That the monastic system did a great deal for the advancement of literature, art, architecture, and agriculture in this country, is well recognized and appreciated. It is also well known that in the carrying-on of the large estates which the monks possessed, and in the erection of the abbeys, churches, priories, and other buildings in connexion therewith, not only did they provide employment for themselves, but for the populations in their respective districts ; and we find, in looking through the various records of the monasteries, in this and in other countries, that besides receiving great revenues from their lands, the monks had a considerable income from coal. Not only did they let their mines, but in many instances they actually worked coal themselves, and expended money in sinking pits and in winning and working them. We find that the monks were using coal in the twelfth century especially for lime-burning and salt-evaporation, forges, etc., as well as for household purposes, and that they generally kept a stock of this fuel in their storehouses, and also exported coal, notably from the River Tyne, to places in England as well as abroad.

The early records of the history of coal-mining contain references to the connexion of the monks with that industry, especially in the North of England; and I think that it may be of considerable interest to collate the chief information on the subject, and by so doing add to our knowledge of the very obscure pages of the dawn and progress of coal-mining.

It is not generally known that the monks had much to do with the early working and using of coal, but this assumption can be easily demonstrated to be correct, and we can justly regard them as the chief pioneers of that trade which has both directly and indirectly added so much to the comfort of mankind, and especially done so much for the greatness of this country. One old writer says :—

We can quite in this connexion feel the truth of Thorold Rogers's that "every single record which tends to throw light upon the monastic history of England illustrates in almost every instance the civil history of the kingdom." And he also adds :— "The estates of the monasteries are said over and over again to have comprised a third of the knights' fees in England. Many of these monastic houses were founded before the close of the thirteenth century; many of them in the early ages of the Saxon dynasty."

The records we have of many of the monasteries in this country show that in early times the monks were conscious of the properties of coal, and in the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries we find in their yearly accounts the amounts expended by them for the winning, working, and purchase of coal ; also the revenues which they received from selling coal, and from the letting of it in their extensive properties. They generally had a good stock iu their cellars even when we are led to believe that coal was a scarce article.

It is generally surmised that the Romans during their occupation of Britain worked coal, but there is not much evidence to that effect. Coal, however, and "cinders" have been found in several places on the line of the Roman Wall between the Tyne and the Solway, and in other parts of the country in connexion with Roman remains. Recently at Corbridge, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a heap of coal was found in the lately-excavated camp there, lying on a floor of fourth century date. We have little information to warrant us in saying that the Romans worked coal extensively; but there is no doubt that the Italian legions would feel our cold climate very keenly, and if coal came in their way they would use it, especially where it was easier to get than wood. That the Romans worked ironstone and other minerals in this and other countries there is abundance of evidence; and, moreover, they had a god of mining whose name (Jupiter Dolichenus) has been found on various altars. One at Benwell (Condercum), near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on the line of the Wall, was discovered near the outcrop of the High Main Seam of coal, and another at Woodburn, near Ridsdale, where iron-ore is also found, and where in recent times it was worked and smelted.

In the Forest of Dean, ironstone was largely worked by the Romans. Camden mentions that an altar was found at Camelot, and gives a sketch of it with an inscription thereon dedicated to this god.

In Hungary, several altars have also been found dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus. One found at Bottyan is now in the museum at Budapest. "It is in silver bronze and chiselled in a pyramidal form, and appears to have been an ‘ex-voto.' On one of the faces the god is represented in a helmet and breastplate, armed with a hammer and a thunderbolt and standing on the back of a bull. He is accompanied by all the attributes of a certain number of divinities and military signs, and at the base there is the inscription JOVI DVLCHENO." It is supposed by C. Roach Smith that this god took his name from Doliche, a town in Macedonia, where ironstone is said to have been worked by the Romans, and he seems to have been worshipped in mineral districts generally.

The accounts of working coal in Saxon times are scanty and obscure. Bede does not mention in his works anything as to its working or the use of it in his time; and little working, so far as we can ascertain, seems to have taken place until after the Norman Conquest; but, immediately after that time, the records of the monasteries lead us to the conclusion that the working of coal was chiefly carried on. under their auspices or under the Crown.

I shall now proceed to give some of the information that I have gleaned from various sources on the subject, and more especially with respect to Northumberland and Durham.