Coal - A Mine of Information? Trivia Quiz

Answer: To assist with the cremation of the dead

Whether the Bronze Age people used coal merely for its efficiency in reducing a body to ashes or whether they also invested it or its smoke with mystical properties is not known. The Romans were the first to use coal extensively in Britain, wearing it as jet jewellery, using it in blacksmiths' forges, heating their soldiers' forts and maintaining a perpetual fire at Minerva's shrine in Bath. Cinders have been found in the hearths of Roman villas in Northumberland but the use of coal as domestic fuel does not appear to have been widespread.

Answer: To drive off serpents

Bede (672/3-735) has been called "The Father of English History" in honour of his work "The Ecclesiastical History of the English People". He wrote other scholarly historical and theological works and was made a saint in 1935 with a feast day of 25th May, the anniversary of his death.

There are only three species of "serpent" in Britain as the climate is generally too cold for reptiles. The adder is venomous and is the only snake found in Scotland. The grass snake and smooth snake are usually found in southern areas and are becoming less common due to habitat loss. All three snakes survive the winter by hibernating and are protected by law.

Answer: Smell of burning coal

14th century London was indeed a smelly place, but people were used to the odours produced by rotting rubbish, animal dung and other wastes. After popular protests, King Edward I banned the burning of coal which had begun to replace the use of scarce wood in smithies and similar workshops, but to no avail - its use continued and penalties such as fines and the smashing of furnaces followed.

The Parliament of England grew out of the Great Council, a meeting of clergy and nobility summoned by the monarch to discuss and give approval to important decisions, often about raising revenue.

Answer: Northern Song

"Coke" was preferred to coal in the iron smelting because it is almost pure carbon which reacts with the oxygen in the iron ores to make carbon dioxide, leaving the pure iron. With the introduction of coke, the iron industry relocated to the coalfields of China, largely in the east of the country. At the time of the Northern Song dynasty, the industry was centred on modern-day Kaifeng.

Rebecca Freese, in her book "Coal" reports that in 1024 the Northern Song government supplied 35,000 swords, 8,000 shields, 10,000 spears, 32,000 suits of armour and 16 million bows, arrows and steel arrowheads - typical annual production. Additionally, 100 workers were kept busy producing "horse-decapitating swords" for use against horse-riding invaders from the north. This level of production would not have been possible if charcoal from scarce wood had not been replaced by coal/coke in iron smelting.

Answer: Heating water for baths

Marco Polo had not come across the combustible black stones in his native Italy and and remarked upon their use for heating stoves and baths noting that "there is no person who does not frequent a warm bath at least three times in a week ..."

His remarkable journey to Cathay (China) followed "The Silk Road", an ancient network of routes traversed by the silk merchants of China trading their wares with the countries of the Mediterranean. At the time of Marco Polo's visit, China was so much more advanced than the countries of Europe in many respects, such as industry and cities, that people accused him of lying about what he had seen.

Answer: Bubonic plague had reduced the population

England and other European countries suffered several waves of bubonic plague in the 14th century and the population fell drastically. Villages were abandoned and forests grew up in their places, providing sufficient wood for the needs of the much smaller population.

Legislation against coalburning had been in place for some time but had proved ineffective. Most of the coal at the time came from the North East of England where it was found near the surface along the banks of the River Tyne. Much of the land was owned by the Church who used serfs to mine and haul the coal to the river where it was loaded on to ships and transported, usually to London, where it was known as "sea-coal" the word "coal" itself being reserved for charcoal. The price was cheap and there were extensive coal reserves still relatively easy to exploit - people just didn't want or need it.

Answer: Coal smoke contained evil spirits

The coal of the time burned with a strong smell of sulphur, the "brimstone" associated with the fires of hell. "Buboes" are small black swellings of the lymph nodes and resemble small coals - they were also reported to be as painful as being burned by a hot coal. The understanding of the causes of disease was several centuries in the future and the belief that bad airs, "malaria", were responsible for disease was prevalent in the middle Ages.

The word "carbuncle", referring to an abcess, was also in use at the time and derives from the word for a small coal (same root as "carbon"). "Anthrax" another disease with abcesses, is also named for coal, from the Greek. Similarly, one form of coal is called anthracite.

Answer: The Church no longer owned the land

in 1527, King Henry VIII failed to get the Pope to agree to the annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon. In response he broke with the Pope and confiscated all the land and property in the hands of the various monastic orders, including those of the Prior of Tynemouth who had long been in dispute with local merchants about the control of the coal trade.

The merchants happily bought the confiscated lands and eagerly sought ways of profiting from their purchases.

Answer: Chimney

By Tudor times, chimneys, hitherto the preserve of the upper classes, were commonplace in more modest properties. A properly-constructed chimney effectively separated the unwanted fumes and smoke from the desired warmth and enabled the change from burning scarce wood to the combustion of coal.

Chimneys for coal fires needed to be somewhat narrower than for wood fires and the need to remove the soot periodically gave rise to the employment of children as chimney sweeps.

Answer: Appalachians

The dense forests of the the East coast were somewhat threatening to people coming from England where wood was in short supply. They set about clearing the trees to practise farming and used the timber to build their homes, fence their properties, make their furniture and for heating and cooking. There was so much, they even shipped some of the timber back to England.

Once the Appalachian barrier was overcome, and the Ohio River explored, the extent of the coal became evident. The town of Pittsburgh was founded and in time, came to be a major industrial centre fuelled by coal.