The Cinderloo Story – Supporting NotesWhat were the factors leading to the Uprising?

In the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, there were a number of factors which were causing significant unrest in the working population. These included:

Post-Napoleonic economy Bad harvests Overpopulation Working conditions Changes in working practices such as increasing automation and mass

production methods Counter-revolutionary repression Legislation including the Combination Acts, Six Acts and the Corn Laws Divided society

French Revolution

The course of the French Revolution was followed closely by the ruling classes, for whom the concept of liberty, equality and brotherhood was to be feared, and the working classes who were inspired by it.

Thomas Paine was a writer who became a staunch defender of the French Revolution. His most famous work, The Rights of Man was published in 1791, two years after the French Revolution and went on to sell over a million copies. He explored the idea that government based on true justice should support not only mankind's natural rights (life, liberty, free speech, freedom of conscience) but also its civil rights (security and protection).

Under a system in which only the wealthiest of taxpayers could vote, this was not a concept likely to gain approval, but Paine showed how a tax system, including a form of income tax, could provide social welfare in support of those civil rights. Generations ahead of his time, he outlined a plan covering widespread education, child benefit, pensions for the elderly, poor relief and much more. (Thompson, 2013)

In the 1790s, the UK became increasingly divided between Loyalists and Radicals. The Loyalist ruling authorities mounted a counter-revolutionary campaign to discredit Paine and other Radical political writers like William Cobbett.

Legislation

A series of legislative acts created increasing pressure on working people in the early part of the 19th Century.

In 1799, Combination Laws made it illegal for workers to join together to campaign for shorter hours or more pay from their employers. As a result, trade

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unions were effectively made illegal. The Act also made it illegal for employers to join forces against their employees, although no case was ever successfully brought against an employer. (Morton, 1938)

After the Peterloo Massacre, the Government imposed the Six Acts to control civil liberties even further. The six acts included a requirement for permission for public meetings of more than 50 people if the meeting concerned “church or state” or state matters, and prevented political or “seditious” writings.

The Corn Laws were trade restrictions on imported food and grain ("corn") enforced in Great Britain between 1815 and 1846. They were designed to keep grain prices high to favour local producers, and landowners. The Corn Laws imposed steep import duties, making it too expensive to import grain from abroad, even when food supplies were short.

The Corn Laws enhanced the profits and political power associated with land ownership. The laws raised food prices and the costs of living for the British public, and hampered the growth of other British economic sectors, such as manufacturing, by reducing the money available for people to spend. (Wikipedia)

Poor Harvests

In 1815, Mount Tambora, a long dormant volcano on Indonesia, exploded in a massive eruption which sent a plume of millions of tons of dust and gas into the atmosphere. This reduced sunlight reaching the Earth, and in 1816, average global temperatures decreased and there were snowfalls and frosts into the summer months. Crops failed and there was famine in several countries, including Ireland. Mainland Britain with its well-developed trade network and relatively easy access to ports, was not as badly affected by food shortages as other nations, but in 1817-18, the price of bread almost doubled as supplies of grain and flour ran short. (Wikipedia)

Population boom

During the Industrial Revolution, more people moved from rural areas into towns and cities and population increased. The largest increase occurred during the period of 1811 to 1820. This would have added to pressure on food supplies.

During the 18th Century, much of the common land became enclosed. This was land where people had been able to graze animals and carry out their own subsistence farming. With the reduced access to common land or other land on which to grow food, more people became dependent on being able to earn wages from working in industries in order to buy food.

Working Conditions

The working life of miners was tough and dangerous, with long hours underground and high risk of accidents. Trinder noted that “between 1801 and 1819 the Quarter Sessions records list 355 deaths from mining accidents in east Shropshire” (Trinder, 2000). Respiratory illness caused by coal dust and other

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diseases, such as cholera, in the mining communities due to poor living conditions resulted in low life expectancy.

Miners were normally employed by chartermasters, who in turn worked for the mine owner. This system was often abused causing great hardship to the miners. For example, chartermasters often owned "tommy shops" where miners under their employment were required to buy their goods, often at high prices for poor quality products.

Were there similar riots in other parts of the country?

From the 1790 up until the mid 1800s, there was a period of significant unrest throughout the UK, particularly in the industrial areas of the North and Midlands.

The Peterloo Massacre of 16th August 1819 is perhaps the most well known of these events. Over 60,000 people attended a peaceful demonstration to hear anti-poverty and pro-democracy speakers in St Peters Fields, Manchester. The crowd was charged by cavalry resulting in 18 deaths, and around 700 serious injuries.

Had anything like Cinderloo happened in Shropshire before?

There had been a series of food riots with low paid workers and their families demanding a right to buy grain at simple affordable prices. One such riot occurred in 1756 in Broseley with miners from nearby Benthall and Madeley Wood joining in; followed by workers from Oakengates, Dawley and Coalbrookdale. Despite the reading of the Riot Act, violence between miners, traders and farmers escalated until Abraham Darby II intervened to calm matters by handing out free ale and bread. (Trinder, 2000)

Similar riots took place in 1782, 1791, 1795 and 1799.

A number of historians noted that on a national scale, industrial strikes began to take over from food riots in the early 1800s. With regards to Shropshire, Trinder stated: “Disturbances were provoked not by high food prices but by threats of reductions in wages. The reaction of ironmasters was not to provide cheap food but to call for troops. The anger of the rioters was directed not against farmers, millers, and bakers, but against their employers and their employers’ installations”. (Trinder, 2000)

How was law and order maintained?

When such incidents occurred, it was the responsibility of the local magistrates to deal with them, working with Justices of the Peace, local community leaders and also often local clergymen and preachers as the Church, in its many guises from the Quakers to the Wesleyans and Methodists were often asked to intervene and negotiate a peaceful solution. Local constables were only few in number and ill equipped to cope with large demonstrations. If tensions escalated to violence then tougher, lawful means were used, often resulting, as with Cinderloo, with the Constabulary being supported by the Shropshire Yeomanry.

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The Shropshire Yeomanry was founded in 1785 by William Cludde who recruited 80 men for a voluntary corps based in Wellington. The Cludde family, from Orelton, were influential not only in the Yeomanry but along with other prominent families in the Shropshire gentry like the Forresters and Eytons were also local Magistrates. (Gladstone, 1953). The Yeomanry’s principal purpose was to act as peacekeepers. It was only after laws in 1835 and 1839 that paid police forces began to be established in England and Wales.

Magistrates had wider powers than in current times with responsibilities extending into administration of towns prior to the establishment of town corporations and borough councils. Only landowners of certain wealth could become magistrates. Most ordinary people without land could not vote nor become magistrates and had very limited means of participating in local administration.

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Who was involved?

Contemporary newspaper reports are fairly consistent in their estimates of the crowd reaching numbers of around 3,000. At that time, Dawley and the surrounding area had around 9,000 inhabitants, so it was perhaps over one third of the population that turned out in support the protest.

Refer to the separate Cinderloo characters paper listing names of people involved in the events on both sides as identified from the newspaper reports.

What do you notice about the names of people involved?

Women were known to have taken part in the Uprising from the newspaper reports. In his summing up at the trial, the Judge stated that “he was sorry to observe that in all Riots of this nature the women were far more violent and their language more abusive than the men”. (Shrewsbury Chronicle, 1821)

In 1821, women and young children worked down mines for long hours and continued to do so until the Mining and Collieries Act of 1842 banned women and boys under 10 years old from working underground, and even then, this continued illegally for years after the ban. It is highly likely then that women and children would have taken part in the riot.

Where did the riot take place?

Old Park took its name as an area within Malins Lee (two words) as there used to be a Park here where hunting of game took place, first mentioned circa 1506. This area of Malinslee started being commercially mined in 1752. By 1797 the Old Park collieries consisted of 34 pits, each named after the charter master who operated it. (Baggs, Cox, McFall, Stamper, & Winchester, 1985)

At Old Park, 58 cottages were built between 1790 and 1797 by Browne for workmen in the Old Park Company ironworks and mines. The long terrace of cottages near the ironworks known as Forge Row lent its name to Forge Retail Park. This was situated on Hall Park Way by the Odeon, the road from Junction 5 of the motorway to the roundabout by the police station.

The last pit to close in Old Park operated between both world wars and was located at what is now Telford town centre. When the land was cleared in Old Park, they found evidence of over 1400 shafts but they believed there are still many more to be discovered!

Thomas Botfield established an Old Park Ironworks on land leased from Browne’s Estate. It started with two blast furnaces but by 1801 it had four as well as a forge and rolling mill. By 1806 it was the largest ironworks in Shropshire and the second largest in Britain.

The works closed in 1877. The Ironworks occupied land which spanned across the corner of the Forge Retail Park today roughly from Dunelm to Next and the land behind the shops. Old Park Brickworks were located just in front of the

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Ironworks (roughly outside TK Maxx today) The Botfields were making fire bricks at Old Park between 1809-1874 but they had ceased by 1882.

The large slag heaps that would have formed the cinder hills were mostly cleared during the 20th Century. (Baggs, Cox, McFall, Stamper, & Winchester, 1985) Slag had value as an aggregate used as railway ballast and road foundation. It is difficult, therefore, to identify a precise location for the riot. There has been considerable change as a result of the creation of Telford New Town, but a pit mound remains near the Wrekin Housing Trust offices, off Colliers Way near the Forge Retail Park, which gives a suggestion of the old industrial landscape.

Which ironworks were affected?

Ketley Works (Thurs 1st February 1821)New Hadley/Ragfield Works (Thurs 1st February 1821)Wombridge Works (Thurs 1st February 1821)Donnington Wood Works (3pm, Thurs 1st February 1821)Old Park Works (08:30am, Friday 2nd February)Ranlea (sic) Works, (Randlay Works?) (Friday 2nd February 1821)Dawley Castle Works (Friday 2nd February 1821)Lightmoor Works (12 noon, Friday 2nd February 1821)Horsehay Works (Friday 2nd February 1821)Coalbrookdale Works (Friday 2nd February 1821)

Where could people gather?

Nowadays, people can meet in many different public places, like libraries, civic buildings, village halls, community centres, sports centres, theatres, cinemas, cafes and shopping centres. We can voice our opinions and objections in many different media.

Back in 1821, very few places existed for people to meet apart from churches and pubs, and permission was required from a magistrate for a meeting of more than 50 people. The miners knew then that, once their numbers exceeded 50, their gathering together was unlawful.

The landscape and geology

Landscape and the geology beneath it are the main factors influencing ow towns develop.

Until the 18th Century, the land around Dawley and other settlements, like Ketley and Madeley was cultivated for agriculture and became enclosed. There were a number of hays, such as at Horsehay, Dawley hay and Hinksay, which were large enclosures for keeping stock.

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From the later 18th century land use changed from agricultural to mining and industry as the Industrial Revolution expanded. Fewer farms provided employment, and those that did survived adapted to the needs of the industrial communities, which included rearing horses for work in the collieries and ironworks.

As industries developed, small communities of workers’ cottages built up around the mines and ironworks. These village communities would have seemed much more separated, each with distinct character, compared to the modern townscape of Telford, where one area of the town merges into another.

Shropshire has some of the most diverse and interesting geology in England. Some of the oldest rocks in England occur in the county, where they tend to appear as high ground in the hills of the Wrekin, Caer Caradoc and the Long Mynd, due to their general hardness and resistance to weathering.

The diverse geology continues across the Telford area yielding a wealth of minerals, including ironstone, clay, limestone and coal, that enabled the growth of early industries in mining, iron production, brick, tiles and other ceramics manufacture. There was also quarrying of sand, sandstone and basalt for a variety of industrial and construction uses.

The East Shropshire coalfield, centred on Dawley, is very small compared to others in the United Kingdom. It extends approximately 10 miles from Linley in the south to Lilleshall and the Wrekin in the north and it is very narrow at outcrop, only about 3 miles wide.

The Lightmoor Fault divides the coalfield into an uplifted exposed western section and a downfaulted concealed eastern section. The western part of the coalfield, where the coal seams are shallower, was worked first, while the deeper concealed section had to await technological developments, ie the steam engine to pump the mines dry, before it yielded its mineral wealth. (Coxill, Review of theGeological Memoir of Telford and the Coalbrookdales Coalfield)

The first known record of mineral working comes in 1250 when Phillip de Benthall granted the Buildwas monks the right of access to coal and ironstone. (Coxill & Lake, Coalbrookdale Coalfield). Mining was recorded in Dawley from the 16th century but large-scale extraction took place only after the establishment of ironworks in the parish in the 1750s; the deep seams east of the Lightmoor fault were mined only after c. 1800. By 1831 the collieries and ironworks employed 1,379 men and supported nearly all of the parish's families. (Baggs, Cox, McFall, Stamper, & Winchester, 1985)

The cluster of deeper mines in the south-east corner of Great Dawley were sunk c. 1810 to obtain Clod coal for the Coalbrookdale Co.'s new furnaces at the Castle ironworks. Clod coal was the much sought-after low sulphur coal that was most suitable for the iron blast furnaces.

How has the landscape changed from 1821 to the present?

What human-made features can be identified in the landscape?

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References(1821, February 9th). Shrewsbury Chronicle.

(1821, March 28th). Salopian Journal.

(1821, March 30th). Shrewsbury Chronicle.

(1821, April 11th). Salopian Journal.

(1821, April 13th). Shrewsbury Chronicle.

Baggs, A., Cox, D., McFall, J., Stamper, P. A., & Winchester, A. (1985). Dawley: Economic History. A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 11. ed. GC Baugh and CR Elrington, 115-125 [accessed 22nd March 2019].

Cludde, W. e. (1821, 4th February). Letter to Home Office, PRO HO 40/16/15.

Coxill, D. (n.d.). Coalbrookdale Coalfield. SCMC Journal No.3.

Coxill, D. (n.d.). Review of the Geological Memoir of Telford and the Coalbrookdales Coalfield. SCMC Journal No.5.

Coxill, D., & Lake, K. (n.d.). Coalbrookdale Coalfield. Mining in Shropshire.

Gladstone, E. (1953). Shropshire Yeomanry. Manchester: Whitehorn Press.

Morton, A. L. (1938). A People's History of England.

Navickas, K. (2017). Protest and the politics of space and place, 1789–1848. Manchester University Press.

Raistrick, A. (1989). Dynasty of Iron Founders: The Darbys and Coalbrookdale. William Sessions.

Thompson, E. (2013). The Making of the English Working Class. London: Penguin.

Trinder, B. (2000). The Industrial Revolution in Shropshire, Third Edition. Chichester: Phillimore.

White, I. (2004). "Cinderloo": Riot, Repression and Revivalism in the East Shropshire Coalfield 1821-22. Wolverhampton: University of Wolverhampton.

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