The Coal Mills of Northeast England: The Use of Waterwheels for Draining Coal Mines, 1600-1750

摘要

For the British mine owner of the 17th century, said John U. Nef, drainage dwarfed all other problems and determined to a large extent the structure of his or her coal mine. Curiously, despite his appendix note on drainage technology, Nef did not see that the power needed to raise water obliged owners to turn to those ubiquitous motors of early industry, water mills, which appear in deeds of the time as "coalmilns." They have been given much less attention by subsequent historians, largely because until quite recently there has been almost no archaeological inquiry into coal. This has caused an underestimation of early development of output and of the technology needed. In 1991, excavation near Coleorton Hall in Leicestershire (see fig. 1) revealed pillar and stall working; the earliest reference to the system is of 1610, but here dendrology showed it had been in use 150 years earlier, in the mid-15th century.