Agitation in Durham against the Yearly Bond. Disputes amongst The Yearly Bond in Durham continued. Secession of Northum- berland from the Durham Union. The Cramlington Strike. ERRATA. In Chapter V., page 19-read 1831 for 1832. In the 5th line from the bottom of page 37-read Alexander Stoves, instead of "William Stoves." In page 174, 23rd line from the top, instead of "there was not one man,"-read "there were three men," and omit the words "but what,” in the 24th line. The names of the men killed are George Sharp and Son, Ralph Robson, and William Brown. The names of the three saved are Thomas Watson, William Sharp, and Ralph Robinson. In the 23rd line of page 182-read Wilson Ritson, instead of "William Ritson." In the 10th line from the bottom of page 245, instead of "interred at the Felling"-read interred at Heworth. THE MINERS OF NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM, &c. CHAPTER I. RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE NEWCASTLE COAL TRADE. As any history of such a large and important community as that of the miners of the North would be incomplete without some reference to the rise and progress of the trade by which so many thousands earn their livelihood, and which conduces so much to the comfort of the whole of the nation, a few particulars of the rise and progress of the Newcastle coal trade the nucleus around which the coal trade of the North of England was formed-may not be considered out of place here. Though the presence of coal beneath the surface of the earth was no secret, and though there is much positive evidence that the Romans were acquainted with the use of coal as fuel, many centuries passed away before coal-getting became anything like a trade, or its use anything to speak of. It is true that in many districts where coal was easily obtained, it was used by smiths in their forges, but by far the greater number of our forefathers preferred to use charcoal for domestic purposes; and indeed so strong was the prejudice against its use, that, according to Stowe, the nice dames of London, in the early part of the sixteenth century, "would not come into any house or room where sea-coales are burned; nor willingly eat of meat that was either sod or roasted with sea-coal fire." But, though the prejudice against coal continued till the sixteenth century, there is proof that as early as the thirteenth coals were used in sufficient quantities as to become the subject of a special charter B from King Henry the Third, in the year 1239, who granted" to the good men of Newcastle licence to dig coals in the common soil of the town, without the walls thereof, in the place called Castle Field and the Forth, and from thence to draw and convert them to their own profit in aid of their fee-farm rent of £100 per annum." The same king subsequently gave them all the stone and coals in the Forth adjoining to the former; and the revenues of the town increased so much by the sale of coals that in 1280, we are told it was worth £200 a year. They were also very extensively used in London about this time, so much so, that Parliament complained in 1306 to the King that they "infected the air in noxious vapours." The sensitive gentlemen of the present day, who cannot endure a little coal smoke are therefore not the originators of this crusade against the use of coals, for nearly six centuries ago our legislators procured the publication of two proclamations prohibiting their further use, and containing strict orders to inflict fines upon all delinquents, and to destroy all furnaces and kilns in which coals were used. But necessity and experience soon triumphed over ignorance and selfishness; and a debt of 10s. was incurred for coal at the coronation of Edward the Third, proving that it must have been used in that ceremony notwithstanding the proclamations. Edward the Third granted licences to Newcastle to work coal in the Castle Field and Castle Moor, issued orders concerning coal measures, suffered coals won in the fields of Gateshead to be taken across the Tyne in boats to Newcastle on condition of their paying the usual customs of the port ; and after that to be sent to any part of the kingdom, either by land or sea, but to no place out of it except to Calais. In the year 1330 the Priory of Tynemouth let a colliery called Heygrove, at "Elstewyke," for £5, another in the East field there at 6 marks a year; besides which they had one in the West field, and another near Gallow Flat on the same estate in the years 1331 and 1334. Then as an evidence of the progress which had taken place, in the trade, it may be mentioned that these mines were let in the year 1530, for £20 a year, a condition of the lease being that not more than twenty chaldrons, of six bolls each, should be drawn in a day. In 1538, two pits were let by the same priory for the yearly rent of £50, and in 1554 Queen Mary granted a lease of 21 years on all mines "within the fields and bounds of Elstwick," at the annual rent of £68. Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1582, obtained a 99 years' lease of the manors and royalties of Gateshead and Whickham at the yearly rental of £90. This, which was called "the Grand Lease,' caused an immediate advance in coals; but the Queen soon transferred it to the Earl of Leicester, who in his turn assigned it to his secretary, Thomas Sutton, the founder of the Charter House. Sutton transferred this lease to Sir William Riddell and others for the use of the Mayor and Burgesses of Newcastle in consideration of £12,000. The "Grand Lease put the coal trade into a terrible fever, and the price of coals in London, while Sutton held it, was 6s. a chaldron; but, on its assignment to the Corporation of Newcastle, they rose to 7s. ; and soon after to 8s. In the year 1590 the market price was advanced to 9s., upon which the Lord Mayor complained to Lord Treasurer Burleigh against the town of Newcastle, setting forth that the society of Free Hosts, consisting of about 60 persons, had consigned their right of "the Grand Lease" to about 18 or 20 persons, who engrossed the collieries at Stella, Ravensworth, Newburn, &c., and requesting that the whole might be opened and the price fixed at a maximum of 7s. per chaldron. In the year 1602 there were 28 acting fitters or hostmen, who were to vend yearly 9,080 tons of coals and provide 85 keels for that purpose. In 1615 the trade appears to have employed 400 sail of ships, one half of which supplied London, and the other half the rest of England. The French also traded somewhat extensively with Newcastle at this time, and coal for Picardy, Normandy, Bretagne and other ports was exported from the Tyne, often in fleets of 50 sail at one time. In the year 1616 the quantity of coals shipped from the port was 13,675 tons, and in 1622 the vend had increased to 14,420 tons. So, the coal trade, which then began to increase with great rapidity from year to year, went on progressing till the year 1640, when Newcastle was in the hands of the Covenanters, and in a state of siege. Trade of all kinds was at a stand still, the coal trade especially sustaining a very heavy loss; and from employ |