Miner's Pick

Before mechanisation the pick and shovel were the means of cutting coal and loading it into hutches for transport out of the mine.   More than one kind of pick was used, along with sledge hammers and wedges. Large blocks of coal were undermined at the mine floor and then wedges hammered in where the coal face met the mine roof, in order to dislodge the coal. In the early days of mining, large lumps of coal were favoured for domestic use, as these would burn slowly.   It was often the case that miners were not paid for the small coal produced as a result of the breaking up of larger blocks. The small coal produced in mines near the coast was termed ‘pan coal’ and was use for heating salt pans in salt production.