EDUCATION

PACK

Teachers’ notesNational Curriculum links

1 The history of Moira FurnaceWho built the furnace and why?Making ironWhy did the furnace stop working?

2 Sir Francis Rawdon HastingsThe 2nd Earl of MoiraAristocratic titles, family trees and coats of armsThe Hastings family tree

3 The science and technology of Moira FurnaceHow did the furnace work?Blast furnacesIron

Reduction (Smelting), Pig iron, Cast ironThe lime kilns

4 Mining at Moira in Victorian timesA coal mining day at Moira in 1842

Walking to the coalface, ‘Holing’, The day shift, The night shift, Horses underground, The history of the Moira collieries

The dangers of mine workingExplosions, Black powder

Miners’ livesThe little butty system and slackers, How much did a miner earn in 1842?, How much did a miner spend each week in 1842?, Pounds shillings and pence

Children working in the minesExtract from the 1842 Report on Chidren’s Employment in Mines

Miners’ words

5 Living at Moira FurnaceHousingThe 1881 Census

Census abbreviations, Local occupations, Census transcriptions

6 The Ashby CanalThe Moira LockThe Joseph Wilkes narrowboatCanal horsesThe boat fleetLiving and working on the canals‘Roses and Castles’

7 Moira wildlifeWoodlandPondsThe canal

CONTENTS

MOIRA FURNACE MUSEUM EDUCATION PACK

Moira Furnace is one of the best examples of an early 19th Century iron-making blastfurnace anywhere in Europe. It was built in 1804 by Francis Rawdon Hastings, the Earl ofMoira, to exploit the wealth of coal and iron ore in the area.

The furnace site includes the museum itself, which is in three parts within the original blastfurnace building; restored lime kilns; woodland; and the restored section of the AshbyCanal, complete with narrowboat.

The Moira Furnace site offers a wealth of activities for schools and helps meet NationalCurriculum requirements in History, Science, Geography, Literacy and Numeracy. Themuseum has been designed to show how science and industry have shaped the locallandscape and the lives of local people. Its resources offer a range of experiences forchildren at all key stages.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Blisworth Village Website (www.blisworth.org.uk)British WaterwaysHinckley & Bosworth Borough CouncilNorth West Leicestershire District CouncilNorthern Ireland Environment AgencyThe Science Museum

COPYRIGHT

Published by The Moira Furnace Museum Trust Limited, 2009

© The Moira Furnace Museum Trust Limited, 2009

The copyright of the material in this publication is vested in the trustees of Moira Furnace.Permission is given by the trustees for any material to be copied, in reasonable quantities,by the purchasing institution for educational purposes only. Permission is not given forcommercial use of the material without prior written permission from the trustees.

We have attempted to trace the copyright holders of photographs used but if we haveunwittingly infringed copyright, we sincerely apologise and will be pleased, on beingsatisfied as to the owner’s title, to pay an appropriate fee as if we had been able to obtainprior permission.

Moira Furnace is an ideal place for a school visit. It offers a wealth of activities and helpsmeet National Curriculum requirements in History, Science, Geography, Literacy andNumeracy. The museum has been designed to show how science and industry have shapedthe local landscape and the lives of local people. Its resources offer a range of experiencesfor children at all key stages.

The furnace site includes the museum itself, within the original blast furnace building;restored lime kilns; woodland; and the restored section of the Ashby Canal, complete withnarrowboat. There are two parts to the museum:

The Bridge Loft - where the raw materials for smelting were assembled and fed into the topof the furnace. This now houses displays showing how the furnace worked.

The Hastings Room - where the furnace building was converted into cottages after it stoppedworking. This now houses displays of the working life of the furnace and the history of thebuildings on the site. The Hastings Room includes Mary’s Parlour - a reconstructed Victoriankitchen. This contains authentic objects giving an insight into the everyday lives of the miningfamilies who lived in the furnace later in the 19th century.

The museum also offers a number of activities that can be combined with the museumexperience to provide a full day of educational value. These include:

Victorian washdaySoap makingBug hunting

All activities and tours are ranger-led. The museum also has its own canal boat which isavailable for short trips by school groups.

NATIONAL CURRICULUM LINKS

HISTORY

Key Stages 1 & 2

Areas of study include family life, work and leisure from the past in the local area. Thisincludes the lives of significant individuals such as Francis Rawdon Hastings the Earl ofMoira, and Joseph Wilkes, a local entrepreneur associated with the construction of theAshby Canal. The museum’s resources particularly support the following units:

Unit 2: What were homes like a long time ago? (Year 1)The museum offers opportunities to explore people’s lives and lifestyles in the Victorianperiod. ‘Mary’s Parlour’ - a reconstructed Victorian kitchen - contains authentic objectsgiving an insight into the everyday lives of the mining families who lived in the furnace laterin the19th century. This allows children to identify differences between ways of life atdifferent times. The museum’s displays show different ways in which the past is representedand our activity sheets allow pupils to collect information to create their own records.

The museum contributes to the teaching of the Local History Study unit. It covers aspects of thelocal community over a period of time and illustrates developments in the local communitytaught in the Victorian Britain unit. Its resources particularly support the following units:

TEACHERS’ NOTES

Unit 11: What was it like for children living in Victorian Britain? (Year 5/6)This pack contains resources that explore housing conditions and the working lives ofchildren in the local mines and on canals in Victorian times.

Unit 12: How did life change in our locality in Victorian times? (Year 5/6)Moira Furnace is one of the best examples of an early 19th Century iron-making blastfurnace anywhere in Europe. Together with the Ashby Canal, which runs alongside thefurnace, it played a key part in the industrial transformation of the local area. The museum’s‘Hastings Room’ - where the furnace building was converted into cottages after it stoppedworking - houses displays of the working life of the furnace and the history of the buildingson the site. The unusual census material from 1881 for the furnace buildings can be used toexplore the living conditions and working lives of families in the area.

Unit 18: What was it like to live here in the past? (Year 3/4)Moira Furnace is a focal point for industrial change in the past. Its unusual appearance andconstruction allow considerable scope for observation and recording. Its transition fromindustrial use to housing is supported by historic photographs and drawings which can becompared with modern photos and observations.

Key Stage 3

The museum meets the requirements for Britain 1750 -1900 with an emphasis on industrialchange and its impact on the way of life of people in the local area. It particularly supportsthe following units:

Unit 11: Industrial changes - action and reaction (Year 8)The Ashby Woulds area was rich in coal and ironstone and the opening of the Ashby Canalmade their exploitation a viable proposition. The blast furnace proved to be a failure butcoal mining in the area was highly profitable and continued well into the 20th century. Themuseum’s ‘Bridge Loft’ - where the raw materials for smelting were assembled and fed intothe top of the furnace - houses displays showing how the furnace worked and explains thetechnological processes involved. The furnace site also contains seven restored lime kilns thatwere built to burn local limestone.

GEOGRAPHY

Key Stages 1, 2 & 3

Moira Furnace gives an abundance of opportunities to study how and why the site hasdeveloped, its transport links and changes of use. Together with the developing NationalForest and restored Ashby Canal, it also demonstrates environmental preservation andregeneration within a local area. The growth and subsequent decline of the mining industryin the area provide examples of change in economic activity, availability of resources andenvironmental impact. The museum’s resources particularly support the following units:

KS1 & 2, Unit 6: Investigating our local area (Year 3)KS3, Unit 1: Making connections (Year 7)KS3, Unit 22: Mining on the internet (Year 9).

SCIENCE

Key Stages 1, 2 & 3

Unit 3C: Characteristics of materials (Year 3)Unit 9E: Reactions of metals and metal compounds (Year 9)Unit 9F: Patterns of reactivity (Year 9), Unit 9H: Using chemistry (Year9)

The museum displays explain the use of raw materials in the iron-making process anddemonstrate the relevance of these processes to the manufacture of a range of products. Thispack includes a section on the science and technology of a blast furnace and the impact ofdevelopments in technology on iron smelting, casting and founding, and the production ofquicklime from limestone.

Unit 2B: Plants and animals in the local environment (Year 2)Unit 4B: Habitats (Year 4)Unit 6A: Interdependence and adaptation (Year 6)The furnace site includes woodland, a wildflower meadow and the Ashby Canal. Theseoffer many opportunities for the observation and identification of plants and animals in theirnatural environment. Additional activities available at the furnace include bug hunting andwildflower and tree identification.

CREATIVITY, CITIZENSHIP & ICT

The museum offers a wealth of material to support reading and writing. There are manycharacters (from the Earl of Moira to the humblest mine boy) and events that could be usedas a basis for descriptive writing. The museum’s displays and activity sheets encourage thelocation and use of information and recording. Many aspects of data handling using themuseum’s resources will lend themselves to the use of ICT tools.

The materials in the pack do not need to be used in a particular order. Just use the sectionsthat are most relevant to the needs of your pupils. There are lots of opportunities for furtherwork.

Many activities are cross-curricular and will support schemes of work within Citizenship atprimary level.

ACTIVITY RESOURCES

The following resources can be used throughout the pack (samples in this section):

Evidence response sheets (general, artefacts and photos)Storyboard outlineDrawing frame.

These can be photocopied without permission for whole class use.

USEFUL GENERAL WEBSITES

www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorianswww.learningcurve.gov.uk/index/snapshots.htm (The National Archives lesson plans)www.headlinehistory.co.uk (Learning with newspapers)www.emsource.org.uk (Museum and archive resources in the East Midlands)www.objectlessons.org.uk (Evidence from objects)

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

Victorian wash day

Groups of up to 12 children are encouraged toparticipate in a Victorian-style wash day in the‘Mary’s Parlour’, the miner’s kitchen section ofthe museum.

This activity lasts approximately 30 minutes andincludes using a dolly peg, dolly tub, posher,wash board, soap and mangle. (For safetyreasons, use of the mangle is demonstrated bystaff!) Children are given the opportunity to washan item of clothing, hang it out and learn aboutthe life of a mining family in late Victorian times.

The Joseph Wilkes boat trip

The Moira Furnace narrowboat is available foruse by school groups. A maximum of 10children and 2 adults can be taken at one timeon the boat trip which lasts about 30 minutes.The boat leaves the furnace, turns round atMoira Lock, up to Donisthorpe Country Park andback to the furnace.

Lock trips are available on request. This triptakes 45 minutes each way through the lock toConkers Basin and then back to the furnace.

Boat trips are usually combined with other activities on the day of your visit.

Pond dipping and bug hunting

This very popular activity involves a small group of children (maximum 10) in analysingpond life.

Magnifying glasses, pens, paper and all dipping equipment are provided. Children aregiven information sheets to help them identify the creatures found. This activity takes 30minutes.

Who built the furnace and why?

Sir Francis Rawdon Hastings, the second Earlof Moira, built the furnace in 1804. It was builtto produce iron which was used to makemachine parts, tram tracks and cannonballsamongst other things.

The story of Moira begins in the late 1700swhen Sir Francis took over the estates left to himby his father. He took samples of coal, iron oreand limestone from the local area which at thetime was just fields and wasteland. He foundthat the quality of these materials was ideal formaking iron. By1800 the Earl had sunk his first coal mine and in 1802 hewas planning a blast furnace, fuelled with coke made from his own coal.

The result was Moira Furnace. It was built in 1806, at a cost of £30,000,beside the newly opened Ashby Canal which was to bring raw materials tothe furnace and carry the finished iron to be sold in other parts of thecountry. From the Earl of Moira’s industries grew the village of Moira (namedafter the Earl’s estate in Ireland) with churches, schools, shops, pubs and arailway station.

THE HISTORY OF MOIRA FURNACE 1

The ‘Stone Rows’ in Moira, built by the Earl in 1811 to house the workers for his furnace, foundry and coal mines. Each cottage had a parlour, kitchen, large front room, coalhouse, two large bedrooms and a good-sized garden.

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KS1/2HISTORY

Iron making in Victorian times

What is different from factories today?

Where is the power for the machinery coming from?

Where is the light coming from for the workers to see what they are doing?

Making iron

Iron has been used in Britain since before Roman times. It is abundantnaturally but is hard to smelt, as its melting point is very high and it caneasily be spoilt by impurities. The late 18th and early 19th centuries sawmany developments in technology which improved iron making techniques.One was to use coal in the form of coke for smelting, to reducecontamination of the iron, and another was to use a steam engine to powera blowing cylinder to produce an air blast.

The expansion of the iron industry in Britain was a major factor in thedevelopment of the Industrial Revolution.

Why did the furnace stop working?

From the very beginning there were problems with the management of thefurnace. The quality of the limestone was not good enough and the localcoal was not suitable for turning into coke. Twice as much coal was neededto produce a ton of iron in Moira than in other places.

The furnace worked from1806 -1807 and again in 1810 until 1811 when itwas blown out. Despite plans to restart operations later in 1811, and even tobuild a second furnace to operate alongside the first, it appears that nofurther iron smelting took place. When restoration took place on the furnacein 1981 it still contained a working charge (the last lot of rocks ever poured into the top).

Something went wrong during smelting that damaged the furnace beyondrepair. It seems that the top of the furnace (rather than the bottom) becamemuch too hot causing the chimney lining to melt and fall into the furnace.After this, the furnace was shut down though the foundry attached to thefurnace carried on working for another 40 years or so using iron madeelsewhere.

Moira’s future lay with coal not iron. The furnace building survived becauseit was used as cottages, some of which were lived in until the 1970s.

Moira Furnace after it was turned into cottages.

TEACHERS’ NOTES

This section gives brief background information about the history of Moira Furnace, itslocation and purpose, and how it has come to survive. It is designed to be read with pupilsand could be used as a standalone activity, perhaps as preparation for a visit to thefurnace.

The old photographs of the ‘Stone Rows’ and of the furnace buildings could be used toprompt an investigation of living spaces. Children may want to draw a plan of their ownhouse and compare it with the Moira cottages and the furnace itself. They could identifydifferences in chimney, roof and window styles and in how rooms are arranged within ahome.

There are more old photographs of the furnace throughout the pack and further activitiesrelating to living conditions in Section 5 ‘Living at Moira Furnace’. There is much moredetailed information about Sir Francis Rawdon Hastings and activities relating to heraldry,family trees and aristocracy in Section 2 ‘Moira people’.

SIR FRANCIS RAWDON HASTINGS 2THE 2nd EARL OF MOIRA

Sir Francis Rawdon Hastings was bornin Ireland in 1754. He became aprominent Leicestershire landownerand a significant figure in Britishpolitics during the reign of George III.

Francis Rawdon inherited the area ofAshby Woulds from his uncle in 1789and took the family name of Hastings.In 1793 he inherited his father'sproperty in Ireland and the title of Earlof Moira. Aristocratic landowners hadthe right to mine, use and sell themineral reserves that lay below the ground they owned.

Sir Francis was an important military commander. He served in the BritishArmy during the War of American Independence and in 1794 he commandedan expedition to rescue noble families from the revolution in France. He wasCommander-in-Chief of the army in Scotland from 1803-1806.

In politics Sir Francis was regarded asbeing brave, talented and loyal but alsosomewhat foolish. Many people thoughtthat the Prince of Wales took advantageof his weaknesses and played a major

part in his later financial difficulties. His friendship with the prince also madehim unpopular with King George and is thought to have damaged hisreputation and political career.

Sir Francis, the 2nd Earl of Moira

Look at his clothes:

Are they the same as people wear today?

Are they what poor people would haveworn in those days?

Sir

Franc

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KS 1/2/3HISTORY

Like many aristocrats of the time, Sir Francis had large debts and was oftenin need of money. He sold off his estates in Ireland and parts of his estates inLeicestershire but was determined to keep Ashby Woulds where he hopedthat coal mining and iron making would restore his fortunes. Unfortunately,Moira Furnace was never the success that he wished for.

Because of his debts he was unable to live in Britain and died in 1826,while he was Governor of Malta, on the navy ship HMS Revenge anchoredat Naples.

Aristocratic titles, family trees and coats of arms

During his life, Sir Francis held all the following aristocratic titles:

Baron Rawdon Lord of Ashby Manor2nd Earl of Moira Baron BotreauxBaron De Moleyns Baron HastingsBaron Hungerford 1st Marquess of HastingsViscount Loudoun Earl Rawdon

A study of the Hastings family tree shows where some of these titles camefrom. Many were added because of marriages between different familiesand through the handing down of titles from father to eldest son.

The Hastings Family

Can you find Francis Rawdon Hastings and his wife Flora?

Why did Sir Francis add ‘Hastings’ to his name?

Why was there not a 5th Marquis of Hastings?

Family trees

Can you draw your own family tree?

If you were a Lord or Lady, what title would you choose?

Can you design your own coat of arms?

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1732-1743

1735-1736

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TEACHERS’ NOTES

In this section you will find information about Sir Francis Rawdon Hastings who played animportant part in Moira's past.

Pupils might like to create a factfile for Sir Francis which could include sheets on his workinglife and what he achieved in his career and a summary sheet of his importance locally ornationally. Further sheets could be added and pupils might produce an obituary for him as itmight have been produced in the newspaper at the time.

Pupils could be asked to select one event from Sir Francis’s life and draw this to make amontage for display around the class. It could also be clipped onto a timeline around theclassroom.

Discuss Francis Rawdon Hasting's family tree and how it is set out. Aspects that could behighlighted might include: fashionable names, any names that recur, marriages andevidence of male primogeniture. You might also want to explore the idea that the Hastingsshould have been part of today’s royal family (see the Channel 4 website).

Pupils could be asked to design their own family tree and/or coats of arms using thetemplates or web resources.

WHAT YOU CAN SEE AT MOIRA FURNACE

The ‘Hastings Room’ contains information about Sir Francis and a life-size mannequin in18th century military costume.

USEFUL WEBSITES

Sir Francis Rawdon Hastingswww.education.mcgill.ca/profs/cartwright/rawdon/sirfrancis.htmwww.answers.com/topic/marquess-of-hastingswww.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/I-m/monarchtree.html

Aristocratic titleswww.thepeerage.comwww.burkes-peerage.net

Family trees and coats of armswww.digiserve.com/heraldrywww.coatsofarms.addr.comwww.storyboardtoys.com/gallery/coat-of-arms-lesson-plan.htmwww.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/british_galleries/designa/coat_of_arms/coat_of_arms.html

How did the furnace work?

The three materials needed to make iron - coal, limestone and iron ore -were dug up from the ground in the local area, and taken by canal boat tothe furnace buildings. They would then be carried in barrows up to thebridge loft, separated, weighed and measured, and poured into the furnacestack - the chimney at the end of the building.

A fire was lit at the bottom of the stack and air was pushed into the chimneyfrom a big engine at the side of the furnace. The air made the fire burn veryhot and melt all of the rocks in the stack. When the rocks had all melted andfused together, molten iron was produced. A plug was taken out of a wall ofsand at the bottom of the chimney and the molten iron ran out into moulds inthe floor of the foundry.

Blast furnaces

A blast furnace produces molten ironfrom the reaction between iron ore andcarbon at high temperature. The veryhigh temperature is achieved by injectinga blast of compressed air into the baseof the furnace during burning. A smallamount of limestone is added to reactwith ash and impurities in the iron ore toform a liquid called slag. The impuritieswould otherwise clog up the furnace.

Early blast furnaces used charcoal astheir source of carbon and bellowspowered by a water wheel to supply theair blast. By the time Moira Furnace wasbuilt, two major advances in technologyhad occurred. One was to use coalinstead of charcoal as the source ofcarbon. (The coal was in the form ofcoke, where water and pollutants havebeen removed.) The other was to use a steam engine instead of bellows toblow compressed air into the furnace. These advances meant that furnacescould be built much larger and near to supplies of coal and iron ore ratherthan having to be built near a water supply.

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

OF MOIRA FURNACE3

Iron ore Limestone Coke

Air

Iron

Iron

‘Pig Beds’

How a blast furnace works

KS 1/2/3SCIENCEHISTORY

Iron

Iron is an element with a melting point of 1535 degrees centigrade. Afteraluminium, it is the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust and is the fourthmost common element. In its natural state (iron ore) it is mixed with otherelements which have to be removed before it becomes usable. Iron ore isonly mined when it contains at least 15% iron.

Unfortunately, the iron ore used at Moira had a low iron content. This meantthat the furnace produced poor quality iron.

Reduction (Smelting)

This is the process of making iron (Fe) from iron ore. It is called reduction because during the process iron oxide is reduced to iron. The iron ore is heated together with carbon (C), the reducing agent. Thecarbon removes oxygen (O) from the iron ore and combines with it toform carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide. The chemical equation for thisreaction is:

Fe2O3 + 3C 2Fe + 3CO2

As it gets hotter the iron absorbs some of the carbon which causes it to melt. At this stage the limestone - which contains calcium carbonate(CaCO3) - that was added to the iron ore and coke, breaks down intocalcium oxide and additional carbon dioxide:

CaCO3 CaO + CO2

The calcium oxide reacts with impurities in the iron - mainly silicondioxide (SiO2) - forming a slag containing calcium silicate (CaSiO3)which floats on the iron.

Pig iron

While iron was being made at Moira the furnace remained alight and inblast day and night. As the coke burned, the contents of the furnace sankand fresh coke, iron ore and limestone were tipped into the top. Molten ironand slag collected in the bottom of the furnace chimney where there was ahearth with a dam made of large stone blocks covered with iron plates. Inthe dam were two openings - a tap hole at the side and a slag notch at thetop. The slag was tapped when the hearth filled up but the molten iron wastapped less often, about every 12 hours.

When iron is molten it cannot berolled or hammered into shape sohas to be poured into moulds andleft to cool. Moira originally had acasting shed next to the furnace. Inthe floor of the shed was a bed ofsand containing a network ofbranching troughs into which themolten iron flowed. The mainbranches were called sows and theside ones pigs because the patternlooked like a sow suckling herpiglets. The iron was thereforecalled pig iron. Moira producedabout 2 tonnes of pig iron a day.

Cast iron

Some Moira iron was sold as pig iron. The rest was used to make cast irongoods for sale and for use in local industries. For this the pig iron had to bemelted again in a small furnace and cast in moulds.

A pattern of the thing to bemade, such as a pot or rail, ismade out of wood and pressedin to a box of casting sand. Thewooden pattern is then removedleaving the impression of itsshape behind. This is the mouldinto which molten iron is poured.When the iron has cooled, themould is broken away leavingthe iron in the shape of thepattern. Producing woodenpatterns and preparing mouldswas very skilled work.

This is a drawing of part of a carved stone mould from the furnace. It was used to make letters in cast iron. You can see the channels that the molten iron flowed through.

Why do you think the letters are back to front?Can you design a mould to make something you use every day?

Moulds are still used to make many everyday objects, like mobile phones and calculators.

What materials are these made from?Why do we no longer make so many objects out of iron?

Pig iron beds in a Victorian foundry

Although Moira Furnace stopped smelting iron in 1812, the casting shedremained in use as a foundry for another 40 years. Pig iron was broughtfrom elsewhere, remelted and cast into items such as tram plates for theAshby Canal, machinery and equipment for local collieries, window framesand fireplaces. The foundry was demolished in 1903 and converted in topigsties and outside toilets for the adjoining cottages.

You can still see the foundations of the casting shed in front of the furnacechimney.

Cast iron objects

Cast iron items for sale in theCoalbrookdale Company Catalgue1875

1

4

3

2

Do you know what all these objects are?

Do we still use them today?

If we do, are they still made of cast iron?

5

6

The lime kilns

Limestone was burned in the lime kilns from about 1812 to 1860. Thelimestone was brought by tramway from the quarries of Ticknall and Breedonabout 10 kilometres north of Moira.

Unburned limestone was used at the furnace in the ironmaking process butsome of it was burnt separately in the lime kilns to make quicklime.Limestone, which contains calcium carbonate (CaCO3), is heated to above

825 degrees centigrade to remove carbon dioxide. This leaves calciumoxide (CaO) known as quicklime. The chemical equation for this reaction is:

CaCO3 + heat CaO + CO2

Quicklime is a white powder that had several important uses in the 19thcentury. It was spread on the fields as a fertilizer to improve the quality of thesoil. It was mixed with water to make a sort of a paint called limewash.Limewash was used as a disinfectant to keep the walls of farm buildingsclean. Quicklime was also mixed with sand and water to make mortar forbuilding.

Working at the lime kilns was very dangerous. Quicklime is corrosive. Thismeans that it can burn the skin, eyes and lungs if breathed in. It is veryunlikely that the lime burners wore any protective clothing. Lime burners’ liveswere usually very short.

The lime kilns as they are today

A drawing of the lime kilns as they would have looked when they were working

In 1812, 3 tons of quicklime sold for 30 shillings. To make 3 tons you would need 21 shillings worth of limestone

and 3 shillings worth of coal.

How much profit was there in 3 tons of quicklime?

How much is that in today’s money?

TEACHERS’ NOTES

This section explores the science and technology behind Moira Furnace. It outlines thetechnology and chemistry of a blast furnace which older children could use as a startingpoint to explore the properties of metals and their use in manufacturing. It also includes adescription of 19th century limeworking which provides a strong contrast with modernworking methods and could prompt discussion about personal safety and contrastinglifestyles. (Section 4 ‘Mining at Moira in Victorian times’ also includes information about thedangers of mineworking and the employment of children.)

As with other sections, it is designed to be used as a standalone activity but will perhaps bemore useful as part of a broader study of industrial activity and change. It will beparticularly useful for Key Stage 3 pupils in both Science and History.

The design of Moira Furnace was experimental in its day and pupils could compare it withother forms of furnace and its use of compressed air with other sources of power (forexample, water or horsepower).

The illustrations of cast iron objects could be used by Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils as anactivity in itself or to lead on to:

- exploring the use of iron as a material in Victorian household objects and how those objects would have been used

- exploring the use of iron in street furniture (lamp posts, manhole covers, benches etc.)- comparing a range of Victorian objects, not just those made of iron, to modern

objects to think about how they were made, what they were used for and whether westill use objects like them today. Some might be brought in from home.

WHAT CAN BE SEEN AT MOIRA FURNACE

The furnace building is a uniquely preserved pre-Victorian blast furnace. The foundations ofthe casting shed are still visible and the channels for molten iro have been recreated in brick.Display panels and models in the museum illustrate the processes of iron-making in the earlyVictorian era.The museum has a collection of objects made of cast iron.The original limekilns have been restored in their original location.

USEFUL WEBSITES

Blast furnaces, smelting and iron-makingwww.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/launch_ani_blast_furnace.shtmlwww.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/smeltingwww.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/chemistry/usefulproductsrocks/index.shtml

Cast iron objectswww.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/museum/othertrades/cranefoundry/catalogue.htmwww.objectlessons.org

Coal has been used as a source of energy for centuries in many differentparts of the world. The Industrial Revolution in Britain was based on theabundance of coal to power steam engines, either for factory machines or forthe expanding network of railways. It was in Britain that the main techniquesof underground mining were developed from the late 18th century onward.

Moira sits above the deepest part of the Leicestershire and South Derbyshirecoalfield. The Earl of Moira made trials to find coal in 1796 and shafts beganto be sunk near the furnace from1800 onwards to supply coal for the blastengine. Between1804 and1813 three large mines, about 215m deep weresunk to the Moira Main Coal (a seam up to 5m thick in places) and a collieryvillage was built to accommodate a part of the workforce employed in them.

A COAL MINING DAY AT MOIRA IN1842

In the 1840s the working day started early in Moira. Dim lights would beshowing in the windows of the two rows of stone built houses facing eachother across the road to Measham. Around two o’clock in the morning,miners would be leaving to walk the dark roads and paths to the pits of theMoira Collieries - Bath Pit, Marquis Pit and the recently opened Newfield Pit.

These early starters would be the‘holers’, workers who cut andbrought down the coal at thecoalface. As they arrived at the pit,the engine man would be waiting,boiler fires prepared. The menwere lowered to the pit bottom onloops of chain attached to awinding rope. An iron umbrellaprotected them from above.

Going down the shaft was asunpleasant as being lowered downa factory chimney, hot and full ofsmoke and fumes from theventilating furnace. It usually tookabout half an hour to get all 40men into the pit.

MINING AT MOIRA IN

VICTORIAN TIMES4

Lowering men down the pit shaft

KS 2HISTORYENGLISH

CITIZENSHIP

Walking to the coalface

Once down the pit, the men would start the walk to the coalface. They wentthrough the ventilation control doors, along the road cut through solid coal,past the horse gin (a horse driven engine for pulling wagons up a slope),and on to the working area. This was about three-quarters of a mile from theshaft. At least the road was high enough for the men to walk upright, unlikeat many pits.

At the end of the main road, the men would turn up the stall roads (wherecoal had already been extracted), and small groups of men went to eachstall. The stall roads had walls made up of timber logs to support the roof.

‘Holing’

Once at the coalface the work of the day would begin. The coal seam wasabout five metres thick but only the best part (about 1.8m thick) was mined.This was hard dull - looking coal known as ‘spires’. In the middle of thesection was a narrow band of softer, brighter coal called ‘dicey’. This waseasier to mine than the spires but not such good quality.

Working by the light of candles only, the miners used their picks to cut aseven centimetre deep slot into the coal over a distance of about six metres.This operation was known as ‘holing’.

Each holer had to cut about 12 metres of coal out before he was allowed tocome up the shaft. This was called his ‘stint’. No explosives were used. Thesaying “Why don’t you use some Moira powder?” meant using a hammerand wedge. The holers generally returned to the surface at three o’clock inthe afternoon or shortly afterwards.

The day shift

Around six o’clock in the morning the remainder of the workforce wouldgather at the pithead. This was the main day shift; the coal getters, called‘ratchers’, and pony boys. It took about 45 minutes to wind 60 -70 men andboys down the pit. Their main work was to remove the coal and transport itfrom the coalface to the pit bottom.

The facemen, or ‘hewers’, would take long, thin wedges and hammer theminto the top of the seam that the holers had made, causing it to break off inlarge blocks from the roof of the seam. These large blocks of coal were thencleared away, loaded into ‘corves’ (flat-bottomed tubs with 15cm sides) oncarriages and moved on a railway laid along the coalface. The wedges werethen driven into the bottom half of the seam at floor level causing the coal tobreak off upwards. Again the large coal would be removed while the smallpieces were thrown onto waste heaps.

Loaded carriages at the coalface were taken up the stall road into the mainroad. Two or more carriages were then coupled together and drawn byhorses to the pit bottom. At the pit bottom the corves of coal were hung onthe winding rope for the journey up the shaft.

On the pit bank at the surface, men were busy removing the corves of coalfrom the rope at the pithead and sending empty corves back down. Otherswere engaged in emptying and stacking the large blocks of coal or loadingthem into wagons on the railway leading to the canal. Around six or seveno’clock at night, the winding of coal would end for the day and men andboys would come out of the mine.

The night shift

As the day shift finished, the night shift began. Night shift duties were toclean up all coal slack and small coal pieces and put them into the waste.The men also moved the wooden props forward to the coalface to hold theroof up. (The props were called ‘puncheons’.) They also replaced anybroken sleepers and cleared all loose stone and coal from the horse ways.

As well as the coal workers there were also specially picked teams called‘waste-men’. It was their job to construct ventilation airways and make surethey were kept open. This was a very dangerous job as the airwayssometimes contained gas and the men only had candles to see by.

Horses underground

The boys working in the pit collected the horsesand ponies from underground stables and tookthem into the workings. Two horses drewcarriages of coal from the coalface to the pitbottom. One horse was led by a boy of elevenor twelve and the other by an older youth.

About a third of the way from the pitbottom, the horse gin was used to pullthe carriages up an incline. This wasoperated by four horses walking roundand round, coupled to the arms of thegin, which coiled a haulage rope ontoa winding drum. About 30 horsesworked underground at Bath Pit.

Many horses were used on the furnacesite when in operation and at all themines in the area.

Horses pulling ‘corves’ underground

Look at the mask on the horse’s head. What do you think this is for?

How did they get the horses underground?

Why would it have been important to keep the horse healthy and happy?

The history of the Moira collieries

The pits in the Moira area seem to have had different names at differenttimes. Sometimes they are named after places, and sometimes after people,especially the Earl of Moira and his family. Have a look at the Hastingsfamily tree to see if you can identify some of the names that were used.

The owners of the collieries at Moira were members of the Hastings familyuntil the death of Lord Donington in 1895 when a new company, The MoiraColliery Company Ltd., was formed.

The working dates of the pits are also not always clear. Sometimes we onlyknow the date when full production of coal mining started. As workunderground moved further away from the mineshafts it became moreeconomical to sink new shafts. These later became known by separatenames:

1804 Double (or Spinney) Pits1806 Furnace (or Harvey’s) Pit1813 Bath Pit1816 Marquis Pit (originally a second shaft of Bath Pit)1821 Rawdon Pit (originally a third shaft of Bath Pit) 1831 Hastings and Grey (or Newfield) Pit 1851 Reservoir (or Canal Head or Cut End) Pit

Rawdon Pit, which continued to produce coal until 1990, was the last toclose in the area.

Bath Pit in Victorian times (photo courtesy of The Science Museum)

THE DANGERS OF MINE WORKING

Explosions

Methane gas, or firedamp as it was called, was a big problem in the mines.Some men would take their shirts off and wave them around to try to removethe gas. Sometimes, if they were in too much of a hurry to start work, theywould not wait long enough for the gas to disperse and would light theircandles. This lit the gas and caused an explosion.

Workmen were usually safe if they kept theircandles near the floor but even smallmovements could cause an explosion. DavyLamps, which were invented in 1815, weresafer than candles but did not give as muchlight. They were often only used on specialoccasions.

If someone got burnt down the mine, a cottonpad was applied to the burn and covered withflour to dry up any moisture. Bags of flourwere kept handy so that it could be easilyapplied. The wound would be dressedproperly when the injured person reached thesurface. You had to be seriously injured tocome out of the pit before the end of your shift.

The coal underground could also set itself alightwhen it came into contact with air; this is calledspontaneous combustion. These ignitions, or‘gob fires’, were very frequent at Moira.

Black powder

After 1874, black powder (also called gunpowder) began to be used todislodge the coal instead of a wedge and hammer. The miners would lighttheir own shot holes (holes in the coal where the powder was packed in).However, the powder was slow-burning and would keep igniting even whenit appeared to have gone out. Having lit the powder, the men would run outof the way into other sections of the mine, sometimes straight into otherminers also running out of the way. This caused many accidents so mencalled deputies were put in charge to supervise the blasting of the wholemine shaft.

Later on, high explosive powder was introduced as it detonatedinstantaneously and left nothing behind.

The Davy Lamp wasinvented in 1815 by theBritish chemist Sir HumphryDavy. It was the first miners’safety lamp.

It was a cylinder of wiregauze containing a wickattached to an oil reservoirand surrounded by an ironframe. The gauze wasmeant to cool thetemperature of the flame toreduce the risk of gasexploding.

However, despite manymodifications andimprovements to its design,it did not succeed inreducing the number ofaccidents or deaths.

An illustration from a Victorian magazine

You can see a picture of a Davy Lamp and how the coal mine was ventilated.

What would it have been like to live in an area where there were lots of mines?

Do you think it would have been warm or cold working underground?

MINERS’ LIVES

The little butty system and slackers

A ‘buttyman’ ran the whole mine and paid those who worked for him. Thebutty system was changed in 1874 to a system where each section of themine had a butty. This was called the ‘little butty’ system. This meant that themine owner, rather than the butty, had control over the mine and paidseveral butties to look after it, not just one.

Each butty had up to ten men who he paid out of his own allowance fromthe owner. Each section was paid by how much coal they produced. Eachtub of coal, which was numbered to show who had filled it, was weighedand recorded by the workmen and the mine owner. If the tub was heavierthan normal it would be sent back down to be checked and refilled.

Men called ‘slack bobbies’ were employed to see that the workmen filled thetubs with good coal only and not with slack (waste material) or stone. If slackwas found, the workmen would receive a fine or lose money by being toldnot to come to work for a couple of days. These days were called ‘slackers’.

How much did a miner earn in1842?

In 1842, the government investigated the working of mines (you can see thecover of the report opposite). Dr. James Mitchell carried out the survey inMoira. He looked into working conditions and wages, particularly ofchildren working in the mines. He recorded the wages paid to all thedifferent types of miners at the Bath Pit:

‘Young boys of 6 or 7 years old whose job was to open and shut the doorways and sweep the roadways of dust - 8d per day.’

‘Older boys who were leading horses - between 1s 5d and 1s 8d per day.’

‘By the age of 16 years the strongest were fillers and even holding coal - 2s per day.’

‘The rest of the men, including holers, fillers, hammer men, timberers and the night men - 2s 8d per day.’

How much did a miner spend each week in1842?

Dr. Mitchell found that the miners who worked at the Bath Pit were “well fedand contented”. A miner who was married and had three children earned16shillings a week and spent his money like this:

Flour 3s 6dMeat 2s 81⁄2dSugar 6dPotatoes 6dSmall beer 9dButter 9dSkimmed milk 7dPease 2dOatmeal 1dCheese 7dRent 1s 6dLeaving coals 71⁄2dTea, coffee, salt etc. 1s 6d

______13s 9d

This left 2s 3d of his money to spend on clothes, shoes, beer in the pub and other expenses.

What a miner spent in1842

How much is this intoday’s money?

Do we still buy the same things for the family these days?

Do you think this familyhad a good life?

Pounds, shillings and pence

Today we use pounds and pence when we go shopping. Before 1971different money was used. There were pounds, shillings and pence. Thesymbols and abbreviations for money were also different. Today we use ‘p’for pence (for example 50p), but under the old system, there were 12pennies (d) to a shilling and 20 shillings (s or /-) to the pound. This meantthat there were 240 pennies to the pound.

The old system of currency:

12d = 1/- (12 pennies equals 1 shilling)20s = £1 (20 shillings equals 1 pound)

The present system:

100p = £1.00

Conversion table

Coin Old value New value

Farthing ¼d 0.1pHalfpenny 1/2d 0.2pPenny 1d 0.4pThreepenny bit 3d 1.25pSixpence 6d 2.5pShilling 1s 5pTwo shilling piece 2s 10pHalf-crown 2s 6d 12.5p

The names of some of these coins were pronounced quite differentlyfrom the way they are written. Some were often known by different

names altogether.

Ask an older person to tell you what they called them. You could also ask them how they pronounced the names of the coins.

The ‘head’ and ‘tail’ of a Victorian penny

CHILDREN WORKING IN THE MINES

Very young childrenworked in the mines.The nature of their workdepended on age orstrength. The youngest,some perhaps as youngas seven or eight, wereemployed to open and

close the doors that allowed clean air to flow through the tunnels. Shouldthey happen to fall asleep they might be wakened by a crack from thehorse-boy’s whip.

The inspectors’ report of 1842 described what the youngest children did:

“They are called trappers. Their duty consists in sitting in a little hole,scooped out for them in the side of the gate behind the door, where they sitwith a string in their hands attached to the door and pull it the moment theyhear the ‘corves’ (thecarriages for carrying thecoal) and the momentthat it has passed they letthe door fall to. Theyhave nothing else to do.They work frequently forabout 12 hours a day.They sit, in the dark,with a damp floor to stand on. It is a most painful thing to contemplate thedull dungeon-like life that these little creatures are doomed to spend; a lifepassed in solitude, damp and darkness. They are often allowed no light.”

Other children were employed to sweep the roads, while older boys drovethe horses and ponies. Others, older still, but not yet strong enough to work

at the coalface hung thecorves on the windingrope to be hauled up tothe surface.

Working conditions atMoira were quitecomfortable comparedto mines in other parts

of the country but children had little chance to gain an education. They allwent to Sunday school but were unable to go to day school because theirfamilies needed the extra money that they could earn.

A drawer

A trapper

A putter

There were nogirls workingin the Moiracollieriesthough girls asyoung as eightworked in pitsin other partsof the country.

The evidence given to the Royal Commission in 1842 by girls working in a Scottish mine

Children as young as six years old worked in coal mines. Imagine you were working in the mine:

Describe your work as a trapper, putter or drawer.

Think about the dark, the low tunnels, the heat, the danger from gas:

Describe the working conditions in the mines. You might want to use some of the special words listed below.

Some people thought that children should work in coal mines:

Give some reasons why they might think this.Explain why they hought it was wrong for children to work

in the mines.

A b

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An extract from the Children’s Employment Commission report 1842 from Moira

EXTRACT FROM THE 1842 REPORT ON CHILDREN’S EMPLOYMENT IN MINES

Interview between Dr Mitchell, Sub-Commissioner for the Children’s EmploymentCommission and John Sharp

I was 20 on the 3rd April, 1841, and went into the coal-pit at about 14. Manywork at 8. I drove an ass at Moira. I got up at half-past 4, took breakfast, andwent off to the pit. I began to go down at 6 o’clock. It took us half an hour. Theholers had been down about 3 and had coals ready. I took the ass out of thestable, yoked him, and went up to the workings. Men loaded the corve. Whenloaded I drove the ass up to the mainway, when the corve was taken off the slide,and put on a skip, and a man drew it along the horseway to the foot of the shaft,by means of a belt round him, and a chain which passed between his thighs. Thisis not done now. It has been given over 6 years since. Horses are now usedinstead of men, and in one pit, the New Field, an engine draws the coals to thefoot of the shaft. There are now horses and trams.

I had an hour for dinner, about 1, and the engine stopped. Now there is noregular time, and we take a quarter of an hour as we can, in our turns, so as tokeep the engine at work amongst us. We left off at 7; the man at the top, thebankmaster, called to give over, and we came up in the same time as we took togo down. There were 50 or 60 in the pit. We could get home by 8 o’clock. Wethen got a warm supper, and at about 10 I took off my clothes, washed my faceand hands, and a little about the neck, and went to bed.

After half a year I was employed to hang the skips to the chain at the bottom ofthe shaft, in order to their being pulled up. The time of working was the same, butit was harder work than driving the jackass. I continued a quarter of a year atthis. I then went to the Bath Pit, and was employed in placing coal after it washewed down in the skips. It was much harder work, but better pay. I worked atthis 12 months.

I cannot read. I was at school before I went down into the pit, but I was always abad boy and played the truant, and went to bird’s -nesting, and one thing oranother. I played at marbles, chased birds, threw stones, and all such things.I did not go to Sunday-school. I always say the Lord’s Prayer after I get to bedbefore going to sleep. I may sometimes omit it, but it is very seldom. I go everySunday to the meeting twice a-day. After the meetings are over, I walk about, andsometimes go and have a sup of ale, and sometimes get drunk. I think it a sin. Ido not often make a beast of myself, but sometimes. I get up on Sundays at 7 or8. A collier wakes at his regular time, and cannot keep in bed much longer, as heis uncomfortable. There are some colliers who usually get up at 3, and onSundays some of them do the same in summer- time, and go out and lied down inthe sun, with their face upwards, and their hands under their head, and come tobreakfast between 8 and 9. After breakfast they walk about till meeting- time, andthen go to meeting.

Miners’ words

Here are some of the special words that miners used in the Moira area. Youmight find some of them useful in writing your description of life in the mines.Also, have a look at the extracts from the Children’s Employment Commissionreport from1842.

All-ups A mixture of every quality of coal raised from one seam,except the fine slack which was left in the pit.

Corves Baskets for carrying large lumps of coal.

Dicey Hard, glossy coal which broke or split up into cube- shapedpieces.

Gean Easy, good or profitable work. “It’s gean work.” “A geanshift.”

Gob To gob was to leave behind the unsaleable or waste coal.The waste pile was known as ‘the gob’ and ‘gob fires’ werethe spontaneous combustion of coal waste (where the coalsets light to itself). “Throw it in the gob.”

Mosh To crumble or break down. Coal was liable to ‘mosh down’if treated roughly during transportation, or left exposed tothe weather. “That nesh coal has moshed down badly.”

Nooper A large pick used for ‘dressing’ or straightening thecoalface.

Putter A man or boy who moved the tubs (or corves) of coal toand from the workings and the main shaft. A ‘hand putter’pushed the tubs by hand and a ‘pony putter’ used a pony tohaul the tubs.

Ratcher A coal getter or collier.

Shirt it To stop work at the end of the shift.

Spires Dull, hard slatey coal which was hard to work.

Stint The length of coalface to be ‘undercut’ during a shift. Inother words, the amount of work to be done by one man ina day.

Wapping A roughly-made rope.

TEACHERS’ NOTES

This section looks at the development of mining in the Moira area after the working life ofthe furnace had ended. It focuses particularly on the working lives of those employed in themines, including children as well as men. It highlights the difficulties and dangers of workingunderground and gives insights into the everyday lives of Victorian families. It makesextensive use of a primary resource, the Children’s Employment Commission report, which isincluded in full as a supplement.

It will be particularly useful for History at Key 2 in investigating what it was like for childrenliving in Victorian Britain set within a context of broader changes during the IndustrialRevolution in the area. There may be opportunities for Citizenship studies comparing thelives of children in Victorian Britain with those of children in developing parts of the worldtoday.

The wealth of original material and selection of miners’ words offer many opportunities forcreative writing, artwork and role play based on the descriptions of different tasks and rolesin the mining industry. Pupils might like to compile a diary for a chosen character drawingon the material provided.

USEFUL WEBSITES

Miners’ lives and languagewww.durham.gov.uk/miner/projects.nsfwww.coalpits.co.uk/ (includes Harry Tootle’s Mining Dictionary)www.headlinehistory.co.uk/online/East%20Midlands/Victorian/leadStory21.htm

Child labourwww.unicef.org/protection/index_childlabour.htmlwww.ache.org.uk/

Housing

After Moira Furnace closed down, families working in other local industriesused the buildings as housing. The area beneath the Bridge Loft wasconverted into four two-storeyed cottages divided back to back down thecentre of the building, and the engine house became a terrace of threecottages. In 1851, when the census was taken, three families lived in thefurnace and there was even a family living in the arches under the bridge(the canal had been filled in by then!).

At one time therewere as many as65 people living onthe site but later onnumbers reduced toa more comfortablelevel. By the 1970sthe Bridge Housecottages had beencombined to formmore spaciousaccommodationand outbuildingsand conservatorieshad been added.

It is because the buildings continued to be lived in that Moira Furnace hassurvived as a historic site. Also, if the furnace had been more of a successfor iron-making it would have been unlikely to have kept its original form.The foundry buildings disappeared without any record and the Engine Houseis only known from photographs and the archaeological evidence from whenthe furnace site was restored.

Photographs taken between 1910 and 1980 show how the site changedover the years for different uses. You can see sheds, privies (toilets) andpigsties where the foundry used to be. The derelict bridge was eventuallyremoved and replaced by a brick buttress and the overgrown canal wasfilled with pit spoil. In a photograph from the 1960s you can even see alarge tree growing out of the furnace stack.

LIVING AT MOIRA FURNACE 5KS 1/2HISTORY

Old photographs ofMoira Furnace

Top: outbuildings, nocanal and no bridge.

Middle: the EngineHouse (now gone).

Bottom: furnace andcanal with a woodenbridge which hassince beendemolished.

The 1881 census

The population of England and Wales has been counted every ten yearssince 1801 in what is called the census.

The early censuses were not very detailed with only the numbers of people indifferent categories recorded. There was no attempt to record any personaldetails. However, from 1841 the census aimed to record the name, age andoccupation of everyone in the country, though ages were rounded down tothe nearest five years.

From the 1851 census onwards, exact ages were asked for together with therelationship of each person to the head of the household and where eachperson was born. From these records we can ask:

Who lived here in Victorian times?What job did they do?Where did they come from?How big were their families?How old were their children?

The two census sheets in this pack show the families who were living in thefurnace buildings in 1881, after the furnace had stopped working. Theoriginal sheets, which were filled in by the census 'enumerator', can bedifficult to read because they were hand-written. Extracts from the censusreturn for the furnace have been transcribed to make them easier to read.

Census abbreviations

Head - the head of the household, usually the husbandWidr. - WidowerDaur. - DaughterMar. - MarriedUnm. - UnmarriedScholar - school pupilSer. - Servantdo - ditto (the same)

Local occupations

Engine driver/engine man - probably the operators of the colliery steam winding engines, not railway engine drivers.Wheelwright - a cartwheel makerBoatwright - a boat builder or repairer. Higgling farmer - a higgler is a travelling dealer, usually with a horse and cart. A higgler in this area probably dealt in coal.

Census research

Every 10 years a count is made of everybody living in England and Wales.It is called a census. These census sheets are about who was living at MoiraFurnace in 1881. Look carefully at the sheets and answer the followingquestions.

How many families lived in the furnace?

How many people were there?

How many men lived there?

How many women were there?

How many children were there?

How many people live in your family? Who are they?

What jobs did the people do in 1851? Make a list.

What was the most common job? Why do you think this was the mostcommon job?

What do you notice about the people who do not have a job?

Can you find out what a boatwright and a wheelwright did?

In Victorian times most people lived near to where they were born.

Make a list of the different places where people from the furnace were born.

Why do you think people lived near to where they were born?

Where were you born? How many of your family were born near to where you live?

1881 Census Return: Moira Furnace (Sheet 1)

1881 Census Return: Moira Furnace (Sheet 2)

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TEACHERS’ NOTES

This section looks at the use of the Moira Furnace buildings as housing after the working lifeof the furnace came to an end. The adaptation of the buildings and developing use of thesite will support work at KS2 on Unit 12: ‘How did life change in our locality in Victoriantimes?’

The use of old photographs and census returns for the furnace provides opportunities forpupils to learn about history from original sources. The census returns can be used in theiroriginal format but they have also been transcribed for ease of use. An activity sheet isincluded with this section

The photographs of the Furnace buildings and canal, which form another facet of thechanges in places and on people brought about by the Industrial Revolution, will supportwork on Units 12 and 18. Additional photographs, some of which appear in other sections,have been included to provide a good spread of the history of the site. Pupils could beencouraged to attempt to put the photographs into date order and analyse what they arelooking at as documentary evidence.

WHAT CAN BE SEEN AT MOIRA FURNACE

There are display and interpretation boards around the Moira Furnace site which providethe opportunity to compare historical images of the site with the present day reality.

USEFUL WEBSITES

www.learningcurve.gov.uk/snapshots/snapshot50/snapshot50.htmwww.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/censuseducation.asp

Ashby Canal was built to transport coal from local mines to be sold in otherparts of the country. The furnace was built alongside the canal so that theiron it produced could follow the same route. Some of the furnace’s rawmaterials would have been brought in along the canal. Others came fromvery near the furnace site, and to transport these a number of horse-drawntramways were built.

The Ashby Canal Companywas formed in 1794 toconstruct a canal from thelime works at Ticknall andBreedon (a few miles beyondMoira) to join the CoventryCanal near Nuneaton. Hereit could join the nationalcanal network therebylinking Ashby to the rest ofthe Midlands and the southof England including London.

The canal was completed as far as theAshby Woulds in 1804 at a cost of£184,000 but the company’s money ranout soon after so the canal does not gomuch further than Moira Furnace. As aresult, Ashby and the quarries at Cloud Hill and Ticknall were linked to the canalby horse-drawn tramways.

The 14 foot (4.2m) wide canal workedvery well in transporting goods up and down from Coventry as it ran fornearly 30 miles without a single lock, which made life much easier for thecanal workers. It did this by following the natural contours of the land. Thisefficient transport system allowed the coal industry to develop and flourish.

However, it was mining that was one of the reasons that the canal eventuallyfailed. Coal was dug from beneath the canal, which lowered the land level.Maintaining the canal at its original level became harder and harder to do.Also, railways, which had begun to be built in the 1830s and 40s, allowedgoods to be transported faster and more cheaply.

THE ASHBY CANAL 6

The Ashby Canal at Moira Furnace in 1916

Look at the clothes people are wearing:

Is this an ordinary day or a special occasion?

What do you think they might be celebrating?

KS 1/2/3HISTORYKS 3

GEOGRAPHY

The Ashby Woulds section of the canal from Moira to Donisthorpe waseventually closed in 1944. The very last commercial use of parts of the canalfurther south was as late as 1966. The canal you see today was re-wateredin 1999.

The Moira Lock

The lock was built in 2001 and is the first lock ever to be built on the AshbyCanal. It was built to reach the basin at Conkers after mining subsidencelowered the land. Boat trips are now available through the lock.

How a lock works

The Joseph Wilkes - the Moira Furnace narrowboat

This boat started life in 1908 as a standard 70ft 'Joey' on the BirminghamCanals. A Joey was a horse-drawn boat that could be steered from eitherend. This meant that the boat could change direction without having to finda point on the canal wide enough to turn around.

For many years our boat was involved with the iron and steel industry, firstwith Hartshill Iron Company, then Stewarts & Lloyds, and finally British Steel.

Moira Furnace bought theboat in 1999, repaired theoriginal riveted iron hull, andrebuilt it as a Steward &Lloyds tug from the 1950s.Tugs were used all over thecanal system to tow boatsthrough tunnels, to assist withbreakdowns and to carry outcanal maintenance.

It is named the Joseph Wilkesafter the 18th centuryentrepreneur who helpedfinance the building of theAshby Canal.

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The Joseph Wilkes passing through Moira Lock

Canal horses

Teams of horses were needed to pull boats and to move goods between thecanal and the place where they were needed. Later on at Moira, they wereused to move coal from the mines to the wharves where it was loaded on tocanal boats.

A horse pulling a boat or barge wastes minimal energy through friction andcan move almost 50 times more weight in a boat than it could in a cart onold-fashioned roads.

Horseboating was hard work but boatmen had generations of skill to drawon and the waterways were built to suit horses with smooth curves onbridges and buildings (to avoid snagging towlines), and well-maintained andunobstructed towpaths.

The boatmen’s knowledgeof the position of locksand where boats werelikely to meet otherscoming the opposite waywas essential. (Horseboatsdo not have brakes andare difficult to stopquickly.)

The boatmen used‘strapping posts’ to slowthe boat down or changedirection. The posts weremade of wood or iron andset in the groundclose enough tothe canal for theboatman to wrap the 'strap' (astrong piece ofrope attached tothe boat) aroundthem.

They also used‘smacking whips’, not on the horse, but to create a loud smacking noise likea gunshot to warn of the boat's approach.

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A horse and cart could move 2000 kg

A horse and wagon on a tramway could move 8000 kg

A horse and boat on a canal could move 50000 kg

Before the development of steam locomotives the most efficient way to haulheavy materials overland was the tramway. A tramway was a track laid withiron rails along which a pair of horses could draw a train of up to fivewagons fitted with iron wheels.

Tramways were laid around Moira to connect the various industrialoperations with the canal. The rails for many of the local tramways weremade at the Furnace foundry and the marks left by the tramways can still beseen in various places around the furnace site.

The boat fleet

During its heyday, there would always have been several boats on the canalat any one time. As well as visiting boats, bringing goods and materials toMoira, or taking iron and coal away, the colliery owned its own fleet ofcanal boats. In 1837, the fleet consisted of eighteen boats, listed as:

8 wooden barges - 58ft long, 13ft 6in wide (17.6m x 4.1m)7 narrowboats - 70ft long, 7ft wide (21.3m x 2.1m)1 ice-breaker1 sailing boat (used on the canal reservoir)1 salt-water barge

A barge carrying coal. This photograph was taken in 1955 near Northampton.

Living and working on the canals

When canal boats were first used on the canal, teams of men worked onthem and most families lived ashore. Work was hard but the pay was good;the boatmen were better off than factory workers.

When the railways started to move goods more cheaply than the canals,boatmen’s wages were cut. Families then began to live on the boats to savemoney. Most of the boat was needed for goods so the whole family had tolive in a space three to four metres long. It had to be cleverly designed touse as a kitchen, living room and bedroom.

Children lived and worked with theirparents on the narrowboat. They couldnot go to school regularly as they werealways travelling, so few of them couldread or write. Their job was to lead thehorse, open the locks and collect freshwater. They worked long days,sometimes up to 17 hours, withoutbeing paid.

In 1877, The Canal Boats Act tried toshorten working hours and improveconditions. In 1884, inspectors beganto check that children were going toschool.

It is not surprising that most boat peoplewere born and brought up on thecanals and went on to marry other boatpeople. Few came to the canals fromother trades.

A girl operating a lock gate. She iswearing traditional costume.Photo courtesy of S Woolacott, BlisworthImages

A family of four in the cramped living conditions experienced by families who worked the boats.

‘Roses and Castles’

This is the name given to a style of decoration on narrowboats of theMidlands and associated waterways where families lived aboard. It becamepopular in the mid-1800s. The name is a bit misleading because althoughroses and castles were a popular feature of the designs, so too were otherflowers, cottages, churches, rivers and lakes - anything that could be part ofa romantic landscape.

‘Roses and Castles’ covered virtuallyeverything in or on the narrowboat. Thedrinking can, the horse’s harness,doors, fitted furniture, lamps, anythingand everything was decorated withbright and cheerful designs. Inside thecabin there would have been lacycurtains, polished brass and lace-edgedchina plates, threaded with colouredribbons.

No-one knows exactly where the ‘Roses and Castles’ style came fromalthough there are some similarities to the decoration of gypsy caravans orfunfairs. Wherever it came from, the reason for its popularity and growth iscertainly tied to the limited size of the boat cabin, the pride of the boatpeople and the competition between the canals and the railways.

As a general rule, the outer surfaces of boats owned by companies tendedto have large lettering and scrollwork, supplemented with geometric patterns.‘Roses and Castles’ were primarily for the interiors, although individualowner-operators tended to have their boats decorated quite lavishly on theoutsides. Some companies too, had decoration outside.

Restored canal barges with ‘Roses and Castles’ decoration on the cabin doors.

A typical ‘Roses and Castles’ design.

TEACHERS’ NOTES

This section explores both the historic and present Ashby Canal which runs alongside MoiraFurnace. It looks at the commercial history of the canal, and others, and its modern use as aleisure facility.

The canal’s history, which forms another facet of the changes in places and on peoplebrought about by the Industrial Revolution, will support work at KS2 on Unit 12: ‘How didlife change in our locality in Victorian times?’. The very unusual living conditions onboardcanal boats, especially for children, can form the basis of work on Unit 11: ‘What was lifelike for children living in Victorian Britain?’. Activities around ‘Roses and Castles’ designsand the making of lace plates would enhance this work as well as providing opportunitiesfor creative artwork.

The technology of locks and the use of horses and boats, together with the originalphotographs in this section, will create opportunities for further artwork and creative writing.Pupils can use these resources to create the life stories of children living and working on thecanals in Victorian times. (‘Roses and Castles’ painting templates are reproduced courtesy ofBritish Waterways.)

The restoration of the canal, together with the developing National Forest, demonstrateenvironmental preservation and regeneration within a former mining area. This providesexamples of change in economic activity, availability of resources and environmental impactwhich will be useful in Geography at KS3.

WHAT CAN BE SEEN AT MOIRA FURNACE

The present day furnace building sits alongside the Ashby Canal and Moira Furnace runstrips on its own narrowboat The Joseph Wilkes. The tiny back cabin of the boat gives anidea of the cramped living conditions experienced by the families who worked on themanda trip on the boat offers a real experience of the slow travel of Victorian times.

USEFUL WEBSITES

www.wow4water.net (Includes an information pack on the Ashby Canal and a game to create your own ‘Rosesand Castles’ painting)www.waterways.org.uk/Waterways/WaterwaysForKids/www.show.me.uk/hosted/networks/networks.swf (A game called ‘Move It’ about moving goods around England in 1850)www.canaljunction.com/canal/heritage.htmwww.waterscape.comwww.eyerevolution.co.uk/virtual_tours/london_canal_museumwww.virtualwaterways.co.uk/Education_and_research.html

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The Inland

Event sheet

Roses & Castles painting templates You will need:

Roses or Castlespainting templates

Top tips:! Painting can be a messy activity so try and have aprons or coveralls

for the children to wear.! Have some baby wipes handy for paint covered hands.

Paper plates

Traditional Canal Art

Traditional canal art illustrates the heritage of the waterways in a very colourfuland visual way.

A range of activities may be planned: - colouring/ painting simple templates (see attached templates) - painting paper plates or canvas bags in the traditional roses style

Step-by-step guides can direct the children through the stages, or a local canal artist may offer to come and demonstrate.

If you simplify the traditional painting methods so that children can follow themthey can then adapt the technique and paint their own versions whilst enjoying learning about the history of the art.

Non toxic paint & paint brushes Canvas bags

Optional

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MOIRA WILDLIFE

The Moira Furnace site includes woodland with ponds, a wildflower meadowand the Ashby Canal. These have all been shaped by the industrial past ofthe area which has left unique habitats for wildlife to exploit and adapt.

WOODLAND

Furnace Plantation, the area ofwoodland alongside the laneleading to the furnace, is oftencalled ‘Pit Prop Wood’. There usedto be several small coal pits in thisarea and trees were grown toprovide wood to make pit props -the timbers that held up the roofand walls of underground tunnels.The mature trees here, mostly oakand ash, were planted about 100years ago to provide timber forlocal industries. Both oak and ashare very strong and long- lastingwoods which were often used forthings where today we would usemetal.

Other trees in this wood includehawthorn, horse chestnut andblack poplar.

The uneven ground levels in the woodland give an idea of its original use.There are ditches and pits where workmen used to dig for coal, iron ore andclay, and mounds where they used to tip waste materials.

Nowadays the woodland is managed to control the spread of sycamoretrees and brambles and to create open areas to encourage wildlife. Evendead trees (standing or fallen) are left in place to provide habitats for insects.

Great spotted woodpeckers nest in holes in the trees and you will sometimeshear them tapping on the trees with their beaks. If you are lucky, you mayeven see one. You can see rooks’ nests in the branches of some of the tallertrees and will almost certainly hear their well-known ‘caw-ing’ sound. Youwill probably also see grey squirrels running up and down the trunks andbranches of the trees.

Trees are often most easily identified from theirleaves and flowers or fruits. Here are the leavesof some of the trees you can see at MoiraFurnace.

Oak Elm

Ash Black Poplar

7KS 1/2SCIENCE

Enough light reaches the ground inPit Prop Wood for floweringplants, nettles and brambles tospread, forming a habitat forwood mice, birds, insects andbutterflies.

In spring, woodpigeons are easilyspotted darting through the treetops and the distinctive sound ofthe chiffchaff is often heard.Chiffchaff, great tits and blue titsnest and breed in the woods inMarch and April. In summer,cabbage white, orange-tip andwall brown butterflies will be seenwhere there are flowers.

Further into the woodland, towardsthe lime kilns, you will see hollyand young elm trees that areshooting out of the stumps of elm

trees that had to be cut down because of a disease which affected all of theelm trees in Britain.

PONDS

Because there is a lot of clay in the soil around Moira, water does not drainaway very quickly. That is why there are several ponds in the woodland.Sometimes these ponds disappear during dry weather but some water standsin the woodland all year round. If enough light reaches the surface the resultcan be a healthy pond providing the right conditions for insects, frogs andtoads. Falling leaves in the autumn add nutrients to the water and a fallenbranch or trunk will provide food or shelter for some of the species in thepond.

As you come out of Pit Prop Wood into the field in frontof the lime kilns there is another pond. The reeds, rushesand long grass around this pond provide a very differenthabitat to that of the woodland ponds and is ideal fordragonflies and damselflies.

About blackbird-sized and strikingblack-and-white. Ithas a very distinctivebouncing flight andspends most of itstime clinging to treetrunks and branches.Its presence is oftenannounced by its

Spring 'drumming' display. The male has adistinctive red patch on the back of the head.

Bare, greyish-whiteface, thinner beakand peaked headdistinguish it fromthe crow. Rooks arevery sociable birdsand you're not likelyto see one on itsown. They feed androost in flocks in winter, often with jackdaws.

Orange-tip butterfly

Rook

THE CANAL

Ashby Canal runs for nearly thirty miles following the contoursof the surrounding countryside. Because of its design, thecanal has no hard-edge bank protection. This encourages thegrowth of bankside vegetation which provides a haven foraquatic wildlife.

Canal towpaths and embankments are not cultivated orchemically treated like the rest of the countryside. Wild flowersthat are no longer common on farmland grow abundantlyalong canal banks. In summer you should be able to see greatreedmace (which are often called bulrushes), water forget-me-not, yellow flag irises and greater pond sedge.

The canal also has thriving plant life on and under its surface.Below the water grows spiked water-milfoil and several typesof pond weed. These can be seen poking up through thesurface of the water at certain times of the year. Of the floatingplants, the yellow water lily is the most spectacular and visible.Water- lilies stay closed during the morning and only opentheir petals around noon on a sunny day. They close up againwhen evening approaches.

Although the water in canals may sometimes look muddy it isunpolluted. Unlike rivers, canals do not carry industrial wasteor drainage away from cities. That is why there are largenumbers of birds which feed off fish or other water creaturesor plants. At Moira you can see swans, ducks, moorhens,

coots, herons and, if you are very lucky,you may see the blue flash of a kingfisher.

Along the towpath in summer, you may seebutterflies and dragonflies. Moira is home to the emperordragonfly and the rare red-eyed damselfly.

Canals are a significant area of standingfresh water and often support species that

are under threat in other parts of the country. At Ashby youcan see the uncommon water shrew which is the largest of theBritish shrews with a long pointed snout, small ears and tinyeyes.

Ashby Canal is very popular with fishermen who come to catch awide range of fish including carp, pike and tench.

Great reedmace

Yellow water lily

Water shrew

Moorhen and chick

Emperor dragonfly

TEACHERS’ NOTES

This section looks at the wildlife in and surrounding the Moira Furnace site. It is organisedby location and habitat, rather than by type of wildlife, to demonstrate the response that theliving world has made to the historical and industrial development of the area. Thedevelopment of flora and fauna since the end of industrial activity shows how quickly thenatural world changes and modifies and could prompt discussion with children about how itmight change in the future.

The section is also based around what pupils can expect to see on a visit to the furnace. Thewoodland and canal banks offer many opportunities to observe and identify plants andanimals in their natural environment (Unit 2B ‘Plants and animals in the local environment’).Activity sheets are included for children to record and analyse what they have seen.

Observing the mix of wildlife in different parts of the furnace site will support work aroundUnit 4B ‘Habitats’ by allowing children to see how the conditions of life have beeninfluenced by the nature of the local environment and how animals and plants havedeveloped together through interdependence. By extension, this can also support work onUnit 6A ‘Interdependence and adaptation’.

Additional activity sheets are included to develop literacy, observation and artwork - and forfun! Visits to Moira Furnace can include pond dipping and minibeast hunting.

USEFUL WEBSITES

General & Habitatswww.kew.org/education/wildlifezone/index.htmlwww.naturalengland.org.uk/information_for/students_and_teachers/default.aspxwww.wildaboutbritain.co.uk

Birdswww.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguideButterflieswww.butterfly-conservation.orgDragonflieswww.dragonflysoc.org.ukMammalswww.abdn.ac.uk/mammal

Ponds & Canalswww.canaljunction.com/canal/environment.htmwww.naturegrid.org.uk/pondexplorer/pondexplorer.htmlwww.waterscape.com/features-and-articles/features/wildlifewww.wetfeet.org.uk

Trees, wildflowers and woodlandwww.british-trees.comwww.englishflowers.co.uk/education.aspwww.foresteducation.org/learning_resources.php?id=70www.forestry.gov.uk./forestry/infd-5g2kv3www.nationalforest.org/involved/educationwww.naturegrid.org.uk/woodland/woodexplore.html