Episode 3 – All other mining
It is not just coal that built Britain. The industrial revolution may have been fuelled by coal but it was the exploitation of rich mineral resources found throughout Britain that drove the manufacturing, steel and construction industries that have shaped the country we live in today. Every corner of the British Isles has its own story; the stone used in local construction, the quarries played in as a child and the stories of bygone local mining communities passed down through generations. Fuller’s Earth in Bath, Hearthstone in Redhill, Chalk in Reading, Silica Sand in Blackheath, Lead in Matlock, Iron in Egremont, Limestone in Swanage, Brine in Droitwich – there is a legacy left from the extraction of minerals in every village, town and city. [1] Mining in these locations was often small-scale and occurred over many hundreds of years, so records are few and far between. They are often not recorded in historical maps and digital data on the extent of past non-coal mining is sporadic and requires expert assessment to identify risks of instability. To further complicate matters, unlike coal, there is no statutory protection for homeowners for the damage caused to property as a result of all other types of mining.
In this 20-min episode, mining-related subsidence specialist and Managing Director of Cornwall Consultants, Dan Berriman and ground-hazard-property-risk expert Maura Partridge unravel Britain’s complex history of mining through maps, expose the hidden risk of unrecorded mines not captured by Mine Abandonment Plans and will leave you with an understanding of the scale of how mining impacts property and land today.
About the presenters
Dan Berriman has been working in the field of mining subsidence assessment for 23 years. Currently Managing Director of Cornwall Consultants – a specialist mining subsidence consultancy in the South West – he has been involved in the appraisal of thousands of residential and commercial properties. He has undertaking ground investigations for old mine workings and carrying out surface assessments of mine features.
Maura Partridge graduated with a degree in Geology from the University of Bristol in 2016 and soon after joined the Terrafirma team. As Head of Searches at Terrafirma, Maura is responsible for ensuring that the technical content within the searches is correct and communicated in an intelligible way. Working towards her Chartership, she is keen to further her geological knowledge and learn new skills related to her field.