Curse of Wheal Hingston

Arthur Walters

Description

Sarah Jenkinson, a freelance journalist, has not been seen or heard from since telling Ethan Menhennett, the American editor and owner of 'The National Heritage Gazette', that she is visiting a restored, but previously, unknown, Cornish Engine House. Desperate for copy for the forthcoming edition of the magazine and hounded by his assistant Claire's concern for Sarah's safety, Ethan travels from London to Cornwall to find her. However, due to Sarah's reputation as a party animal, he is reluctant to unnecessarily involve the Police.Unhurt, but shaken after crashing his hire car, Ethan is awakened by Jenny Woodford, a divorcee in her thirties, who takes him back to her house to recuperate. Jenny is then shocked to learn that Sarah was visiting Wheal Hingston, a mine which in the 16th Century was said to be cursed following the death of six villagers by the hand of Martha Guildeforde, a psychopathic female executioner and lover of the sadistic Judge Fredricks.Unexpectedly, Jenny runs away, leaving Ethan tired, confused and unclear as to his whereabouts over the last twenty-four hours. He rings Claire and despite what she tells him about the disappearance of four American tourists, he insists on continuing his search. Promising Claire he will call the police if he doesn't find Sarah by the end of the day, he sets off hoping to retrace his steps.Discovering the deaths of many Cornish men and boys in two underground tragedies have not been forgotten, nor those responsible forgiven, Ethan soon wishes he'd listened to Claire.The story which unfolds not only relates the modern-day horrors experienced by a man drawn into a sequence of events he could never have imagined, but also tells of the hardship faced by Cornish Miners and their families, in their centuries past quest to satisfy the greed of those who invested funds in a dangerous and life expectancy reducing industry.

Sujets

• Cornualles
• Cornwall

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 20 mars 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781838599010
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Also by Arthur Walters
The Judge’s Parlour
www.arthurwalters.com


Copyright © 2019 Arthur Walters

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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Dedicated to

Patricia Margaret Martyn (Mrs Martyn)
Sunrise 23rd January 1936 – Sunset 9th August 2018

My primary school teacher, my friend
and a gentle lady never forgotten


With thanks to

Charlotte Cunningham
For her always-positive encouragement
Contents
GLOSSARY OF MINING TERMS

ONE
FOUR
FIVE
SEVEN
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-FIVE
THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SEVEN
THIRTY-EIGHT
THIRTY-NINE
FORTY-TWO
FORTY-THREE
FORTY-FOUR
EPILOGUE
GLOSSARY OF MINING TERMS
adit
Horizontal entrance into mine – mainly used for drainage
adventurer
Shareholder in a mine
after bargain
An unattractive pitch sold off at the end of an auction
bal Maiden
A woman mine worker
blowing house
A building used for the smelting of tin
bob wall
The strongest wall at the front of an engine house
bounding
The privilege given to a miner to enter land in the search for tin.
The rights differed between Devon & Cornwall
cassiterite
The principal tin ore
cobbing hammer
Small hammer used for breaking up pieces of ore
coinage
A tax on refined tin
core
A work shift, usually eight hours
counting house
Mine office, often incorporating accommodation for mine captain
cross-course
A mineral vein running across the principal lode
deads
The waste from a mine
dressing floor
An area above ground on which the ore was processed (dressed)
fathom
A measure of six foot
flat rods
Horizontal wood or chain ‘rods’ used to transfer power from the engine house to another location
gad & feather
A cone shaped rod and metal wedges used to break off large pieces of rock underground
gook
A bal maiden’s bonnet
grass
The above ground surface of a mine
gunnis
An excavated area open to the surface
hoggan
Forerunner of a pasty
jurate
A stannary representative
kibble
Barrel-shaped iron bucket for hoisting ore up a shaft
killas
Cornish term for sedimentary rock
knockers (superstition )
The little people who lived in the mine, so named to explain the knocking sometimes heard in the silence. A miner would leave a small portion of food to pacify them
lander
The man responsible for grabbing the kibble when it came to grass (surface)
lode
A vein of mineral ore
lord’s dish
The rent paid in the form of ore by an adventurer to a landowner
mispickel
The principal ore of arsenic
mos’el bag
A bag for carrying food
pare
A team formed by a tributer
pitch
An area of the lode sold at auction
poll-pick
A miner’s pick axe
sett
The legal boundary of a mine
setting
An auction of pitches attended by tributers
sollar
Wooden platform in or over a shaft
spalling hammer
The heaviest hammer used to break the toughest pieces of ore
spriggans (superstition)
Another name for ‘knockers’
stamps
A machine for crushing ore to fine sand
stannary court
Courts deciding mining disputes
stannary law
Law pertaining to tin miners, giving them special rights
stope
An area from which ore is extracted usually between different levels
towser
A rough hessian apron
tributer
A mine worker paid an agreed percentage of the value of ore extracted from an auctioned pitch
tut men
Miners paid to dig the tunnels (levels) and shafts
winze
Vertical shaft within a mine to provide ventilation, but not extending to the surface
ONE
14th June 2013
ETHAN
The clock showed 7.02am when Ethan at last managed to focus through eyes that felt thickly caked with dried breadcrumbs. He’d rubbed them until they were sore, but at least he could see, not particularly clearly but enough to read the black digital numbers. His neck felt stiff and he could hear a continuous tapping, like someone practising their drumming technique on the back of his skull; however, realising the noise was coming not from inside his head but from somewhere more like twelve inches away, he let out a loud sigh of relief.
‘Hello… hello. Are you okay?’
The voice came from the same distance as the tapping. His neck jarred as he turned his head to the right, and a painful bolt shot through his brain as he attempted to shake his mind into action. The knuckles struck the glass again.
‘I said, “Are you okay?” Are you badly hurt? Should I call an ambulance?’
The sun was directly behind the head outlined in the driver’s side-window, creating a halo effect. It reminded Ethan of pictures he’d seen of Jesus, on the rare occasions he’d scanned through the illustrated Bible given to him by his parents. ‘Sarah?’ he muttered.
‘I said… “Are… you… okay?”’ The staccato words were like an Englishman or, in this case, an Englishwoman trying to make herself understood on a foreign holiday.
Ethan pushed one of the buttons in the door’s armrest. The window slid smoothly open. It didn’t occur to him that for it to operate, the ignition must still be on and the fuel pump primed to push through petrol.
‘Turn off the engine,’ said the woman.
‘Sorry, what did you say?’ asked Ethan. The drumming had stopped, but bells were ringing in his ears.
A bare forearm reached across him and pressed the power button.
‘There, that’s safer,’ the gentle female voice at the other end of the arm reassured him. ‘Now then, how are you feeling? Anything broken? Can you move your toes? Despite airbags, people still have their legs crushed in car crashes, you know.’
Car crash? How can I be in a fucking crash? he thought as he held his forehead. His brain had stopped hurting, but he had no recollection of