Part 6

A Memory of Middle Rainton.

The village provided labour mainly for the Meadows Pit that was opened in 1824 and also for other local pits – Adventure, Resolution, Alexandrina, Hazard, Nicholson’s, Dun Well, Glow Oe, r Em…. to name but a few.
At the Rainton Colliery, which is the property of the Marquis of Londonderry, there are three pits from which coal is raised, Adventure, Alexandrina and Meadows, sunk in the years 1817, 1824 and 1824 respectively. The seams worked are the Five Quarter, High Main, Maudlin and Low Main, the Hutton seam being practically exhausted. The coals produced are Londonderry Wallsend, Pittington Wallsend and Londonderry Primrose for household purposes and the Hartley for steam purposes.
The number of stationary engines in use is 31, boilers 38, men and boys employed 1185, houses occupied by workmen 835.

Village Life: We always kept a cat, not so much as a pet but to catch the mice that sometimes got into the house. The cat would also catch “Black Clocks”, a large black beetle or cockroach which would also get in from time-to-time and take up residence behind the range of nearly all the pit houses. We had a black Labrador, Nell, who didn’t live in the house but was well kennelled outside.

Since we had two working pitmen at home we were lucky enough to qualify for free coal deliveries! This was great as the fire never went out – summer or winter - and as it was required for cooking, baking, ironing, hot water and heating this was a real bonus. Our house was very large and there was plenty of room for us all, unlike some families with a lot of children who had to “top and tail” 6 to a bed.

There was no running hot water, no gas, no bathroom and no flushing toilets. Electricity was used for lighting and if you were lucky, a wireless set. Most sets were run from accumulators, a sort of battery, which you had to take to the shop and pay to be recharged.

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