Inscription in a Fireset mine

[Brains]

In this image by my friend GB is an old inscription reading MI. It is quite close to an entrance, with a small diameter calcited shot hole fairly close. This mine is discussed by John Barnett and Terry Worthington in the PDMHS Bulletin 17-3, but no mention is made of the carving. In the paper dates from the C17 onwards are mentioned. Anyone out there know anything about this?
@AR @History Trog


Derwent South, but don't want to name it openly at present

 

[mikem]

Lots of (mostly well to do) visitors were encouraged by miners to leave their mark - could result in a decent tip

 

[History Trog]

Unlikely to be able to pin it down. Inscriptions were quite common in the Masson system. Lynn Willies told me that in the part of Gentlewoman's that was quarried away (just N of the end of our survey), there was a whole wall of the passage covered with graffiti, including the date 1638 and he kindly let me have his photo of the date, which I have included in the book.

 

[AR]

If it's the mine I think it is then been there, gingerly crawled over the broken glass, but I don't recall that I saw any inscriptions. Hard to be sure from that photo whether the blackening around it is from a firesetting soot trail (which would place the inscription to pre-1750) or what Terry W refers to as "the grot of ages" that builds up from dust in the air settling on surfaces. It could be coincidence, but there's what looks very much like the Troggs "TS" smoked above it?

 

[Brains]

@AR I think you know the place... The sooty TS is I think an optical illusion. Being in an alcove that looks to be the result of firesetting, and above normal eye level it is easily missed. Not like JB to not record a feature of note!
Curious to hear about the lost inscriptions in Masson. It would seem literacy was not as rare in the working class as some would imply

 

[Cantclimbtom]

@AR I think you know the place... The sooty TS is I think an optical illusion. Being in an alcove that looks to be the result of firesetting, and above normal eye level it is easily missed. Not like JB to not record a feature of note!
Curious to hear about the lost inscriptions in Masson. It would seem literacy was not as rare in the working class as some would imply

Or maybe illiteracy was as common as believed, but miners were more skilled than average so more likely to have at least some literacy?

 

[Mrs Trellis]

If it's where I think it is it says "Light blue touchpaper and retire to a safe distance."

 

[mikem]

You can be practically illiterate but still know your initials. Most ages had basic schooling, and many mining communities had miners' institutes and / or welfare halls (esp. later coal):

Miners' institutes and the role they played in Valleys communities

The institutions, such as the Blackwood Miners' Institute, helped to educate working class people in these communities

www.walesonline.co.uk

Historically i and j were the same letter (far more surnames start with J):

Can uppercase j be used to replace uppercase i letter on a monument inscription?

I have seen it repeatedly on two grave inscriptions. Both were called Ida but there was Jda on the grave inscription. They lived in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Central Europe. Is this a ling...

latin.stackexchange.com

 

[Brains]

Well, AFAIK it's possibly pre 1750, and MI or MJ is currently unidentified.
I agree ones own initials might be the only letters known. This was the age of making your mark (x) to signify agreeing to ships articles and other contracts.
Used to work with a fella that brought a red top into work everyday to look at. Couldn't read at all but didn't want to let on... Just looked at the pictures and stumbled over a banner headline. Good bloke and highly skilled though