Saturday, February 23, 1839

1839

February

Saturday 23

7 1/2

12 1/2

Dullish morning, the snow gone except in the hollows – Fahrenheit 39 3/4° inside at 8 20/.. and 38° outside, and breakfast at 9 1/4 to 10 –

Had before breakfast read over my letter to Lady Stuart de Rothesay – 3 1/2 pages small and close letter paper folded notewise – written out yesterday and wrote 3 pages and under seal of 1/2 sheet note to ‘The Honourable Lady Stuart, Whitehall’ and enclosed this and my long letter to ‘The Lady Stuart de Rothesay’ and put them under cover to ‘Lord Stuart de Rothesay Carlton House Terrace, London’ and put them in the letter bag and sent off John Booth with it to the post office at 11, Ann having previously read over both letters

Had Holt at 11 for 1/2 hour –

Came to say the Cylinder would be ready on Friday next – But was not to be sent till orders received from here – Did not mention what we had been doing, but said the Enginehouse was not yet quite flagged – I said I now made sure or should be ready by that time, and Holt had best write on Monday for the Cylinder to come on Friday –

Then talked matters over – Mr. Freeman’s coal only the black bed and sold at 6 pence a load – Would not pay at £50 an acre, much less £150, even if it was loosed – Holt would have nothing to do with it, for Freeman might say he was a friend of the Manns –

Rawson going on in a strange way with his colliery – Getting the coal close up to the throws – Setting in their main gates – Never saw such a plan – Must sink his shaft deeper, and come out at a lower level – He was destroying all his air – Had not above 3 or 4 acres loose –

I said I thought some dark plan was going on – Stocks and Rawson mutually understood each other – If they could any way get hold of my coal, they could each suit himself – Holt could not believe Stocks would have anything to do with Rawson, and Stocks did not want my coal, only wanted my Long goit loose – Yes! But, said I, if either party could manage me, one would get the coal and the other the loose – This struck Holt –

I told him to keep his eye on Rawson’s bank-bottom staith – I had said I would give £500 for it – and Holt agreed it would be worth that and might be come at 2 or 3 years – £500 more would continue the galloway gate and find rails and everything – £100 would do the galloway gate, and four hundred be ample for the rest – Strong galloway-gate rails would do 40 yards length, and light rails for common corve gates would do 65 yards per ton –

Holt to go down into Ann’s Hinscliffe pits on Monday, and tell her depth of pit, dip and thickness of stratum, and how many corves and what weight of coal per square yard –

Holt went away about 12 –

Then with Ann.  Read aloud the 1st 18 or 20 pages, Volume 1, Lord Lindsay’s Travels, then skimmed over what I did not read last night of the newspaper – Then came upstairs and wrote the whole of the above of today till 1 3/4 –

Went out at 1 45/.. – 10 minutes talking to John Booth – Then out – to Listerwick Sunwood quarry.  Nobody there – To Heap and Naylor’s quarry– 3 inch thick flags 5 feet long stone 16 pence per yard of 9 square feet and squaring, boarting, and scouring 1/8 per yard = 3/. per yard –

Then to Hipperholme Lane Ends quarry – Jack Green and Ben baring – William Land shifting wall, and we seem to have taken about 30 yards super of ground –

Then back to Listerwick.  The flue digging done up to the chimney and the sunken shaft filled up to within 6 feet of the top? – The flue to be done on Tuesday.  Wood and 2 men at the new boiler-house footing and welling towards the reservoir – Sam Booth and Robert Fielding the firemen gathering up sticks in the hall wood and walk –

Went down to my meer – Then sauntered about on the embankments –

Then had Booth in the north entrance porch – He had got and gave me Greenwood’s 2nd 1/2 year’s rent = £20 of the Northgate land –

Came in at 6 – A minute with Ann – Dressed.  Dinner at 6 20/.. – Ann read French – Tea – Reading the newspaper, London and Halifax, and writing the last 9 1/2 lines till 10 20/.. – Then read a few pages of Lord Lindsay, Volume 1.  Came upstairs at 11 –

Fahrenheit 41° inside at 11 10/.. and 38° outside 10 minutes afterwards – Highish wind tonight –

WYAS Finding Numbers SH:7/ML/E/22/0129 and SH:7/ML/E/22/0130