A Short History of the Ormesby Ironstone Mine and Its Surroundings

After many years, I finally returned to Flatts Lane Country Park and was astonished to find it looking clean and free of litter. This was undoubtedly the work of the Friends of Flatts Lane Country Park, who evidently have more patience than I do. The same could not be said for the approach via Flatts Lane itself, which appears to have been designated as a permanent fly-tipping site.

The woodland, too, was a surprise. I recall it as an impenetrable tangle of brambles and undergrowth, but now it is oddly open. Winter has surely played its part, but so too have the BMX and off-road motorcycle enthusiasts, who have helpfully confined most of their efforts to the already ruined ground of the former Ormesby Ironstone Mine¹OS 25 inch, 1892-1914 https://maps.nls.uk/view/125623810#zoom=3.9&lat=5667&lon=12921&layers=BT.

This small mine was operated by Swan, Coates and Company between 1865 and 1879, when the company, perhaps overwhelmed by its own brilliance, went through bankruptcy proceedings²Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer – 16 November 1931 “OBITUARY. Prominent Figure Tees-side Industry. MR. J. J. BURTON.”. One report suggests it “developed” into the Cargo Fleet Iron Company, though whether this was a genuine transformation or a convenient rebranding is unclear³Northern Echo – 05 September 1879. “Messrs Swan, Coates, and Company, IMPORTANT APPLICATION IN BANKRUPTCY.”. Regardless, it was this successor that continued operations until 1892, when, having extracted every last grain of ore, it abandoned the site.

The mine worked the westernmost ironstone seams of the Eston hill range, extending its workings under Ormesby Bank. The extracted stone was taken via a branch railway directly into the company’s works at Cargo Fleet. The mining was carried out through conventional ‘bord and pillar’ techniques with open quarrying where the stone outcropped. A surface tramway transported this quarried stone to the tips near the mine entrance, and ventilation—an evidently important matter—was managed by a simple furnace. This involving lighting a fire at the bottom of a shaft. As the hot air obediently rose, it dragged in fresh air through the mine entrance—because nothing says safety like relying on fire to keep everyone breathing underground.

Flatts Lane must once have been a thriving centre of industrial activity, with the Ormesby Ironstone Mine nestled between the Ormesby Brick Works and the Normanby Brick & Tile Works, all conveniently positioned alongside the Normanby Branch of the North Eastern Railway Company. One can only imagine the noise, the grime, and the general air of relentless industry.

• 1
  OS 25 inch, 1892-1914 https://maps.nls.uk/view/125623810#zoom=3.9&lat=5667&lon=12921&layers=BT
• 2
  Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer – 16 November 1931 “OBITUARY. Prominent Figure Tees-side Industry. MR. J. J. BURTON.”
• 3
  Northern Echo – 05 September 1879. “Messrs Swan, Coates, and Company, IMPORTANT APPLICATION IN BANKRUPTCY.”