A.E. Roberts & J.R. Leach, A5, sb, 96pp Scarthin (PS1)

The book traces the rise of the coal industry in the neighbourhood of Buxton, examines its hey-day, and details its decline, quoting extensively from contemporary documents. If you still need proof of its existence, check out the numerous industrial remains which are also described in these pages."
This is an evocative book which opens by contrasting the harsh realities of a coal miner's life in the late 18th century against the heady life of the upper class. Whilst the 5th Duke of Devonshire was developing Buxton as a spa town, and his visitors were paying their three shillings admission fee to the Card Room, a boy working in the coal mines would have to drive an engine horse around its circular track for six whole days to earn the same amount of money.

Strictly speaking the mines were not in Buxton, but in the parish of Hartington Upper Quarter, about 2 miles away from Buxton. Nevertheless, this book is a real treasure trove for the family historian, containing many personal names, drawing extensively on the accounts of Thomas WYLD, of 1790 (WYLD was the mines' manager on behalf of their owner, the Duke of Devonshire). The several appendices contain more personal names, including lists of colliers and coal miners recorded on the 1841, 1851 and 1881 censuses.