Right now many of us feel like hibernating, but in the past people relished these dark days as a welcome break after the frenzy of gathering the harvest. And for one Oxfordshire village, this was the perfect time to descend underground.
Writing in this month’s Geoscientist magazine, Nina Morgan describes how from the 17th century onwards, the men of Stonesfield looked forward to this time of year, when they went to quarry Stonesfield slate. Quarrying usually began at Michaelmas and continued until Christmas, and despite the tough nature of the job (which often involved crawling on hands and knees to reach the working face), this seasonal work was a good way to keep warm and dry, and earn a few bob. So why was it such a seasonal occupation?
It turns out that these rather lovely limestone slates, which grace the roofs of many Oxford colleges, need a good frost. The freeze-thaw action prises the blocks of Stonesfield slate open, splitting them into easily worked thin slabs. One week of hard frost in January would provide the “slatters” (the men who shaped the roofing tiles) with enough work to keep them busy until the following Michaelmas. Indeed the frost was so important that the mine owners would summon villagers with a bell when a frost was likely, to ensure the stones were all spread out and exposed to the cold. Sometimes villagers would even be called from their beds at night, if a hard frost started unexpectedly. Meanwhile, a mild winter was bad news as far as the villagers of Stonesfield were concerned.
