Commonwood Quarries and the Quest for Slate

Caw in the Dunnerdale Fells may rise only 529 metres, yet it carries the unmistakable outline of a true mountain. From the abandoned Commonwood Quarries above Ulpha, its shape dominates the view. These workings were once famed for their “green” slate¹Commonwood Quarries. Lake District National Park Authority. [ADS] Depositor Id: 12193. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/record?titleId=2887969.

The site remains striking, a scatter of ruined buildings, deep quarried faces and silent levels. In 1867 it was offered for reletting as part of the Earl of Lonsdale’s estate, previously worked by a Mr Postlethwaite²Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser – 05 January 1867. VALUABLE SLATE QUARRIES TO LET. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003042/18670105/162/0004. Whether it found new takers is unclear, though by 1895 rumours of renewed activity circulated once more. Local wisdom held that good “metal” was still to be had, and that with sufficient investment the workings could yet prove profitable. Hopes even stretched to copper ore³Barrow News – 23 April 1895. ULPHA. THE QUARRIES. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005763/18950423/011/0002.

Commonwood is just one of many quarries in the quest for slate. It has been part of Cumbrian life for millennia. Slate is thought to have been used since prehistory, the Romans employed it at Hardknott Fort. In the Middle Ages it roofed Calder Abbey and other important sites. At first it would have been gathered from surface outcrops, then from open quarries, and later from underground levels cut into the veins. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought the greatest expansion, driven by the hunger of industrial towns across Northern England for durable slate roofs⁴Cumbria Industrial History Society. https://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/slate/.

• 1
  Commonwood Quarries. Lake District National Park Authority. [ADS] Depositor Id: 12193. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/record?titleId=2887969
• 2
  Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser – 05 January 1867. VALUABLE SLATE QUARRIES TO LET. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003042/18670105/162/0004
• 3
  Barrow News – 23 April 1895. ULPHA. THE QUARRIES. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005763/18950423/011/0002
• 4
  Cumbria Industrial History Society. https://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/slate/