Ayrshire miners

A writer in Notes and Queries says:-- There is a traditionary story in this district of a miner who was constantly annoyed while working in a pit by hearing the sounds of a pick on the other side of the coal into which he was digging. The noise went on, day after day coming nearer, till he became convinced it could be none other than the devil who was working through to him. Whereupon he went to his master and asked to be relieved from his work,  but without success, and he was obliged to return to the post of danger. At last his misery became unbearable, and he resolved to apply to the minister to protect him from the machinations of his enemy. This the minister undertook to do, and having asked him how many holings he had before the wall between him and the devil could be broken through, sent him back to work till he had left only one holing between them. Then he was to take his piece (of bread) and crumble it all down in a train to the mouth of the pit, and again resuming his pick, to strike through the dividing coal. The moment this was done, and before the devil could claim it, he was to cry, "Tae hole's mine!" and make for the mouth of the pit as fast as his legs could carry him.

These directions the miner carefully followed. He struck through the coal, claimed the hole, and reached the pit-mouth in safety; but the devil would certainly have caught him had he not been obliged to pick up every one of the crumbs scattered in the line of pursuit. As it was, the poor man had a narrow escape, for he had no sooner reached his place of safety than the walls of the pit came together with a thundering crash. To this day, when a miner strikes through into a hole, or when two, working from opposite sides at the same sea, meet, the coal is claimed by the one who shouts first, "The hole's mine!"

The miners here consider it extremely unlucky to meet a bare-footed woman while on the way to their work. Women are often to be seen rushing frantically out of their sight, but if one is actually met, the miners must either return home or they must draw blood from her, which is usually done by scratching her forehead with a pin.

Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser. 29th October 1870.