The Spragger

The Spragger

The latest addition to our ‘Land Of My Fathers’ Mining Collection is The Spragger. When Carly tasked me with making a miner with a dram, I immediately remembered my father talking about Spraggers. Their specific role was to stop the drams laden with the “Black Gold” by jamming a piece of metal or wood between the spokes of the dram wheels. It was another extremely dangerous occupation often leading to accidents and injury. This was common practice in the early part of the coal mining boom in the Welsh valleys which thankfully disappeared as the mines became more mechanised.

The Spragger I have made shows one of the early drams from that period which were very crude and handmade but full of character. The Spragger himself sits atop the huge slabs of coal wearing his cap complete with the open flame oil lamp as worn before the invention of the Davy lamp in 1815. He also holds his wooden sprag in his hand.

While researching this subject I was surprised to see how large the pieces of coal were in the drams. Obviously, it made sense to bring the coal up in the biggest slabs possible but the coal I was used to seeing was in such small, neat pieces it got me thinking. I discovered the coal was broken up into usable pieces on the surface with sledgehammers but the job that captured my imagination was the one of the Breaker Boys. Mostly under 10 years of age their job was to sort the genuine coal from the slate and other impurities by hand in dangerous and filthy conditions. They must have been tough characters even at that young age. In the new year I will be making a ‘Breaker Boys’ figure featuring my own grandson Milo and Carly and Simon’s son James.

Priced at £99.95 plus £6.00 P+P UK Next Day Delivery (If in stock & ordered before 2pm – inscriptions 1-2 days extra) / Worldwide Postage £60.