A general view of Great Ayton with the hamlet of Little Ayton nearer to the left and the cluster of houses around the railway station just right of centre. Taken from Larners Hill.
One point of interest is the strange looking building in the middle foreground left of centre
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It’s a former sub-station to the Ayton Ironstone Mine and dates from about 1921 when the mine an underground cable was laid by the North Eastern Electric Power Company from its sub-station at Guisborough.
The mine sub-station stepped the voltage down from 11,000 volts to 2,750. It is worth noting that Great Ayton village was not electrified until 1929.
The mine was locally known as ‘Monument Mine’ due to its proximity to Capt. Cook’s Monument. The entrance itself was located just to my left, see my previous posts here and here
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Because of the height difference, a self-acting incline a quarter of a mile long with a gradient of 1 in 4 was necessary to connect to the North Eastern Railway sidings which ran on the far side of the sub-station. Also located nearby were various other buildings: offices, tipping shed, ambulance station, and stores.
The owners of the mine, Pease and Partners, also operated the Hutton mine and held contiguous royalties. Plans of the working do indicate a possible underground connection between the two mines.
Operations ceased at Ayton Mine in 1931.
Source: Pepper, Richard. “Glimpses of Monument Mine Great Ayton 1908-1931”. Cleveland Ironstone Series. Published by Peter Tuffs 1996
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