Tag: ironstone mining
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Ayton Banks Ironstone Mine
I thought I would have a look around the Ayton Banks Ironstone Mine before the summer vegetation growth takes hold, only to find when I got home that I have already posted a photo of the old drift entrance. But that was an eternity ago, in January 2015. Ayton Banks Ironstone Mine was the smallest…
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Warren Moor Ironstone Mine
The unusual yet familiar chimney that dominates the site of the failed Warren Moor Mine, a short lived enterprise that hoped to capitalise on the 1860s ironstone boom. The architecture of the chimney is in contrast to the utilitarian style later in the century. No expense seemed to have been spared, with decorative polychromatic banding,…
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Went for a bimble around the Belmont Ironstone Mine
To be clear this is the old mine, which operated between 1855 and 1877, and not the new one which was sited a kilometre further west and which operated in the first half of the 20th-century. I didn’t really expect to find anything. The authoritative “Catalogue of Cleveland Ironstone Mines” by Peter Tuffs doesn’t mention…
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It’s going to be a scorcher
Eskdale has always been a charming valley, less frequented than the eastern dales. Times are a changing though, particularly since the demand for ‘staycations’. The National Trust have taken over one of the campsites and their marketing is being well employed. A ‘pop-up’ campsite appeared lower down the valley which caused some concern. The dale…
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Rosedale East Mines
The great sweep of the old railway track as it descends to the calcining kilns of the Rosedale East Mines. The gradient at this point is about 1 in 60. The line continues to terminate at the goods depot and coal yard at Low Baring. On the extreme left of the featured image are the…
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Guibal fan-house, Skelton Shaft ironstone mine
A great visit around the surface remains of the Skelton Park and Skelton Shaft Ironstone Mines, guided by the knowledgeable Simon and Steve from the Cleveland Mining History Society (CMHS). Along with the powder magazine, the fan-house at Skelton Shaft are the only buildings remaining. The rest of the site was demolished as a condition of…
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Joseph Toyn 1838-1924, president of the Cleveland Miners’ Association
Out on my bike today, so I thought I would pop in to Skelton Park Pit to see how the Cleveland Mining Heritage Society are getting on with preserving the surface remains of the old ironstone mine. I thought Tuesdays were their days. But alas, no one around, and as it’s all on private land,…
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Spawood and Spa Ironstone Mines
At Slapewath near Guisborough, there were two ironstone mines operating in the late 19th-century within one hundred metres of each other. To the south of Alumwork Beck (the Guisborough side) was Spawood, and to north (the Skelton side) the Spa mine. They were operated by different companies and worked different royalties, but apart from their…
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Rosedale West Kilns
Ironstone has been mined in Rosedale since medieval times, but it was only small scale operations. It was in the mid-19th-century with the discovery of a very high quality seam near Hollins Farm that extraction became more serious. The mine opened in 1853 with ore being carried down the valley by a pannier train of…
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Eston Bank
I do try to avoid anniversaries of births and deaths in these postings but on this in 1891, John Marley, the mining engineer who, it could be said, along with John Vaughan, gave birth to the iron industry on Teesside, died at the age of 67. Iron had been worked in the Cleveland area since…