The NHS model was developed from the mining industry. Miners would donate to a fund, so that should anybody be injured their drs fees coud be paid. Aneurin Bevan who created the NHS had been a Welsh miner and these mutual funds gave him the idea for the NHS when he became Health Minister. They also led to vocational education, as the miners set up Institutes for learning, development and self-improvement, as well has having a social aspect
Without being political but the ideas for an NHS were formed by Willink in Churchill government. After the Election Bevan was tasked with forming, in short it was going to happen whoever won the next election.
Thank you fellas, the world needs to know this stuff!. I'm a 67 year old son of a miner, he started working down the mine at the age of 14 and stayed there until he retired at the age of 65. He started dragging chains for the ponies and finished as a Colliery Overman. He went to technical college to learn modern mining and even attained Deputy Manager certificate. I am 4th generation miner although I never actually worked for the mines (my old man forbid it). He told me much about his mining life over the years and I can join a conversation with miners about mining as if I was there. Hard men, hard work! Once again, thank you for this indeed!
Spencer; if you hit Wales, South Wales in particular, there's a place called BIG PIT where you get a guided tour down a disused coal mine, going deep underground in the lift and seeing where they kept the pit ponies etc... well worth a visit.
When I was at school, they introduced the concept of the Davy lamp, in passing. They didn't bother to explain how beautiful the engineering was. Look at the craftsmanship.
Thanks for sharing, enjoyed watching you both react to Guy Martin. He & Fred Dibnah are two of my favourites & as you say we shouldn't forget how things were done in the past which helped us get to where we are today. My grandad was a hewer on the pit face in the coal fields of South Yorkshire. He didn't fight in either of the world wars as mining was a reserved occupation, he'd work a shift down the mine, come home to eat a meal then spent several hours in the garden growing fruit & veg to feed his family. Unlike many miners he didn't play in a brass band, but taught himself to play the violin & during the silent movie era he played in the cinema along with a pianist to lend a musical atmosphere to the films being shown. He also played at the local village dances. He started painting landscapes in oils in his 70s after he retired.... I've no idea how he managed to hold a paintbrush or a violin bow as he had severe carpel tunnel syndrome in both of his hands from the hours he'd spent hewing coal. Respect guys 🇬🇧☕🍰
I'm appalled at the frequent deaths and disasters in the mines. At the Universal Colliery at Senghenydd in south Wales in May 1901 explosions killed 81. Twelve years later on 14th October 1913 at the same colliery an explosion killed 439 men and boys. The community must have been devastated. This was the worst ever UK mining disaster.
Don't forget the Newcomen Engine was MASSIVELY inefficient - tons and tons of coal were needed everyday for it to run. It was an atmospheric steam engine relying on producing a vacuum and the atmospheric (negative) pressure pushing down the piston 'into' the vacuum. The reason James Watt is more synonymous with the steam engine is that he widely marketed a high (positive) pressure steam engine that was originally invented by Cornishman Richard Trevithick. This high pressure steam engine is the version that ultimately ran everything
where the Watt steam engines did use a higher steam pressure it was not High pressure. Watt hated the idea of high pressure steam and was eager to sue anyone trying to develop high pressure steam (he patented them all and when the patents ran out in 1800 he and his buisness partner Mathew Boulton spread scare stories to the newspapers to prevent people financing high pressure technology) I am all for Trevithick still especially the story of what happened when a lawyer from Boulton & Watt went to Cornwall to deliver a cease and desist order. Trevithick and his friends hung the lawyer upside down over a mine shaft XD
45:30 remember in the last ep how he showed the effect the industrial revolution had on music and how every town had it's own brass band. These miners are just some of the people
I’ve an original brass lamp exactly same from a local colliery so if you do visit I’ll give it you to take back for Daniel,as we are both army veterans
There are countries and people who never have the thought "how can we improve the way we do things"? "How can we do this more efficiently"? People are still ploughing fields with ox and walking miles to get dirty drinking water. Then there are people who think "there must be a better way of doing this"! Those are the countries that thrive. Although it relied on hard graft the best tool in the box was the inventive brain, the people who are constantly thinking of new ideas. Britain was the inventor of the modern world. Can't wait for you to get to the spitfire episode. ✌️❤️🇬🇧
My favorite thing about Guy Martin is the little comments he just throws in on the side. "Two million tons of coal, that alright i'nt it?" pauses "You wouldn't want it on top o' ya." 😂 I'll never forget a Speed episode where he's talking about a French girl he's clearly a bit smitten with: "Top lass she is, top lass. Probably can't weld though. Nah, I don't think she can weld." And for a split second you get the genuine impression that that might be a deal breaker for him... 🤣😂🤣😂🤣
i briefly worked in a brick factory a few years ago. When the bricks come out of the moulds they are put into a drying oven for a couple of days to prevent them exploding in the kiln. They are then stacked and go through a 200 metre kiln. They are then stacked and packaged.
What impresses me the most about Guy Martin is that he's up for anything. Give him the worst job in the world and he'll find something positive to say about it. He's an inspiration.
My mum has a davey lamp on the hearth next to the fire. it's been there since the early 1970's, she was born in a north Derbyshire mining town (Shirebrook) but I remember seeing them at my friends houses too, later in the 70's. It seems it was just a popular ornament to have in the house!
Miners in the UK have always had the respect of the country and so they should, they kept the country running. Mining was and still was until they shut all the mines the hardest job going. Massive respect
Hi Guys. Another great reaction. I come from Wigan in the North of the UK, where the town was littered in mines and many of the old miners houses still exist (my mum and dad lived in one until recently)!. As an engineer by trade I'm always fascinated on how these early engineers designed and built things out of necessity and how the people of time worked so hard. I think if we asked the people of today to do it, there would be riots in the streets.
I spent a year and Half from Leaving school. Working down a Pit ( Coal Mine ) I couldn't wait till I was old enough to leave and go into Engineering. Get out of the Pit .They have my complete Respect. Always have Always will .
Brilliant reaction guys. Been watching you both since the Oasis days. It’s great to see how far you’ve both come. If you can get to see it, The Boat that Guy built is an amazing series. Guy and his mate messing about on a Canal boat. Great stuff.
Driven by the British Industrial Revolution, 8 Hour work days... 40 Hour week, began with Robert Owen in Scotland instigating a 10 Hour day in 1810, later reducing it to 8 Hours. His slogan, Eight Hours work, Eight Hours Play and Eight Hours Rest, became the workers popular cry. By the 1840's and 1850's this was being introduced around the World. American Congress only passed its Bill in 1868, due to pressure from Carpenters and other workers, who knew about the Global movement....
We had a London Brick Company works near where I grew up in Essex, and a huge amount of garden walls in the front of the old houses in area, were built with "reject" bricks....
Camborne School of Mines (Cornish: Scoll Balow Cambron), commonly abbreviated to CSM, was founded in 1888. Its research and teaching is related to the understanding and management of the Earth's natural processes, resources and the environment. It has undergraduate, postgraduate and research degree programmes within the Earth resources, civil engineering and environmental sectors. CSM is located at the Penryn Campus, near Falmouth, Cornwall, UK. The school merged with the University of Exeter in 1993.
Guy's a great presenter. Somehow fitting a racer from the TT would move into something like this. He certainly has a banter about him haha. I always love programs like this, brings out my rather rusty engineering side.
Loads of miners had pet birds mostly budgies and canaries up to when I was young in the 1960s and 70s. many of my family members were lead (The metal) miners in Wales. Pigeon racing was also popular as was pigeon breeding for shows and breeding for the table.
Guy Martin is one of the best things to happen to British TV in a long time. His enthusiasm for mechanical objects and engineering is a something we don’t get very much of on TV anymore
There is a connection between South Wales, which was a massive producer of steam coal, and Pennsylvania. The coal seam which is under South Wales runs underneath the Atlantic ocean and rises again in Pennsylvania.
I've always called a hammer a persuader or amafa. The latter usually gets a response of, "what's an amafa" to which the reply is, "hittin' nails with" 😂
Wait until you see Guy Martin the spitfire and a special one, the Lancaster. The industrial museum at blist hill, a mile or so from iron bridge, Shropshire, well worth a visit.
Ah man! I've been wondering when you'll come to the UK. Make sure whoever shows you around takes you to the best places for your interests, but also a good pub - not just for the beer, but to sit in a 400yr old stone building by the fireplace (and there are plenty of them). You can sit there and chat about the stuff you visit in the cosiest place on Earth.
I still live on the street leading from the pit our village was built around , it was still working into the 90s. You'll be hard pressed to find a harder grafter than a miner . In summer the leftover slag of the top will sometimes set alight with the heat. It's not even safe in wet years , there have been multiple landslides onto the railway lines that run alongside.
I worked in a UK coal mine from the age of 17 to 30 when the mine closed in 93. Obviously it was a much easier and safer job than the era Guy is talking about but it was still heavy, dirty and dangerous. Losing a finger or two was still a common injury and in the 13 years I worked underground 2 men were killed. One was almost cut in half by derailed haulage trams and tubs in front of his trainee who never worked underground again, The other was an old boy not far from retirement working alone cleaning belt spillage up. His arm was ripped off in a conveyor belt mechanism and he bled to death. I myself missed outright death by a second or an inch on 2 occasions and Im sure i wasnt the only one. The canary dying thing is a bit of a myth, it would only die if it was left in the gas pocket, as soon as the canary started look wobbly on its feet, the gas tester would withdraw the bird and let it recover but i dare say it did happen in the early days given that the birds cage would be raised on the end of a stick up to roof level where the gas collected , so given the poor quality of lighting back then...... TBF no one except for mines rescue teams carried canaries into the mines in my day but they were used right up until the mines closed. I still have a safety lamp from my colliery, you can buy genuine lamps on ebay for about £40. Right up to the day when the last UK mine closed they were still issued to all mine officials and some miners working in areas of the mine that were susceptible to methane, not because they provided light, because the flame would change if gas was present, so there are thousands in circulation in all sorts of condition, most owned by ex miners obviously but still plenty for sale. there are 3 types so anyone looking to purchase one needs to look for the ones with the striker. Officials lamps had these plus a hole in the side to inject a bulb full of air in to the lamp to test the gas percentage. then there is the same lamp without the hole, these were issued to surveying staff and both types could and still can be lit by the guy carrying it. The 3rd and less desirable type has a filament above the wick, these were the type issued to ordinary miners and could not be relit underground by the operator, they needed to be relit from a battery carried by an official. My lamp is the surveyors style and I fill it with lighter fluid and light it now and again for nostalgic reasons. Actually, come to think of it, Caphouse colliery museum, the one that Guy goes down in this program sell them. I took my wife there for a visit about 5 or 6 years ago and she was in awe. Personally it was a bit of a disappointment for me, the shaft chair was small and travelled slowly to a depth of only 450 feet. Our chair travelled at 30 feet per second and the shaft was 2950 feet deep. Also, and understandably, they couldn't replicate the sight, sound and vibration of a modern day coal shearer cutting coal and that is a sound and feeling that I can remember vividly 30 years later but can never describe.
Hi Lads, coal mining was a part of my families history from at least around the mid 1700's going off our family tree - sadly we couldn't go back any further than that due to a lack of information. My late father (he was the youngest, born in 1923), his father, and all 5 of his living brothers were coal miners. and his 4 sisters went into general service . . . So, at the age of 14 he left school - and due to all of his male siblings and father working in one, that's where he started work the next Monday to work on the shaker (taking any stones out of the conveyor before it went up to pour out on to the heap. At 16 was when he first was allowed down - shown the ropes by his father or brothers . . . Being shown how to work on the face with a pick, in coal seam heights of only 1 foot 6 inches . . . We were only a large mining village in the North-East back in those days with 2 pits to begin with - later on 3 . . . The terraced house you saw where Guy took a bath, which you said you looked quite good for living in, was quite different if you had a family of anywhere from 5 to 12+ all living together in them though. So the family would decide to do their work in shifts, just to make room for others. So, as some were coming home from one shift - some would be heading off to work. --- Bathing was usually done by age, so his father naturally went first, and then oldest son downwards for the rest. (Different shifts helped with this a lot! - and it didn't matter if you worked day or night shift, as down underground it was just dark anyway.) - So he worked in the mines from 1937-1972 until an injury from a pit-prop falling and hitting his back stopped it. Modernisation had not really fully reached the coal mines even by then, except for slightly better lighting and being able to shower as you came out (only cold water was available!) - but at least you went home clean instead . . . The likes of masks, headphones, decent ventilation, and other new ideas would soon be appearing afterwards . . . Which when taken over by the National Coal Board, new safety rules and regulations came in eventually . . . Too late for those before them though - who suffered from Black Lung, deafness, white finger, and many other ailments . . . Compensation came later for some of these - but to late for many who had not survived long enough to claim any of them. During the war (WW2 that is) - the government needed more coal naturally to make what was required for all kinds of things, but the workforce was already maxed out. Seeing as they wouldn't even allow many coal miners to leave the mines to enlist - although some did manage to sneakily do so . . . So, the Bevin Boys were brought in to help, mainly younger men from the more middle-class backgrounds who didn't know what being a coal miner meant . . . As Dad said to me, some of them just about managed at a much slower pace (and slowing their work quotas down), while others tried and failed miserably . . . as he said, it's not the same thing starting at only 16 underground and getting used to it - to coming in at 20+ with no idea just how back-breaking it can be in almost pitch-darkness . . . After the war, the Bevin Boys received a medal for their work - the normal miners - nothing! . . . And Winston Churchill might have been a good wartime leader, but he didn't actually like the lower working classes as he saw them - even all those who just fought and died for their country - (a bit like Thatcher later on) . . . as when the miners went on strike in the 60's for better pay and conditions, his response was to to say to them, "to get back down into your black holes you lazy scum!" - so that made him hated after that by miners, as well as by many others in other trades . . .
They were probably first generation miners in the 1700s and were probably country folk before then. Before the 1700s coal mining was a cottage industry with mines just being shallow bell pits worked by half a dozen individuals employed by the landowner just to supply coal for local domestic use. As soon as they had dug far enough for the roof to become unstable or the air to become stale they would start a new pit close by and fill in the old one with the dirt they extracted from the new.
I remember as a kid in the early 1950's been washed in a tin bath in front of the range at my grandmothers. There are working beam engines in Brentwood West London England. They are in the water museum. They were used to pump "clean" water from the Thames around North London. Also there are bored out tree trunks which were the water mains back in the1700's. The roads which followed these trunk mains were called "Trunk Roads" which are the main roads of the UK.
I come from a mining town. My grandad, dad and uncle were miners I'm on the Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire border. There's mining towns in view from your mining town. They are everywhere around here One big thing about the mining towns were the pubs built for the miners. I've opened my chimney back up and put a log burner in. I'm sat in front of it watching this video It's the perfect way to watch
We had a seam a little bit thicker than that in our pit. It was called the 3/4 seam because it was 3/4 of a yard thick. Thats 27" and that was bad enough.
On my mothers side I came from a coal mining family. I've been down a pit, and it's something else. It's so absolutely pitch black without light, that you can't see your finger on your nose. Imagine that as a five year old down there
Thanks for the great vids guys. If you're over here in the U.K. and want a tour guide give me a shout. I live near Ironbridge (the birthplace of industry) and the Black Country and would be more than happy to show you around. Keep up the good work :)
During WW2, working in the mines was a protected occupation - miners were exempt from conscription, although they could volunteer to serve in the military. But mining was also a service that conscripts could be sent to instead of the army, navy or air force, because the coal supply was so essential to the war effort. The same applied with the Merchant Marine - working on cargo ships, where you could get sunk and killed by German U-boats. So a lot of middle class young men ended up drafted into the mines, and got to see what the working class life, and how dangerous it was, was like up close and personal, including a few future Conservative party MPs, which made them sympathetic to otherwise leftwing ideas like unions, the welfare state and health and safety laws. The incentive was poverty. It was pretty much all stick. Miners' houses were built fast and shoddily, and then the miners had to pay rent for the rest of their lives. Nothing was free, and usually working class housing was both cramped and cold, with disease frequent. And during periods of unemployment they would starve and be threatened with eviction. It's not a case of lower expectations or needs, that this was all fine for people then. It absolutely wasn't, and that's why unionisation and working class pressure for socialism grew over time.
From what I've read this steam engine was very inefficient BUT without the initial invention of this engine others could not of built more efficient engines.
When you think that these inventions literally changed the world, it is a great shame that people would even think of getting rid of them for a block of flats or any other modern rubbish which would last not even a fifth of the time these feats of engineering have lasted.
Don't forget the coal. I think that 🔥 Quick note on the house. He was probably having a bath infront of his kitchen, while sitting in his living room. His toilet 🚻 was in the garden. The pictures of the houses show terraced rows, I doubt individual homes were more than 2 windows wide.
hey Guys, if you want to be taught history. Have a look into the shale industry. Scotland was where the first oil boom happened, oil from shale. not the fracking that is done today. Mining. And the best place name ever, if you can work it out. Faucheldean, dean is doing.
Barnsley Oaks colliery is the biggest mining disaster in the UK and Europe in 1866. Killing 361 in the main explosion and 27 rescuers the day after. These numbers are a conservative number and it has been claimed the number is higher.
Are you aware of Fred Dibnah? You are gonna love him as much as we do. He's passed away now, but he was a bloody legend. Plenty of footage of him being an absolute mad lad on TH-cam.
The NHS model was developed from the mining industry. Miners would donate to a fund, so that should anybody be injured their drs fees coud be paid. Aneurin Bevan who created the NHS had been a Welsh miner and these mutual funds gave him the idea for the NHS when he became Health Minister. They also led to vocational education, as the miners set up Institutes for learning, development and self-improvement, as well has having a social aspect
Without being political but the ideas for an NHS were formed by Willink in Churchill government. After the Election Bevan was tasked with forming, in short it was going to happen whoever won the next election.
It’s a shame the government squeezed out mutuals with nationalised welfare.
Thank you fellas, the world needs to know this stuff!. I'm a 67 year old son of a miner, he started working down the mine at the age of 14 and stayed there until he retired at the age of 65. He started dragging chains for the ponies and finished as a Colliery Overman. He went to technical college to learn modern mining and even attained Deputy Manager certificate. I am 4th generation miner although I never actually worked for the mines (my old man forbid it). He told me much about his mining life over the years and I can join a conversation with miners about mining as if I was there. Hard men, hard work! Once again, thank you for this indeed!
Spencer; if you hit Wales, South Wales in particular, there's a place called BIG PIT where you get a guided tour down a disused coal mine, going deep underground in the lift and seeing where they kept the pit ponies etc... well worth a visit.
And still staffed by some of the men who worked underground,the place is humbling when you realise how they worked and looked after each other.
When I was at school, they introduced the concept of the Davy lamp, in passing.
They didn't bother to explain how beautiful the engineering was.
Look at the craftsmanship.
Thanks for sharing, enjoyed watching you both react to Guy Martin. He & Fred Dibnah are two of my favourites & as you say we shouldn't forget how things were done in the past which helped us get to where we are today.
My grandad was a hewer on the pit face in the coal fields of South Yorkshire. He didn't fight in either of the world wars as mining was a reserved occupation, he'd work a shift down the mine, come home to eat a meal then spent several hours in the garden growing fruit & veg to feed his family.
Unlike many miners he didn't play in a brass band, but taught himself to play the violin & during the silent movie era he played in the cinema along with a pianist to lend a musical atmosphere to the films being shown. He also played at the local village dances.
He started painting landscapes in oils in his 70s after he retired.... I've no idea how he managed to hold a paintbrush or a violin bow as he had severe carpel tunnel syndrome in both of his hands from the hours he'd spent hewing coal.
Respect guys 🇬🇧☕🍰
My greatest respect and thanks to the miners of those days
I'm appalled at the frequent deaths and disasters in the mines. At the Universal Colliery at Senghenydd in south Wales in May 1901 explosions killed 81. Twelve years later on 14th October 1913 at the same colliery an explosion killed 439 men and boys. The community must have been devastated. This was the worst ever UK mining disaster.
Wonderful Guy Martin is a great advocate of many old ways of working
Guy is a great bloke ! He even has a merlin engine in his living room ! How cool is that !
Don't forget the Newcomen Engine was MASSIVELY inefficient - tons and tons of coal were needed everyday for it to run. It was an atmospheric steam engine relying on producing a vacuum and the atmospheric (negative) pressure pushing down the piston 'into' the vacuum. The reason James Watt is more synonymous with the steam engine is that he widely marketed a high (positive) pressure steam engine that was originally invented by Cornishman Richard Trevithick. This high pressure steam engine is the version that ultimately ran everything
I'm from Merthyr, where Trevithick worked with an ironworks. He hauled iron from there to Abercynon, located close to my office, Ty Trevithick
where the Watt steam engines did use a higher steam pressure it was not High pressure. Watt hated the idea of high pressure steam and was eager to sue anyone trying to develop high pressure steam (he patented them all and when the patents ran out in 1800 he and his buisness partner Mathew Boulton spread scare stories to the newspapers to prevent people financing high pressure technology)
I am all for Trevithick still especially the story of what happened when a lawyer from Boulton & Watt went to Cornwall to deliver a cease and desist order. Trevithick and his friends hung the lawyer upside down over a mine shaft XD
Watt developed the seperate atmospheric condenser that prevented heat loss under the Newcomen engine thus increasing thermal efficiency.
@@HA1LILPALAZZOthat should be done to lawyers more often
Beamish, the Living Museum of the North is a place to see all this stuff preserved
45:30 remember in the last ep how he showed the effect the industrial revolution had on music and how every town had it's own brass band. These miners are just some of the people
Love the station guys. It’s inspiring how enthralled you are in history and how the industrial West developed. Respect!
I’ve an original brass lamp exactly same from a local colliery so if you do visit I’ll give it you to take back for Daniel,as we are both army veterans
There are countries and people who never have the thought "how can we improve the way we do things"? "How can we do this more efficiently"?
People are still ploughing fields with ox and walking miles to get dirty drinking water.
Then there are people who think "there must be a better way of doing this"!
Those are the countries that thrive.
Although it relied on hard graft the best tool in the box was the inventive brain, the people who are constantly thinking of new ideas.
Britain was the inventor of the modern world.
Can't wait for you to get to the spitfire episode.
✌️❤️🇬🇧
thats the reason the failed nations are now relocating here. We sealed our own fate
My favorite thing about Guy Martin is the little comments he just throws in on the side. "Two million tons of coal, that alright i'nt it?" pauses "You wouldn't want it on top o' ya." 😂
I'll never forget a Speed episode where he's talking about a French girl he's clearly a bit smitten with: "Top lass she is, top lass. Probably can't weld though. Nah, I don't think she can weld." And for a split second you get the genuine impression that that might be a deal breaker for him... 🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Have you seen any of Guy's record breaking videos....brilliant
i briefly worked in a brick factory a few years ago. When the bricks come out of the moulds they are put into a drying oven for a couple of days to prevent them exploding in the kiln. They are then stacked and go through a 200 metre kiln. They are then stacked and packaged.
What impresses me the most about Guy Martin is that he's up for anything. Give him the worst job in the world and he'll find something positive to say about it. He's an inspiration.
Have been in that lift, there’s definitely a jolt…
We really are so lucky these days. What an extremely informative, thought provoking and entertaining series!
I was a mine worker until my coal mine shut in 1992, and yes, we still had canaries at the pit. They were more a tradition than use.
My mum has a davey lamp on the hearth next to the fire. it's been there since the early 1970's, she was born in a north Derbyshire mining town (Shirebrook) but I remember seeing them at my friends houses too, later in the 70's. It seems it was just a popular ornament to have in the house!
Miners in the UK have always had the respect of the country and so they should, they kept the country running. Mining was and still was until they shut all the mines the hardest job going. Massive respect
Hi Guys. Another great reaction. I come from Wigan in the North of the UK, where the town was littered in mines and many of the old miners houses still exist (my mum and dad lived in one until recently)!. As an engineer by trade I'm always fascinated on how these early engineers designed and built things out of necessity and how the people of time worked so hard. I think if we asked the people of today to do it, there would be riots in the streets.
When miners first started talking about Canary''s we now call it twitter... LOL.
Talking of fire and wooden pit props: do you remember how Fred used to bring down his chimneys?
I spent a year and Half from Leaving school. Working down a Pit ( Coal Mine ) I couldn't wait till I was old enough to leave and go into Engineering. Get out of the Pit .They have my complete Respect. Always have Always will .
Brilliant reaction guys. Been watching you both since the Oasis days. It’s great to see how far you’ve both come.
If you can get to see it, The Boat that Guy built is an amazing series. Guy and his mate messing about on a Canal boat. Great stuff.
Wouldn't you just love to be sitting around a table in a country pub, pint in hand, in conversation with Fred Dibnah and Guy Martin together?
I think Guy would prefer a mug ot tea
If you could get a word in edgeways.
Driven by the British Industrial Revolution, 8 Hour work days... 40 Hour week, began with Robert Owen in Scotland instigating a 10 Hour day in 1810, later reducing it to 8 Hours. His slogan, Eight Hours work, Eight Hours Play and Eight Hours Rest, became the workers popular cry. By the 1840's and 1850's this was being introduced around the World. American Congress only passed its Bill in 1868, due to pressure from Carpenters and other workers, who knew about the Global movement....
You should check out the video he did about his Spitfire engine he keeps in his garage👍
Guy Martin is just one of the good guys.
That beam engine is the predecessor to the nodding donkey oil pumps you guys have over there in the US.
We had a London Brick Company works near where I grew up in Essex, and a huge amount of garden walls in the front of the old houses in area, were built with "reject" bricks....
Camborne School of Mines (Cornish: Scoll Balow Cambron), commonly abbreviated to CSM, was founded in 1888. Its research and teaching is related to the understanding and management of the Earth's natural processes, resources and the environment. It has undergraduate, postgraduate and research degree programmes within the Earth resources, civil engineering and environmental sectors. CSM is located at the Penryn Campus, near Falmouth, Cornwall, UK. The school merged with the University of Exeter in 1993.
Guy's a great presenter. Somehow fitting a racer from the TT would move into something like this. He certainly has a banter about him haha. I always love programs like this, brings out my rather rusty engineering side.
Loads of miners had pet birds mostly budgies and canaries up to when I was young in the 1960s and 70s. many of my family members were lead (The metal) miners in Wales. Pigeon racing was also popular as was pigeon breeding for shows and breeding for the table.
Guy Martin is one of the best things to happen to British TV in a long time. His enthusiasm for mechanical objects and engineering is a something we don’t get very much of on TV anymore
There is a connection between South Wales, which was a massive producer of steam coal, and Pennsylvania.
The coal seam which is under South Wales runs underneath the Atlantic ocean and rises again in Pennsylvania.
I've always called a hammer a persuader or amafa. The latter usually gets a response of, "what's an amafa" to which the reply is, "hittin' nails with" 😂
Wait until you see Guy Martin the spitfire and a special one, the Lancaster.
The industrial museum at blist hill, a mile or so from iron bridge, Shropshire, well worth a visit.
Where I grew up fellas, The Black Country, Dudley, just down the road in Kingswinford👍🏽
Local lad here too. Grew up in Smethwick, Tipton and Oldbury. Live in Kiddy now. My accent is quite mild, but I'm Black Country and proud.
Ah man! I've been wondering when you'll come to the UK. Make sure whoever shows you around takes you to the best places for your interests, but also a good pub - not just for the beer, but to sit in a 400yr old stone building by the fireplace (and there are plenty of them). You can sit there and chat about the stuff you visit in the cosiest place on Earth.
I live up the road from the Black Country museum...it's an amazing place
I still live on the street leading from the pit our village was built around , it was still working into the 90s. You'll be hard pressed to find a harder grafter than a miner . In summer the leftover slag of the top will sometimes set alight with the heat. It's not even safe in wet years , there have been multiple landslides onto the railway lines that run alongside.
I worked in a UK coal mine from the age of 17 to 30 when the mine closed in 93. Obviously it was a much easier and safer job than the era Guy is talking about but it was still heavy, dirty and dangerous. Losing a finger or two was still a common injury and in the 13 years I worked underground 2 men were killed. One was almost cut in half by derailed haulage trams and tubs in front of his trainee who never worked underground again, The other was an old boy not far from retirement working alone cleaning belt spillage up. His arm was ripped off in a conveyor belt mechanism and he bled to death. I myself missed outright death by a second or an inch on 2 occasions and Im sure i wasnt the only one.
The canary dying thing is a bit of a myth, it would only die if it was left in the gas pocket, as soon as the canary started look wobbly on its feet, the gas tester would withdraw the bird and let it recover but i dare say it did happen in the early days given that the birds cage would be raised on the end of a stick up to roof level where the gas collected , so given the poor quality of lighting back then...... TBF no one except for mines rescue teams carried canaries into the mines in my day but they were used right up until the mines closed.
I still have a safety lamp from my colliery, you can buy genuine lamps on ebay for about £40. Right up to the day when the last UK mine closed they were still issued to all mine officials and some miners working in areas of the mine that were susceptible to methane, not because they provided light, because the flame would change if gas was present, so there are thousands in circulation in all sorts of condition, most owned by ex miners obviously but still plenty for sale. there are 3 types so anyone looking to purchase one needs to look for the ones with the striker. Officials lamps had these plus a hole in the side to inject a bulb full of air in to the lamp to test the gas percentage. then there is the same lamp without the hole, these were issued to surveying staff and both types could and still can be lit by the guy carrying it. The 3rd and less desirable type has a filament above the wick, these were the type issued to ordinary miners and could not be relit underground by the operator, they needed to be relit from a battery carried by an official. My lamp is the surveyors style and I fill it with lighter fluid and light it now and again for nostalgic reasons. Actually, come to think of it, Caphouse colliery museum, the one that Guy goes down in this program sell them. I took my wife there for a visit about 5 or 6 years ago and she was in awe. Personally it was a bit of a disappointment for me, the shaft chair was small and travelled slowly to a depth of only 450 feet. Our chair travelled at 30 feet per second and the shaft was 2950 feet deep. Also, and understandably, they couldn't replicate the sight, sound and vibration of a modern day coal shearer cutting coal and that is a sound and feeling that I can remember vividly 30 years later but can never describe.
Hi Lads, coal mining was a part of my families history from at least around the mid 1700's going off our family tree - sadly we couldn't go back any further than that due to a lack of information. My late father (he was the youngest, born in 1923), his father, and all 5 of his living brothers were coal miners. and his 4 sisters went into general service . . . So, at the age of 14 he left school - and due to all of his male siblings and father working in one, that's where he started work the next Monday to work on the shaker (taking any stones out of the conveyor before it went up to pour out on to the heap. At 16 was when he first was allowed down - shown the ropes by his father or brothers . . . Being shown how to work on the face with a pick, in coal seam heights of only 1 foot 6 inches . . .
We were only a large mining village in the North-East back in those days with 2 pits to begin with - later on 3 . . . The terraced house you saw where Guy took a bath, which you said you looked quite good for living in, was quite different if you had a family of anywhere from 5 to 12+ all living together in them though. So the family would decide to do their work in shifts, just to make room for others. So, as some were coming home from one shift - some would be heading off to work. --- Bathing was usually done by age, so his father naturally went first, and then oldest son downwards for the rest. (Different shifts helped with this a lot! - and it didn't matter if you worked day or night shift, as down underground it was just dark anyway.) - So he worked in the mines from 1937-1972 until an injury from a pit-prop falling and hitting his back stopped it. Modernisation had not really fully reached the coal mines even by then, except for slightly better lighting and being able to shower as you came out (only cold water was available!) - but at least you went home clean instead . . . The likes of masks, headphones, decent ventilation, and other new ideas would soon be appearing afterwards . . . Which when taken over by the National Coal Board, new safety rules and regulations came in eventually . . . Too late for those before them though - who suffered from Black Lung, deafness, white finger, and many other ailments . . . Compensation came later for some of these - but to late for many who had not survived long enough to claim any of them.
During the war (WW2 that is) - the government needed more coal naturally to make what was required for all kinds of things, but the workforce was already maxed out. Seeing as they wouldn't even allow many coal miners to leave the mines to enlist - although some did manage to sneakily do so . . . So, the Bevin Boys were brought in to help, mainly younger men from the more middle-class backgrounds who didn't know what being a coal miner meant . . . As Dad said to me, some of them just about managed at a much slower pace (and slowing their work quotas down), while others tried and failed miserably . . . as he said, it's not the same thing starting at only 16 underground and getting used to it - to coming in at 20+ with no idea just how back-breaking it can be in almost pitch-darkness . . . After the war, the Bevin Boys received a medal for their work - the normal miners - nothing! . . . And Winston Churchill might have been a good wartime leader, but he didn't actually like the lower working classes as he saw them - even all those who just fought and died for their country - (a bit like Thatcher later on) . . . as when the miners went on strike in the 60's for better pay and conditions, his response was to to say to them, "to get back down into your black holes you lazy scum!" - so that made him hated after that by miners, as well as by many others in other trades . . .
They were probably first generation miners in the 1700s and were probably country folk before then. Before the 1700s coal mining was a cottage industry with mines just being shallow bell pits worked by half a dozen individuals employed by the landowner just to supply coal for local domestic use. As soon as they had dug far enough for the roof to become unstable or the air to become stale they would start a new pit close by and fill in the old one with the dirt they extracted from the new.
Loved this reaction guys
Guy is great!
Loving these reactions to Guy and love Guy.. seems so genuine... Its fish though 😂he's funny
I remember as a kid in the early 1950's been washed in a tin bath in front of the range at my grandmothers. There are working beam engines in Brentwood West London England. They are in the water museum. They were used to pump "clean" water from the Thames around North London. Also there are bored out tree trunks which were the water mains back in the1700's. The roads which followed these trunk mains were called "Trunk Roads" which are the main roads of the UK.
You should visit the science and industry museum in Manchester
Also quarry bank mill in styal
Guy's taking over Fred Dibnah's legacy, and a great job he's doing with it.
I come from a mining town.
My grandad, dad and uncle were miners
I'm on the Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire border. There's mining towns in view from your mining town. They are everywhere around here
One big thing about the mining towns were the pubs built for the miners.
I've opened my chimney back up and put a log burner in.
I'm sat in front of it watching this video
It's the perfect way to watch
In the 1970s my father was a maitenance fitter down a mine Some of the seams he worked in were 18 inches high and two inches of that was water .
We had a seam a little bit thicker than that in our pit. It was called the 3/4 seam because it was 3/4 of a yard thick. Thats 27" and that was bad enough.
Is there any wonder Unions started in Britain 🇬🇧.
On my mothers side I came from a coal mining family. I've been down a pit, and it's something else. It's so absolutely pitch black without light, that you can't see your finger on your nose. Imagine that as a five year old down there
My home town Dudley you should check out more videos on the Black County Museum
What else do you need? A better job! Ha ha ha he he, spot on mate funny as f@@k.
National coal mining museum Wakefield
Thanks for the great vids guys. If you're over here in the U.K. and want a tour guide give me a shout. I live near Ironbridge (the birthplace of industry) and the Black Country and would be more than happy to show you around. Keep up the good work :)
I working at holditch colliery near Stoke on trent here in the uk
During WW2, working in the mines was a protected occupation - miners were exempt from conscription, although they could volunteer to serve in the military. But mining was also a service that conscripts could be sent to instead of the army, navy or air force, because the coal supply was so essential to the war effort. The same applied with the Merchant Marine - working on cargo ships, where you could get sunk and killed by German U-boats.
So a lot of middle class young men ended up drafted into the mines, and got to see what the working class life, and how dangerous it was, was like up close and personal, including a few future Conservative party MPs, which made them sympathetic to otherwise leftwing ideas like unions, the welfare state and health and safety laws.
The incentive was poverty. It was pretty much all stick. Miners' houses were built fast and shoddily, and then the miners had to pay rent for the rest of their lives. Nothing was free, and usually working class housing was both cramped and cold, with disease frequent. And during periods of unemployment they would starve and be threatened with eviction. It's not a case of lower expectations or needs, that this was all fine for people then. It absolutely wasn't, and that's why unionisation and working class pressure for socialism grew over time.
Imagine if Guy and Fred Dibnah did a programme together.
You really should watch Guy restoring a Spitfire from a few years ago. Very moving.
It's very similar to fred dibnah shows. Guy has very similar interests to fred its like Fred's still around.
[48:10] 🗣 HE GOT HIS OWN BRICKS‼
From what I've read this steam engine was very inefficient BUT without the initial invention of this engine others could not of built more efficient engines.
The owners of the mines also owned the shops that the miners would spend their money , win win for owners😢
There's a Fref Dibnah episode about this pump and coal mining. Can't remember which series its on.
Think about what they eating too. They weren't getting no quinoa, I can promise you.
Hope u guys are going to watch his series when he was trying to break records for different thingd
Centralia Mine , Pennsylvania has been burning since the late 50s early 60's
Saw a video about that a couple of months ago. Incredible.
When you think that these inventions literally changed the world, it is a great shame that people would even think of getting rid of them for a block of flats or any other modern rubbish which would last not even a fifth of the time these feats of engineering have lasted.
Don't forget the coal. I think that 🔥
Quick note on the house. He was probably having a bath infront of his kitchen, while sitting in his living room. His toilet 🚻 was in the garden. The pictures of the houses show terraced rows, I doubt individual homes were more than 2 windows wide.
hey Guys, if you want to be taught history. Have a look into the shale industry. Scotland was where the first oil boom happened, oil from shale. not the fracking that is done today. Mining. And the best place name ever, if you can work it out. Faucheldean, dean is doing.
Blackpool tower is over 500 feet,not 450
Barnsley Oaks colliery is the biggest mining disaster in the UK and Europe in 1866. Killing 361 in the main explosion and 27 rescuers the day after. These numbers are a conservative number and it has been claimed the number is higher.
Guy has a Spitfire engine aswell!
is it not out of a lancaster bomber ?
No, unless he has one of those aswell.@@chuckshc376
He sold it ages ago sadly
you could nip into the pub that guy owns
Would love to be involved in a project like this.
Have you got the lingo yet lads?
If your coming to the uk, start in Scotland and work your way down,your better off.
You need to go to Beamish Living Museum...simple!
Message guy you might get a reply and maybe tour don't ask you don't get haha
Those guys really did embrace the suck back then!
Pmsl thumbs did not make the diff , Brits did
If Sam Sung, what did Sam Sing
Rubbish it was a wage to survive
stupid yank
Are you aware of Fred Dibnah? You are gonna love him as much as we do. He's passed away now, but he was a bloody legend. Plenty of footage of him being an absolute mad lad on TH-cam.