stonebreakers
Stonebreakers were individuals, often women and children, employed in the laborious task of breaking large stones into smaller, more manageable pieces. This was a common form of manual labor in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in rural areas and during periods of infrastructure development. The stones were typically broken to be used as road aggregate, ballast for railways, or for construction purposes.
The work was physically demanding and carried out using heavy hammers, often referred to as "stonehammers" or
The practice of stonebreaking is largely obsolete in developed countries due to the advent of mechanical crushing