Stowe seems to be literaly, a set of scaffolding erected at the enterence of a mine,(to support blocks/tackles and pullies and other mining equiptment) So a man can be pinned to a stowe with a knife. (as dxb pointed out in the nick a stowe thread!)
but it also represents 'a mine' -- when an other miner nicks a stowe, he removes ore from the mine, and so as not to be caught stealing it, leaves it at the stowe.. if he three times in 9 weeks manages to extract ore, he in effect takes claim to the mine, including the intack stowe (when a miner abandons a mine, they 'take down the stowe' and all that is left of a worked out mine is the adit (mine shaft entrance) and some 'stemples' piece of wood fixed in place as supports and sometimes serving as ladderlike rungs on steep shafts. the stowe, as lumber has a seperate value.
the town of Eyam, in real life darbyshire,is an area that grew oats (the soil was not good for wheat) apples, and had sheep and lead mines. the book is fiction, but there are some farmers, some miners, and some keep sheep. the old mining terms are the most interesting, as are the descriptions of the old mining techniques. Lead was (is it still?) a crown resourse.. miners can open a mine on any land, with out deed, all they have to do is procuce ore.. and pay a portion of the ore itself as a tax, (a dish of ore is about 40 pounds, about 2 pounds from each dish are paid into 'the king's dish'. the tax must be paid in lead ore. (the english had just finished a war with the netherlands (lowlands)) and lead needed for bullets!
bings
