A Sense of Killhope

A writing workshop led by local writer Pru Kitching with Year 8 students from Samuel King's School, Alston.

Creative writing from ideas using the five (or six) senses following a visit to Killhope North of England Lead mining Museum on 31 May 2002.

• Smell: tallow candles, foot rot, fire smoke, other human beings.
• Touch: soft lead, hot lead, the winter cold, wet walls in the mine.
• Sight: the wheel, the minerals and crystals, the surrounding landscape.
• Sound: water, wind, rhythms in the smithy, animals, the silence.
• Taste: black spit, the food in the mine shop, going home at the weekend.
• Sixth sense (imagination): Life as a washer boy, the story of galena, how it would be to be a rat, how it would be to be a foot with foot rot, strapping lads

Some Memorable Words from the Students

Betty

My name is Betty, I am paid to clean Mr Talloway’s office, it gets very sooty from the fire which is constantly lit in the winter to light up the room and keep it warm. It is very difficult to brush the floor as it is uneven with holes filled with mud from the pond outside. I work a day a week and get paid 1 shilling a week. In winter I also keep the fire lit and the paraffin lamps filled. It is a good job as the office is warm all year round.

Mr Tallaway is very nice and sometimes I bring him a fruit pie or some homemade rose wine. I live near the lead mine and my husband and son work in the mine and every Sunday they come home dirty and smelly so they have to have a bath in the stream. As we live on a farm all the food our animals give us, my husband and son take back to the mine. While me and my daughter look after the farm.

Killhope

I think Killhope is very educational but interesting. I have been quite a few times before and you learn something new every time you go...

I think it would be a good idea if they restored an old miners cottage on the fell so that the public can walk as far as a miner did to his house, and in the house have a family playing the part of a miners family (during the day) to get a proper idea of what a miners family was like...

Sounds

Splashing water,
Banging hats on the roof.
Clucking hens
And the wind in the trees.
Everyone talking.

Foot Rot

Foot rot smells really bad.
It stinks of rotten flesh
And smells of rotten cheese.
You have to live with it forever.

About Killhope

Swish swish
The wheel goes round.
The water runs through
And falls to the ground.

Tallow smells of putrid flesh.
Rats running wild,
Eating my food.

Light the fire,
Peat burns bright,
Keeps me warm,
Helps dry my clothes.

Killhope

Running water in the mine
Soaks my feet all day long.
Dark and cold, can’t see a thing.
The wheel turns.
I hear it creaking all day long.
Creepy hens,
Clucking and pecking.

Ringo the Rat

Hi! I’m Ringo, I’m a rat and I live in the mine shop at Killhope. I was nicking some pig swill (yum that was a tasty morsel) and then the pig thought I was food and tried to eat me!!! But I got away with my skills and cunning ways!

There’s plenty to eat at Killhope but the men go hungry (ha ha hee hee ho ho!) when they cook the food it makes the room hot and sniffy, it stinks with the sheep fat candles - pooh! I tried eating one, they’re quite tasty! and the miners foot rot really stinks the place out man!!

Bye for now I will see you around - watch out for me!

Candle

"It got really low at one point and it would be really scary if you only had a small, stinking candle."

Rhythm in the Smithy

Tallow smells
putrid flesh
mines are damp
houses cold
and the wheel,
what a squeal,
it hurts my head:
people smell
and foot rot hurts.

A Sense of Killhope

Go down the mine,
For another hard day.
Must control this feeling,
‘cause it belongs to me.

Hot lead, cold lead,
Lots and lots and lots of lead.
Must control all this
‘cause it belongs to me.

Turn, turn, turn the wheel
And my hungry belly.
Must control this hungry feeling
'cause it belongs to me.

Sounds at Killhope

At Killhope you could hear a lot of things like:

• Water - because there is a river right next to the place and they used a lot of water.
• People - there are children and grown ups that come to visit as it is open to visitors.
• Chickens - you can hear chickens
• Laughter - people having fun and enjoyment

When you Go in the Mine

When you are in the mine you can hear sounds.

• The noise of your boots
• And the noise of people screaming
• Crying for someone to help
• And the ponies naying because they have had enough.

The Washerboy's Life

A washer boys job is to wash the mud and rock off the galena so it can be smelted but they wont be sent down the mine.

The life of a washerboy is scary, the fear of your hands rotting from cold water or your hand being crushed by an oversized rock. In the lodging shop it will stink, not washing for ages and getting nits off other miners. It would get lonely as there wont be many friends because of being split up to work in the mines to get money. Although they made toys there wont be much fun with no friends.

We are People with no Fingers

It was my first day down the mine, I made a hole in the wall to put gun powder in. I was just taking out the strike when I saw a spark and there was a massive explosion. All I remember after that is waking up in the ice cold water, asking my dad to look for my fingers.

"What do you want that for you wont be able to sew that back on"

"I’ve had it all my life, I’m not giving up on it now"

So my dad was stumbling down the mine trying to find my finger. We only had one candle so he could hardly see, it took him half an hour to find it. When we got it out of the mine we put it in a jar. I am looking at it now -Oh no! the rat’s got it.

Visit to Killhope

The smell at Killhope was awful in the mine shop with all the tallow candles burning and the smell of stale food cooking. They cram four people in a bed and after a day sweating in the mine it would stink. Down the mine it was really cold and wet, it got really low at one point and it would be really scary if you only had a small stinking candle. I keep hitting my head off the roof. Further into the mine there was no water. We found a water wheel where some mine worker died in the 1800’s. The miners only protection was a cotton hat dipped in mud and left to dry so it went hard.

Sight

I could see a wheel, mine, horses, railway, washerboy, water, rats, lead, candles and a toilet.

Life in the mine would have been very dirty and very cold. Outside it would have been very plain and boring and they’ve been working long hours and would be tired. The mine would be pitch black so they would have used candles.

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With thanks to all the Year 8 students at Samuel King's School who took part in this project.