Kip, Cliff Rigg Incline

The ruined wall is the top of the self acting incline used to haul wagons of ironstone down the escarpment at the Cliff Rigg end of Newton Wood. It is known as a “kip”; the snow accentuates the profile. A rake of wagons full of iron ore was lowered down the incline by a steel rope wrapped around a brake drum off to the right in the photo. The other end of the steel rope pulled up a rake of empty wagons which, once they passed over the lip of the kip, was prevented from descending back down the slope.

A tramway across the fields and up Aireyholme Lane connected the incline to the Roseberry Ironstone Mine which ceased operation in 1926.