Black Diamonds No 1 - Kellie Colliery Traditional Cache
Black Diamonds No 1 - Kellie Colliery
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Should be a nice quick cache and dash.
This is the first in a series about coal mining in the East Neuk.
Everyone knows that there was a lot of mining in the West of Fife. What is less well known is that there is a lot of coal in the East Neuk of Fife and it is in the main relatively shallow.
Up until the early 20th century there were a large number of small collieries in this area. Kellie Colliery was active until around 1880 and was deeper than many others, being around 120ft.
The mine employed about 20 men, with 4 or 5 being surface workers, the others working underground.
If you turned up at the colliery with your horse and cart you could buy coal for 1/- per 4 cwt. That is 5p for 200kg for the metric folks.
The accident statistics for coal mining of this era were appalling. Whilst researching this I picked a year, totally at random, 1864, and discovered that in the Scottish mining industry 92 people were killed. I then looked at other years and found that 1864 was not a bad year, but fairly average.
The actual site of the colliery was in the field to the east of the road, between the cache and Kellie Castle. Needless to say, nothing remains visible above ground today.
At the time of placing, the cache contained, a bookmark, a bleed key, and candle and a keyring. Unfortunately I did not have a piece of coal!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre fgbarf oruvaq qlxr
Treasures
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