[Note 151.2]

[Note 151.2] "It was eighteen hundred and thirty eight, We began to prepare to make the shaft right" :- Work on New Engine Pit began in 1833 [Ref: http://cmhs.org.uk/27-05-2013-haswell-plough-colliery/]. The steam powered cages probably began operating in 1838 (see note 3 below). A. L. Lloyd (in Folk Song in England) says that it was printed by George Walker in Durham during or soon after 1839 when Walker began printing. See note 4 for additional evidence that the song was written in 1839.