Riddings

Riddings was first recorded in the 12th century as ‘Ryddynges’, meaning ‘a clearing in the grove’. Now a tranquil village, Riddings has twice been the scene of important discoveries. In the mid-18th century, 800 precious Roman coins were uncovered here. The second time was in the mid-19th century, when the world’s first paraffin wax candle was produced. The story of its discovery begins with James Oakes, a colliery proprietor and ironmaster, who discovered a mysterious liquid flowing in one of his coal mines. He called in the assistance of his brother-in-law, Sir Lyon Playfair, one of the most brilliant practical scientists of his day. Playfair found the liquid to be petroleum, then a product with no commercial value, although it had been known as naphtha, ‘salt of the earth’, from Biblical times.

Playfair summoned the help of his Scottish friend, James Young, who, soon after he came to Riddings, approached Playfair in dismay to show him that the oil was in a thick, contaminated condition. Playfair recognised at once the presence of paraffin, and instructed Young to extract enough paraffin to make two candles - the first paraffin-wax candles ever produced.

With one candle in his left hand and the other in his right, Playfair illuminated a lecture he gave at the Royal Institution. From these small beginnings date the enormous petroleum industry and the rich trade in paraffin and its by-products. Young, known thereafter as Paraffin Young, earned himself a fortune, and when the knowledge of his work spread about, a worldwide search for petroleum began.