So much information and so little time!

Over the last few months the project team have been excited and inspired by the stories of the ex-miners and workers from the Bideford Black Pigments Ltd, from people who grew up playing around the mines, as well as from others with incredible knowledge about the local history and geology surrounding the pigment. From tales of long dirty hours working underground to practical jokes and games out of sight of the boss (if you were caught you would be polishing his black Riley sports car!), along with reams of newspaper cuttings, maps, photographs and fascinating relics acquired from the derelict mines and complex geochemical papers we are accumulating audio and video and good-old-fashioned written recordings about the subject. So now to unravel and assess the material, to arrange and rearrange and compose it all to reveal a simple and effective means to share The Story of Bideford Black for everyone to enjoy.

 Wally Mugford (ex-foreman), Jimmy Mugford (processing-plant worker) and brother with lorry driver at the mines, holding mining lamps, c.1953.

Bideford Black Pigment Ltd mining lamps donated to the project by Don Kersey.

Having brought everything together and chosen the most appropriate parts to express the essence of this tale, we will next be taking the Story to a few local schools, along with a specially created Teacher’s pack by Learning Co-ordinator Sadie Green. 120 children will be treated to a special Bideford Black day where they will be taken on a walk to look at the few remains of the mining industry in the town in the company of artist Pete Ward and ex-miners Gerald Ford and Ron Pither and then invited to paint their interpretations of the stories using Bideford Black itself. Some of the pictures will then be displayed in a special exhibition to be held in the Burton Gallery when the new display is unveiled in October. It’s going to be a busy summer!

Bideford Black in the Bideford BUZZ

The following article and images were kindly contributed by Chris Hassall and republished with the permission of the BIDEFORD BUZZ where the article was originally printed in Dec 2011. The article offers a wonderfully concise piece of personal research based in a genuine interest in local social and natural history and some great photos. Many thanks Chris. 

More About Bideford Black...

Most people will know that “Bideford Black” is derived from a sort of coal deposit that was once mined around Bideford and used to make a protective black paint for coating ships' bottoms. It can safely be assumed that the terms Biddiblack and Filliblack (as in Filliblack Way) are derived from this Bideford product being used as a filler for caulking seams as well as a paint. Details of the uses and processes involved can be read in books from Bideford Library, but I propose to outline a little of what can still be seen of the places where Bideford Black used to be mined.

Most of the Torridge landscape is underlain by contorted strata of mixed sandstone and shale beds, all of which run in an approximately east-west orientation. Amongst these rock strata are a few bands of carbon rich shales and coal, which also used to be known as culm, and it is these that were mined, first for fuel and later to produce the famous Bideford Black paint, which gave rise to the curious name of the “Paint Mines”.

Mary Anne Adit before closure (Chris Hassall 2010)

Looking at maps and street plans, one can see names such as Mines Road and Pit Lane which would appear to have connections with the mining industry, yet they seem quite unconnected with each other, one being east of East the Water and the other on the hill to the west of the town centre. Then a couple of years ago when ground works for a new housing development called Harlseywood were being excavated off Abbotsham Road, opposite the end of Moreton Park Road, vast quantities of black shale were dug up, indicating that the culm beds were coming to the surface here as well. Finally, walking along the beach at the base of Abbotsham Clffs, (taking due heed of the risk of falling boulders) there is a point where a band of coal appears in the bottom of the cliff face. This is not easy to locate, being masked by undergrowth and loose soil and gravel, nor is it good coal for burning, and certainly not worth the long walk with a wheelbarrow to help yourself !

Mary Anne Adit after closure (Chris Hassall 2011)

If you take a ruler and join up these places on the map, you find they are on an approximate straight line which, if continued eastwards, passes close to Hiscott where at Somers, in another little valley running down to the river Taw, there are old quarries that also used to dig coal. It seems a safe assumption that the culm seams ran straight from Abbotsham Cliffs to Somers, being hidden under higher ground to the east of East the Water and having been eroded away by the formation of the Torridge valley alongside which Bideford grew up.

Mary Anne Adit interior (Chris Hassall 2011)

I don't know of any existing signs of the pits that Pit Lane is named after (although historian Peter Christie may well know better), but there are old photographs that show a mineral railway or conveyor emerging from the cliffs above Ethelwyn Brown Close, which used to be railway goods yard in the past, and it is said that an adit (horizontal mine shaft) followed the culm seam through the hill from there to the mines at the end of Mines Road.

It is at Mines Road, the eastern end beyond Manteo Way, that the recent (before and after World War Two) mining operations took place. Here there were several adits giving access to different seams of culm at varying levels in the side of the deep little valley through Cleave Wood, as well as vertical shafts opening from the meadows beside the road. The seams had picturesque names like “Paint Seam” and “No.1 and No.2 Mary Ann Seams”. The last of the adits was closed off to prevent access only last year, with a concrete block wall leaving a small space guarded by a metal grille to allow bats to fly in to hibernate over winter. Badgers have taken over the mining operation now and are active in the side of the valley and the old spoil heaps, busily digging their own tunnels and “ovens” (Henry Williamson's name for their living chambers). However a builder has planning permission to develop the site, and heavy machinery has been “landscaping” much of the area so that soon this last remnant of Bideford's mining heritage will be lost.

Chapel Park lane, 7 months later (Chris Hassall 2011)

The names of Pit Lane, Mines Road and Fillablack Road may soon be all that is left to remind us."

Chris Hassall 09/11/2011

bats, black badgers and development plans

chapel park development site, april 2013 (p ward 2013)

As the Show & Tell day at the Burton in March drew to a close we were approached by a gentleman whose interest in the project was a concern about the inclusion of the Bideford Black Pigment Ltd Chapel Park Mine and Processing Plant site in the Torridge District Council’s Development Plans[i]. His distress was caused not by the obliteration of a site of local historic interest or the possibility of the dangers of building over numerous mineshafts and underground cavities, but for the safety of the resident badger population whose sett entrances may be seen in the black topsoil littering the area and which had apparently been disturbed by precursory development of the site. Indeed on a recent visit to the site with ex-miners we tried to imagine its previous incarnation as they reminisced about the tranquil beauty of the valley where they played as children, courted their loved ones and worked many years ago. Apart from the concrete lined stream (to stop the mine shafts flooding) and the dusty noise of the processing plant, the valley was lined with trees and surrounded by dairy farms – ‘a beautiful place to work, right out in the country.’ It was hard to imagine looking across the piles of rubble and freshly landscaped land, surrounded by new housing developments and supermarket. Let’s hope that whatever development does take place at Chapel Park is done with respect and sensitivity to its rich past.

black badger setts, cleave wood (p ward 2010)

mary ann mine shaft entrance with bat portal, cleave wood (p ward 2013)

bideford black bats (earth pigments on paper; p ward 2013)

The gentleman also informed us of the cleaning away of several cars and sealing of the old Mary Ann shaft entrance in Cleave Wood in January 2011. While the blocking up of the mine for safety’s sake has been done quite clumsily it has included a small portal to allow for the comings and goings of a rare and protected population of horseshoe bats who have taken residence in the tunnels. Looking through the opening into the darkness beyond to the sound of persistent dripping can only give a glimpse of the miners’ daily working conditions but it is well worth a look if you are sure-footed enough to find it.

view inside mary ann mineshaft, cleave wood (p ward 2013)

---

[i] On further investigation it was discovered that it is for sale for £1.4 million with plans for 13 luxury detached properties. The plans also include landscaping and regeneration of the woodland and stream as a nature conservation area. For further information about the development see http://www.primelocation.com/for-sale/land/bideford/?include_retirement_homes=true&include_shared_accommodation=true&include_shared_ownership=true&new_homes=include&price_frequency=per_month&property_type=land&q=Bideford%2C%20Devon&results_sort=highest_price&search_source=for-sale

Black Field, Greencliff

If you follow the seam of Bideford Black east up over the cliff at Greencliff you might be lucky enough to notice how the fields above carry the colour change in their soil, as a black/grey line at the top of the ridge. What evidently lies beneath the earth’s surface shapes and colours and even feeds our needs as inhabitants of the planet, affecting and even, it may be said, creating our ‘culture’, whether it be our agricultural, industrial or creative affairs. While bare fields are arguably not the best way to treat and nourish the land both for our own agricultural purposes or the encouragement of the rich biodiversity upon which our existence depends[i], such vast expanses of soil do allow us to appreciate the richness and diversity of the geology that underpins the places we live.

black field, greencliff (p ward 2013)

This intermittent, undulating and variable seam of 350 million year old Bideford Black runs from Greencliff in the west almost directly east, through Bideford to Hawkridge Wood near Umberleigh in the Taw valley. If you have seen any evidence of it in the fields, streams and hedgerows around you it would be fantastic to hear from you, or to see any photos you might have taken.

---

[i] see Graham Harvey, The Carbon Fields (Bridgewater UK; GRASSROOTS, 2008)

Bideford Paint Mines by Brian Fishleigh

Another Bideford Black worker has recently contacted the Project. Here is his story that he has kindly written down to share with us...

“I worked at Bideford paint mines in 1960/61, whith a Mr Pasco, Cris Weeks, Jim Mugford, Bob Cann, Brian Jury and a Mr Gorge in charge.

We worked on the surface. There were other men under ground. They were Mr Mugford and Donald Glover and more men but I can’t remember there names. They mined the pigment by hand, digging it out with pikes and shovel, and sending it to the surface in truckes pulled up by a winch. Some of it was like clay, some was like cole.

Were it was then shoveled on to a conveyer belt and sent into a big revolving drum that was heated by a large furnace that was lit each morning, so it was broken down to smaller lumps and it then went to a big grinding drum and crushed into powder, and than into paper sackes and stored until lorrys came to take it away and transported it all over the world.

Ther was also a packing shed, were we put the powder in to one pound and half pound packets and sent away, and some times they mixed a carbine power with it.

When we finished a days work we would shower as there were showers on site as we would be black and dirty because it was a very dirty and noisy job.”

 remnants of the 'paint mines’ and processing plant, chapel park (p ward 2013)

SHOW & TELL @ the Burton Gallery 20313

We were certainly not sure how many people and memories or just what might be brought to the surface by our invitations to our first public event – the SHOW & TELL day at the Burton on 20^th March! Preparations were made; tables and chairs arranged, exhibits displayed, pens, notepads, cameras and voice recorders at the ready, questionnaires and forms printed, workshop organized and refreshments laid out - and fear not, we were most pleasantly surprised…

a warm and enthusiastic gathering at the SHOW & TELL day (TDC 2013)

Along with two past Bideford Black miners (Gerald Ford and Ron Pither) and two past secretaries of the company (Jenny Shepherd and Valerie Horrell), relatives, artists and interested parties steadily proceeded into the room all with stories to share. Much tea and many biscuits were consumed as a small but energetic gathering developed around the tables recalling tales of the mines, meeting work mates and friends from years past, memories bubbling happily in the air.

Gerald Ford and Ron Pither sharing memories, with Paul Lewin’s wonderful Bideford Black drawing of Bideford Bay in the background (TDC 2013)

Artists sharing experiences of using Bideford Black (TDC 2013)

On the day we collected a wealth of stories, contributions and connections, and even a number of artefacts – an original pick and a miners lamp, as well as the promise of a pot of Biddiblack made by the old paint shop on Kingsley Road. Over the coming weeks and months we will try our best to post them on the blog and follow them up to be included in the final display and archive but for now those of us who took part will not easily forget the warmth and enthusiasm shared on the day.

the miner’s lamp and pick kindly donated to the project on the day (TDC 2013)

Many thanks to all who made the effort to come along and who contributed in whatever way. We are looking forward now more than ever to see just how the project develops and to sharing our memories with you all…                                                                                                          

Many Thanks

Many thanks to all our special volunteers on this project for all their help yesterday at the Show and Tell Day at the Burton, it was a hugely successful event with lots of visitors and they didn't stop all day - thanks Ros, Mike and Nicole.

BBC1 Spotlight 14313

To promote the Story of Bideford Black project and publicize the Show & Tell event on 20^th March at the Burton Gallery, a team from BBC1 Spotlight was invited to produce an article to be broadcast on their evening news program. On a beautiful sunny morning on Bideford Quay, with the old East the Water Mine site in the background, presenter Carol Madge and a cameraman quickly and efficiently story-lined a series of interviews and filming angles from the information provided by our team to sum up the project and its intentions.

‘The Story of Bideford Black’ BBC1 Spotlight 14313

Many thanks to Peter Christie (local historian), Chris Cornford (local geologist, IGI Ltd), Gerald Ford (ex-Bideford Black miner) and his wife Wendy, Pete Ward (local artist) and Miranda Clarke (Burton Gallery) for their enthusiastic contributions. It was fascinating to experience both the professionalism of the BBC team to produce the article so quickly about a subject they knew very little, and also to feel the excitement generated in the small group as memories and thoughts about Bideford Black were brought to the surface – a most promising indication of the projects potential over the coming months.

in sight of the mines (bideford black; p ward 2013) – painting made live by pete ward on BBC1 Spotlight 14313

Memories of ‘Uncle Howard’

In early March, a lucky coincidence brought the nephew of the last owner of Bideford Black Pigments Ltd to the Burton Gallery. Ken Cookes was visiting the area to look into his family history when he arrived at the Burton to see our posters requesting any information about Bideford Black. Talking to exhibition and collections officer Warren Collum, Ken recalled how his slightly wayward uncle, Howard St Louis Cookes, a black sheep of the family, had been sent to Bideford from London in 1935 to help liquidate the struggling Bideford Black Mining Company as part of his job as a well-to-do chartered accountant. However, ‘Uncle’ Howard had seen potential in the business and, despite lack of support from his family, had decided to buy it and bring it back to life. Howard's move started a lifelong obsession with mining and he spent many years travelling around the south west prospecting for other sites and making himself to other mining projects in the area. Ken remembered how Uncle Howard was reputed to have lived a playboy lifestyle from his Westward Ho! flat until his marriage and had owned a black convertible Riley sports car in which he would drive the Devon Lanes.

‘Howard Cookes was rather eccentric & Edwardian in outlook & manner.’ Ken Cookes (nephew)

Howard Cookes’ connections in the Ministry of Defence had secured business as a supplier of paint for tank camouflage, boat anti-foul and something to do with ammunitions(?). He later married an ‘Avon Lady’ who despite much speculation had no connection to the MAX FACTOR cosmetics company, who already had a factory based in East the Water, another lucrative avenue for business - Bideford Black being used in the production of mascara. Eventually Howard Cookes had folded the company in 1969, after a brief period running a wood yard and manufacturing wooden sheds at Chapel Park that were sold in Southampton. 

Mr Tony Cookes after his trip down the mineshaft with ‘Uncle Howard’, Chapel Park Mines 1955 (Courtesy Tony Cookes)

Ken’s brother Tony, who now lives in Australia, was old enough to be taken down the mines but Ken never got the chance to go down himself.

Many thanks to Ken and Tony for their contribution.

Two Black Seams beneath the Little White Town

A table full of maps and documents from TDC’s file on Bideford Black compiled by John Spencer in the 1980’s

As part of our continuing search for information about Bideford Black a fascinating and informative few hours were spent with Jon Charles, Building Control Surveyor from Torridge District Council, who shared research and maps completed by John Spencer a former surveyor for the council in the early 1980’s, among others. The presence of mine shafts beneath the town have made it necessary to study the safety of building developments in certain areas - basically a strip of land running east-west parallel with the old bridge between Greencliff and Chittlehampton where the seams ends.

Map showing the two seams of BLACK across North Devon from ‘Foundations For Low Rise Buildings in Torridge District Council Devon’ by Derek Sheldon

A particularly inspiring publication was ‘Foundations For Low Rise Buildings in Torridge District Council Devon’ by the former head of Building Control Derek Sheldon, revealing a dedication to hands on learning and presentation about the area rarely seen today. The book was produced as part of Derek’s qualification for the job.

In general the maps and charts show a surprising number of possible and known mine shafts across the town created for the extraction of both anthracite and ‘paint’ from two parallel seamsinclined at a 70 degree angle north to south, and included surveys regarding the Alverdiscott ‘link’ Road as well as various newspaper clippings of land collapses and letters between planning authorities and the Mining Company. To counteract the possibility of mineshaft collapses during building and development a process known as ‘grouting’, whereby concrete is poured into any voids created by mining activity, is employed.

Newspaper clippings and documents from TDC’s file on Bideford Black compiled by John Spencer in the 1980’s

Jon also recalled his own memories of incidents regarding the mines from growing up in the area including investigations into the ‘Liberty James’ scrap yard off Mines Road polluting the water table through the dumping of cars into disused mineshafts. Many thanks to Jon for his time and generosity in helping unravel the story further and giving a well-informed and enthusiastic depth to yet another fascinating aspect of the project.

'Devon's Non-metal Mines' by Richard A Edwards

North Devon Maritime Museum (http://www.northdevonmaritimemuseum.co.uk/) have kindly pointed us in the direction of this excellent book by Geologist Richard A Edwards that they helped with the research for, along with other local experts. The publication has an informative and well-illustrated chapter devoted to Bideford Black, focusing on the geology and history of coal and pigment mining in North Devon from the earliest records in late 17th Century until the mines' closure in the 1969. It was published by Halsgrove Press in 2010.

Bideford Black Pigments Ltd (It was never just "Bideford Black") and of course "Paint Mines" was just a local name…

Last week Jenny Shepherd, one of the last secretaries to work at the Bideford Black ‘Paint Mines’, contacted us. She has kindly shared some of her memories … 

“What I can remember:

I joined with my friend as a fully qualified secretary from the then North Devon College in 1960/61.  We did all duties from filing to Balance Sheet, trial balance, wages, invoices, correspondence, reception and everything in between.  My friend remembers that we had to ask for the 'phone numbers we required as there were no dialling facilities.

Chapel Park Processing Plant Door (P Ward 2010)

The office was a very old nissen hut with a wooden floor which had subsided so much on each side that there was a large open space (if memory serves correctly it was about 9" across) running the length of the room where the boards had come apart and from where the dust permeated.  Although It was extremely cold and dirty there was a very inefficient and antiquated cast iron, wood-burning stove that we were allowed to use when our fingers turned white and got too cold to type. In fact, everything was antiquated and damp.  The whole thing was situated in the middle of a wood at the end of Mines Road which was then just a country lane.  We were not allowed to see either the mine or the sawmills although we were promised to have a conducted tour.  Unfortunately it didn't happen. When we got home we had to scrub our faces with a nail brush and soap to remove the waterproof dust although it was not so apparent on us as it was on the miners' faces and hands.  I don't think there were any washing facilities for the men but cannot be certain.  We worked for Howard St Louis Cooke who was an accountant as well as (I think) a mining authority and certainly Victorian in his work ethic (and in other ways too which are better forgotten)!  He tried to be a divisive employer but luckily my friend and I remain close to this day.  The names which we can remember are Mr Wally Mugford (mining foreman), Mr Arthur who was possibly in charge of the sawmill and a Martin Pascoe.  The first has been deceased for a large number of years as I suspect has the second.  Mr Pascoe was much younger than them but older than we were.  Mr Mugford and Mr Arthur treated us very kindly.  I believe Mr Pascoe later became a private detective.  There may also have been a Mr Dymond.

‘Biddiblack’ and ‘Jetablack’ were mined and processed into powder at that time.  I understand in the beginning these dyes were used to colour the black pointing between the bricks of Victorian buildings but that subsequently the main monies were made during the war when it was used for camouflage purposes. I also understood that it might have been used later in the production of makeup. 

There was also a sawmill business which, in those days, was relatively new. 

We were advised that the mines travelled beyond Weare Giffard towards Torrington and possibly beyond but I do not know if or how they would have been filled in.  Mr Cooke owned many detailed maps.  I know, just on one occasion, when we were returning home from work there was a most eerie sound which sounded like the then popular theme music of the TV programme Quatermass.  We had never run so fast in our lives.  We believe it was just the angle of the wind through trees and over one of the shafts but it terrified us at the time!

Rather different circumstances than today's!

Kind regards

Jenny Shepherd “

Chapel Park Processing Plant Site (P Ward 2010)

Many thanks to Jenny, and we look forward to any other details she might recall… 

we need your stories!

Our poster to publicise the SHOW & TELL day at the Burton on the 20th March, form 1100 to 330...

We look forward to seeing you there.