Living Easton

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Wage Rates

Wages for Bristol miners were below the national average. By around 1850 miners working in England earned around 3/6d a day (19p). In Northumberland and Durham they earned 5/- (25p) a day while in Wales it was approximately 4/- (20p) daily. Bristol’s miners rarely received more than 12/- (60p) a week. Boys, aged 10 - 11, earned some 4d - 6d (2-3p) a day and women earned 10d (4p) a day and girls 6d - 8d (3 - 4p) daily.

The work of a coal miner was often seasonal with demand for domestic coals slackening in the summer months. To make up their loss in earnings miners often worked in the market gardens which proliferated in the area.