Graphite Mining

[LadyMud]

Interesting article in The Times today about graphite mining - but it’s hidden behind a paywall, so I’ll copy it for you:

Storm that uncovered graphite and gave rise to term ‘black market’​

March is no stranger to stormy weather, but a storm in the Lake District on this day 460 years ago - March 26, 1564 - led to an amazing discovery. The storm uprooted an ash tree at Seathwaite Fell in Borrowdale, and, according to legend, shepherds looking for lost sheep stumbled on the fallen tree and found lumps of a strange, shiny black material buried in the ground where the tree had stood. The shepherds quickly found that the material made thick black marks, so they used it for marking their sheep.

When investigators later examined this wondrous material they declared it must be lead ore, but it wasn’t lead, it was an extremely pure form of graphite. The discovery of the high-grade Borrowdale graphite eventually gave rise to the pencil - what is often called the “lead” pencil even though it doesn’t contain lead - and quickly spawned a mining industry. The graphite was used not just for pencils but also for lining moulds for making cannon and musket balls.

The graphite became so prized that by the 1600s it was more valuable than gold, but attracted thieves and armed robbers, with attacks becoming so serious that an act of parliament was passed in 1752 to make the theft of graphite a crime punishable by imprisonment or transportation overseas. However, the pilfering of graphite remained a problem, which is said to have given rise to the term “black market”.

 

[Fulk]

We had a through trip in the mines during last year's NAMHO conference, which was easy but quite entertaining, involving several abseil descents, most of the tunnels being of a good walking size; thanks to our guides. (The hardest part of the trip was the walk to the entrance, up a steep hillside with a rather sketchy track on a hot summer's day.)

We were told that the theft of graphite became such a problem that they actually built a guard-house outside the mine that was manned by armed guards.

 

[Jim MacPherson]

Ian Tyler's book Seathwaite Wad is a good read, getting quite expensive to buy so if you can borrow it so much the better.

Jim

 

[dougle89]

Going to the wad Mine on a CATMHS trip in a few weeks, looking forward to it

 

[alanw]

the pilfering of graphite remained a problem, which is said to have given rise to the term “black market”.

My Oxford English Dictionary, with a preface dated 1933, has no mention of "Black Market", not even in the supplement.

My Brewer's says "Black market. A phrase that came into use during World War II, to describe illicit dealing in rationed goods". See online at Archive.org

 

[tony from suffolk]

Ian Tyler's book Seathwaite Wad is a good read, getting quite expensive to buy so if you can borrow it so much the better.

Jim

Ian ran the excellent mining museum in Keswick, but once his wife died he lost heart & finally retired. A great shame, he was a top source of information on mining in the Lake District and wrote many excellent books on the subject.

 

[ChrisB]

There's a four book series of historical novels, by Graham Sutton, about several generations of a farming family from Calderbridge in West Cumbria. One of the book, I think it's the most well known "Smoke across the fell" involves smuggling wad from Seathwaite over Sty Head and to the Isle of Man.

 

[RobinGriffiths]

Yes. Valuable product. I believe they had strong rooms for storage at the mine, and there are stories about tunnels being driven from neighbouring ghyls to steal product from the mines.

 

[mikem]

According to OED online the first use of "black market" was by Daniel Defoe in 1727, so timing would fit with graphite.

An extensive answer on Reddit says:

Regardless, it appears that many European languages seemed to adopt the term "black market" from English. I came across two rumors.

One was that nomadic knights in England started to neglect polishing their armor due to their lifestyle and lack of servants. Tournament victors usually won the losers armor. Being more seasoned fighters, the nomadic knights in their tarnished black armor tended to win. Having no use for additional armor (no need to display it in their nonexistent castles), they would sell it back to the losers. Seeing as how selling a trophy was frowned upon, there was a bit of distaste surrounding the etiquette of the black knights' markets for won armor.

The other idea is that England's graphite mines were so exceptionally sought after that the Crown seized control. Graphite was used in the construction of cannonballs and pencils. Given how valuable graphite was, it was regularly stolen from mines.

HOWEVER, some reference texts place the origin of the term around the 1930s following World War I and gaining usage during WWII - borrowed from the German "Schwarzmarkt." The term characterized the illicit market of stolen military supplies. But you'll notice that the above explanation places European languages, including German, as adopting the term from England.

However, someone else points out that "blackmail" is from Scottish Gaelic.

 

[Cumbrian]

Interesting article in The Times today about graphite mining - but it’s hidden behind a paywall, so I’ll copy it for you:

Storm that uncovered graphite and gave rise to term ‘black market’​

March is no stranger to stormy weather, but a storm in the Lake District on this day 460 years ago - March 26, 1564 - led to an amazing discovery. The storm uprooted an ash tree at Seathwaite Fell in Borrowdale, and, according to legend, shepherds looking for lost sheep stumbled on the fallen tree and found lumps of a strange, shiny black material buried in the ground where the tree had stood. The shepherds quickly found that the material made thick black marks, so they used it for marking their sheep.

When investigators later examined this wondrous material they declared it must be lead ore, but it wasn’t lead, it was an extremely pure form of graphite. The discovery of the high-grade Borrowdale graphite eventually gave rise to the pencil - what is often called the “lead” pencil even though it doesn’t contain lead - and quickly spawned a mining industry. The graphite was used not just for pencils but also for lining moulds for making cannon and musket balls.

The graphite became so prized that by the 1600s it was more valuable than gold, but attracted thieves and armed robbers, with attacks becoming so serious that an act of parliament was passed in 1752 to make the theft of graphite a crime punishable by imprisonment or transportation overseas. However, the pilfering of graphite remained a problem, which is said to have given rise to the term “black market”.

This is for those interested in how this unique Fluid Deposited Graphite ended up at Seathwaite and why it's a combination of geological coincidences.
I was lucky to be involved with the B.G.S and did my best to bring the results to a wider audience.

 

[AR]

However, someone else points out that "blackmail" is from Scottish Gaelic.

As far as I was aware, the term "blackmail" came from the Borders and was certainly in use there in the early 16th century - it described the payment of protection money in cattle, usually the small black cattle that later gave rise to the Galloway breed, as opposed to whitemail, which was the rent paid legally to the landlord in silver.

 

[mikem]

blathaich pronounced (the th silent) bla-ich meant to protect in Scottish Gaelic, and mal meant tribute or payment. So there was blackmail, which was a payment to protect. I’m not sure if this relates directly to black market, but it would makes sense for it to.

It does seem that one type of highland cattle were originally black, but they were commonly called kyloe

See etymology section: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail

 

[Jim MacPherson]

Being a bit pedantic, kyo was common in north Durham and Northumberland for cattle perhaps morphed a bit to coos and Anglo-Saxon was a shared language/dialect in the Borders by the 7/8thC and well up to NE Scotland as in Doric while Gaelic had been pushed to the west, but common in Galloway, then the Vikings well and truly mixed up the language. I find it quite interesting how much of Scani-noir stuff is quite comprehensible, slightly more so than Glaswegian, but that may be the speed they blether.

Just a bit off-topic, sorry.

Jim