of coal deposits, this involvement stopped just short of nationalisation.

From the Middle Ages the Crown exercised a prerogative right not only to gold and silver mines, but also to any other mines - in practice those producing copper, tin, iron or lead - where gold and silver were found. ln 1688 royal rights to the latter category were revoked, but duties on the ores produced there continued to be levied in the same way as from the many mines in Crown ownership. The Exchequer, and then the auditors of Land Revenues and their successors, administered royal mines and quarries, and their records are rich in relevant references.

No state control was exercised over mines and quarries in private hands until the mid-nineteenth century, when inspectors of mines were appointed under the Home Office. The Board of Trade had oversight of the industrial and economic aspects of mining, and the Mines Department, constituted in 1920, was under its aegis. ln 1942 the new Ministry of Fuel and Power inherited Home Office and Mines Department functions in respect of mines and quarries, but other departments also continued to exercise a variety of powers: the Board of lnland Revenue, for example, collected mineral rights duties, the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Works retained responsibility for the quarrying of certain materials, the Ministry of Labour handled certain questions of industrial relations and health, safety and welfare, and the Ministry of National lnsurance assessed and allocated compensation for industrial
diseases. The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 brought in new controls over the extraction of minerals, involving a review of existing workings and the requirement of planning permission for new ones. The system was implemented by local authorities under the supervision of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning.

Because of their economic and political significance, coal mines were kept closely under State control during the First World War. Coal deposits were brought into public ownership in 1938 and the whole industry was nationalised in 1946. Coal mining records held in the Public Record Office are separately described in Coal Mining Records in the PRO.

2. Records about Royal and Private Mines from 1086

Domesday Book mentions mining activities in twelve counties, and from owned by the Crown or belonged to the estates of the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, and numerous references to these, and some to mines and quarries in private hands, may be found in the main series of administrative and legal records preserved in the Public Record Office. Of particular importance are the Chancery patent and close rolls, the Exchequer and Chancery inquisitions post mortem, the state papers domestic, the Home Office papers domestic and the Treasury Board
papers. All of these series are described completely or in part in printed calendars (see Government Publications Sectional List 24: British National Archives, issued by HMSO).

Exchequer various accounts (E 101) contains valuable material (particularly on the stannaries of Devon and Cornwall), as do also Exchequer foreign accounts (E 364), pipe rolls (E 372), bills and answers (E 112), depositions (E 134); and rentals and surveys (SC 11, SC 12, ministers' accounts (SC 6) and parliamentary surveys (E 317). ln 1554 the auditors of the Land Revenues took over responsibility for managing the Crown lands from the Court of Augmentations. From 1625 they worked in conjunction with the surveyor general of Land Revenues, whose task it was to survey and value royal estates. Between 1810 and 1924 these functions were carried out by the commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, and subsequently by the commissioners of Crown Lands (1925-56) and the Crown Estate commissioners.

The records of all these commissions contain references to royal mines" See in particular Exchequer, Land Revenue receivers' accounts (LR 6 and LR 12 with indexes in IND 1/7655lND 1/7656), enrolment books of grants, leases etc (LR 1 with indexes in lNDlll7629-49) and accounts, vouchers (LR 5); Land Revenue Record Office maps and plans (LRRO 1), various accounts (LRRO 3), deeds and evidences (LRRO 5), rentals (LRRO 12), miscellanea (LRRO 37) and Hewlett papers (LRRO 67); and Crown Estate commissioners unfiled correspondence and papers (CRES 2), Treasury report books (CRES 9), foreshores, letter books (CRES 10), Wales, letter books (CRES 15), reports of commissioners of inquiry (CRES 28), registered files, old estates (CRES 34) and estates (CRES 35), general files (CRES 36), title deeds (CRES 38), surveys (CRES 39) and miscellaneous books (CRES 40). CRES 55 contains registered files relating to royal gold and silver mines. Material on mining activities in the Forest of Dean is preserved among the records of the Forestry Commission (F 3, F 16, F 1, F 26); on those in the Palatinate of Durham in DURH 3; on those in the Palatinate of Lancaster in PL 2, PL 3, PL 4 and PL 5; and on those in the Duchy of Lancaster in DL 14, DL 25-31, DL 37, DL 39, DL 41, DL 34, DL44. Board of Trade registration files of dissolved mining and quarrying companies from 1856 are in BT 31.

3. State Involvement in lnspecting Mines, from 1842

The direct involvement of the State with private mines and quarries began when, under the provisions of the Mines Act 1842, inspectors of mines were appointed to regulate employment conditions in mines. From 1850 they also inspected the construction and safety of coal mines, extended to ironstone mines in 1860, metalliferous mines in 1872, slate mines in 1882 and open quarries in 1894. Responsibility for the Mines lnspectorate passed from the Home Office to the Mines Department in 1 920, and to the Ministry of Fuel and Power in 1942. Annual reports of inspectors of mines were printed as Parliamentary Papers, and are also to be found in manuscript in HO 87/53 (1851-2) and POWE 7 (1850-1968). There are letters to inspectors of mines, 1855-71, in Ho 95; records of the Mines and Quarries lnspectorate, 1884-1947, in POWE 8 (code 11 in the series list), and correspondence and papers of the Mines lnspectorate, 1887-1928, in POWE 10 (code 7). LAB 15/22-25 contains records on the relationship between mines inspectors and the Mines Department, etc. For information about Home Office responsibilities for mines and quarries, see HO 34, HO 45, HO 81, HO 95, HO 136, POWE 4 and POWE 6.

4. State lnvolvement in Health and Safety, and lndustrial Diseases

Records of the safety and Health Division of the Home office and its successors are in POWE 8, and those of the Safety in Mines Research Board/Establishment in POWE 10 (code 12) and POWE 25 (code 4). LAB 14, LAB 15 and LAB 26 contain papers relating to health, safety and welfare and to the Factory lnspectorate, reflecting the powers of the Ministry of Labour in these areas. Records of the Health and Safety Commission and Executive (Explosions lnspectorate) relating to mines are in EF 2 and EF 4.

Workmen's compensation for industrial diseases was administered by the Home Office until 1947 and then by the Ministry of National lnsurance and its successors. There is correspondence on the subject in PIN 12 and POWE 26, entry books in HO 157, bill papers in PIN 11, and registers of industrial diseases in LAB 56. PlN 39 contains registered files of the Medical Department of the Ministry of National Insurance, and PIN 900, papers of the Pneumoconiosis Medical Panel and the Byssinosis Medical Scheme.

5. Mineral Rights Duties

Records about the mineral rights duties on land, which were set up under the Finance Act 1909 and levied until 1967, are in lR 40, lR 75 and lR 83. The duties were assessed by the Valuation Office and collected by the Board of lnland Revenue. For Mines Department and Ministry of Fuel and Power files relating to these royalties see POWE 22 and POWE 26, and for the papers of the Mining Royalties Committee (1925), see CAB 27/286

6. First World War, 1914 - 1918

State control over mines and mineral resources was considerably tightened during the First World War. The Ministry of Munitions, set up in 1915, exercised responsibility for the supply of raw materials and for the development of mineral resources. Records of its Mineral Resources Development Department are in BT 62 and POWE 16; see also POWE 26; and MUN 4, especially under the heading 'Metals and Raw Materials'. ln 1917 the Ministry of Reconstruction was established to plan post-war administration. lts Central Materials Supply Committee, records of which are in RECO 1/357-409, was concerned with mineral resources. papers of the Mining Sub-Committee of its Acquisition and Valuation of Land Committee are in LCO 3/34-9, and those of the Non-Ferrous Metals Committee, 1916-17, in BT 55/46.

7. Mines Department, 1920-42

The Mines Department, constituted in 1920, inherited various Board of Trade, office of woods and Forests and Home Office responsibilities for mines and quarries. Its Health and Safety Division regulated working conditions in mines and quarries (see POWE 8, POWE 10, and for the Health Advisory Committee, POWE 26); its Production Division promoted the scientific and economic development of mineral resources and dealt with questions of mining royalties (POWE 16, POWE 22, POWE 26); and its labour division regulated labour relations in mines (POWE 16, POWE 20, POWE 26). POWE 7 contains statistics produced by the Department, and POWE 7, 8 and 10, records of the Mines lnspectorate. Papers of the Mines Department Organisation Committee (1931) are in CAB 27/453, and those of the Metalliferous Mining lndustry Advisory Committee, 1921-32, in POWE 26. The Railway and Canal Commissioners heard applications to curtail or halt mining activities under various inter-war mining acts; selected applications and orders are in J 75/222-425.

Mines Department published lists (1937-8) of all quarries and mines in the UK, their owners, and the metals they produced, are available in the PRO's Library; and the card index to the RAILseries, on open access at the PRO, refers to material on transport for mines under the headings 'Mines' and 'Minerals'.

8. Ministerial Responsibilities for Mineral Commodities Since 1918

The Mines Department did not exercise sole authority over mineral exploitation, nor did its successors do so, for certain commodities have since the First World War been the remit of various other government departments. Thus Board of Trade, Ministry of Supply and Ministry of Materials responsibilities for various ferrous and non-ferrous minerals including iron ore, ball clay, potash and salt are reflected in BT 11 (Board of Trade Commercial Department files), BT 64 (lndustries and Manufactures Division files), BT 96 (lndustrial Supplies Department files), BT 131 (war histories), POWE 5 (Ministry of Supply lron and Steel Control files), SUPP 14 (Ministry of Supply files) and BT 161 (Ministry of Materials files). See also the Treasury supply files (T 161) and Trade and Industry Division files (T 228). Ministry of Transport highways correspondence, which includes information about stone, slag and lime quarries, is in MT 39; and the construction industry and building materials files of the Ministry of Works, with papers on slate, chalk, fireclay and various building materials, are in WORK 45.

9. Ministry of Fuel and Power and its Successors

In June 1942 all major functions relating to fuel and power, including control of coal, lignite, peat and shale, were transferred from the Mines Department, the Board of Trade and the Home Office to a new Ministry of Fuel and Power. lts powers over the coal mining industry were considerable, and increased after the nationalisation of the coal mining industry in 1946; but it also, like its predecessor departments, exercised certain controls over metalliferous and other mines, and over quarries. ln particular, it dealt with production policy (see POWE 16; and POWE 22, codes 2 and 7); regulated labour relations in mines and quarries (POWE 20); supervised the Mines lnspectorate (POWE 7, POWE 10 and above, para. 3), and dealt with health and safety in mines (POWE 8, POWE 10, POWE 25 and above, para. 3). These functions were continued by the Ministry of Power (1957-69), the Ministry of Technology (1969-70), the Department of Trade and lndustry (1970-74) and the Department of Energy.

10. Mines and Quarries Since 1946

The Mineral Development Committee was set up in 1946 to investigate mineral resources in the UK and to recommend how they might be exploited (see HLG 89, HLG 98, CAB 134/498 and POWE 16). ln 1949 the Cabinet considered its report, which described the principal mineral deposits and suggested that, apart from chalk, clay and gravel, they should be nationalised. Although accepted (CAB 129/36; CAB 128/16), the scheme never came to fruition, but from 1947 all mineral workings were brought under new and stricter planning measures.

Mineral workings had been subject to certain limited planning controls since 1932, but the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 introduced more effective means of supervision. Existing workings were reviewed and planning permission was made compulsory for all new ones. The system was implemented by local authorities under the auspices of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, succeeded by the Ministry of Local Government and Planning in, 1951 and by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government from 1951 to 1970. Between 1951 and 1964 a Minerals Division of the ministry dealt with the supply of and demand for minerals, and with technical factors governing mineral excavation, spoil disposal and the subsequent restoration of the land. lts work was subsequently absorbed by the Planning Divisions. Minerals policy and planning files are in HLG 89, and there is also relevant material in HLG 71 (correspondence and papers), HLG 79 (town and country planning, Local Authority files), HLG 104 (planning and redevelopment files) and HLG 107 (Regional Office files). Files and plans of the lronstone Restoration Fund of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (later of the Department of the
Environment) are in HLG 132. These records relate to applications for payments from the Fund, which was created by the Mineral Workings Act 1951 to deal with problems caused by the opencast extraction of ironstone in the Midlands. Responsibility for mineral workings in Development Areas fell to the Board of Trade Distribution of lndustry and Regionalisation Division, files of which are in BT 177.

11. Other Sources in the Public Record Office

The Geological Survey was founded in 1835 to promote geological science, its functions including the making of surveys and maps, and the conservation of rocks and minerals allowing for their industrial exploitation. Some of its surviving records are in DSIR 9/52, ED 23 and ED 24: others are held by the British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG. Papers of the Geological Survey Board which controlled its operations are in DSIR 9.

The correspondence and papers of a number of research boards and committees with connections with the mining industry (e.g. the Copper and Zinc Research Committee and the Mine Rescue Research Committee) are in DSIR 3, and records of lndustrial Research Associations, including the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association, are in DSIR 16. Papers of the Standing Conference on Lighting in Mines are in DSIR 20, and Building Research correspondence and papers in DSIR 4.

Records of the lmperial lnstitute relating to mineral resources in British possessions overseas are in PRO 30/76, ED 26 and ED 121, and similarly relevant correspondence and papers of the Empire Marketing Board are in CO 758, with indexes in CO 759 and minutes in CO 760.