ABSTRACT
During the nineteenth century, Britain can aptly be described as an economic civilisation based .on coal. Technological advance in the previous century, particularly the inter-relationships forged between coal, steam and iron, 1 had paved the way for an upsurge in industrial production which later became known as the Industrial Revolution. To sustain the growth of manufacturing output, continued increases in the supply of coal were necessary, with the result that coalmining itself experienced changes that were hardly less 'revolutionary' than those taking place in other sectors of the economy. Whether or not the improvements effected within the coal industry amounted to a 'technological revolution' is rather a sterile debate. Certainly the period before 1 8 5 o witnessed the opening up of new areas of supply, with inland coalfields assuming a national prominence due to the emergence first of a canal network and later of railways. 2 At the same time, increasing use of steam power and iron, above and below ground, profoundly altered ways of winning and moving the coal. More intensive working became possible, in the form of deeper sinkings and the re-opening of previously abandoned collieries.
