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Glossary
Allan's Church - The Church of Christ.
bona fide traveller - someone who had travelled
at least 2 or 3 miles and was entitled to buy a drink in
a hotel on a Sunday.
Bottom Shop - The Abbey Inn.
brush the roads - remove part of the roof or pavement
of a working to heighten the roadway.
Chinks - Arniston nickname for Newtongrange folk.
Chipper Avenue - Mansfield Avenue. That was where
the chip van used to park.
C.I.S.W.O. - Coal Industry Welfare Organisation.
clipe - tell tales.
contractor - man who employed miners on behalf of
the Lothian Coal Co.
Coronation Brig - railway bridge over Murderdean
Road, now demolished.
crack - chat.
Dalkeith - bottled beer brewed by McLennan and Urquart
of Dalkeith.
Dean barry - barrow used by the Dean to deliver
orders.
Dean Cream - sherry bottled for the Dean.
Doo Ball - the annual dance of the pigeon homing
society.
Dougall's - Newbattle District Council Office. Mr.
Dougall was clerk to the council for a long time.
face - exposed seam of coal in a mine
flit - move house.
Frothblowers - name for a group of old men who used
to meet in the Dean.
gaff - a travelling theatre.
Germans - Newtongrange nickname for Arniston folk.
Goth - a pub where all or part of the profits are
used to benefit the community.
green table - Mungo MacKay had a green table in
his office and if you were up before the green table you
were probably in trouble.
guid brother - brother in law.
hogget - a hogshead
howk - dig
idle day - day off.
jug bar - a room in a pub where drink could be bought
to drink off the premises. You took a jug for a pint of
beer.
lowse - finish work
ane - this path with high brick walls ran across
the middle of the park.
manhole - alcove in the Dean Tavern.
Nitten - Newtongrange.
Nitten Bull - Arniston nickname for Newtongrange
folk.
Pay Friday - miners worked an eleven day fortnight
and were paid every second Friday, Pay Friday.
Pay Saturday - the idle day after Pay Friday.
Penny a boot - a system worked in the pit where
men work together as a team and were paid jointly.
pitch and toss - a gambling game where two coins
are tossed in the air and bets laid on how they will land.
pot boy — a boy employed to do odd jobs in
a public house
P.S.A. - Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Brotherhood,
a Sunday afternoon musical concert for men.
redd - waste material from the pit, especially slag,
from the boiler fires or stone from the picking tables.
residenter - a resident of very long standing
skin in - get in free, by stealth.
Square Heid - Newtongrange nickname for Arniston
folk.
The Peth - the road between Newtongrange and Newbattle.
The Strip - the ground between the White Gates and
the Bryans.
Tin Kirk - Ebeneezer Church.
Top Club - the Miner's Club, Newtongrange Community
Association Social Club.
freckle - treacle.
Treckle Bekky - if you did not behave you were threatened
that "Trekkle Bekky will get you!" She reputedly
lived in a big pool at the Bryans.
up the braes - Arniston. up the stairs - Mungo MacKay's
office.
Vesting Day - January 1st. 1947, the day the pits
were nationalised.
waiter - barman.
White Gates - the cross roads near the Dean Tavern
where there used to be a level crossing on the pit railway
line.
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