ABSTRACT
In Yorkshire as elsewhere, the emergence of mining as a viable enterprise was dependent on labour. The skilled collier and less-skilled hurriers or surface workers were crucial to the development of the industry. Miners were initially drawn from the ranks of agricultural labour and in the Elizabethan period probably moved back and forth between pit work and cultivation. As the need for pit labour increased, however, a distinctive workforce was stabilised, recruited by mining capital, sometimes with the promise not just of a wage but accommodation as well.
