Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Tag: Lead Mining

  • Low Slitt Lead Mine, Weardale

    Low Slitt Lead Mine, Weardale

    This is what’s left of the Low Slitt Lead Mine, once one of the biggest mines in the North Pennines. The mine had a long history, with lead ore extraction going on as early as two centuries before it really took off in the early 1700s, thanks to the efforts of the Sir William Blackett…

  • A Sheep Wash or Something More?

    A Sheep Wash or Something More?

    Last Thursday proved quite a trial. We found ourselves trudging along the Miners’ Balcony Path, tracing the contours, with Scot Crag looming above us and Glencoyne below. The wind, oh, it was a fierce adversary, pushing against us with all its might. To make a long tale short, we decided to beat a retreat and…

  • Blakethwaite Smelt Mill

    Blakethwaite Smelt Mill

    The name Gunnerside, in the Yorkshire Dales, derives from two elements: ‘Gunnarr‘ a Norse personal name and ‘saetr‘ meaning a summer pasture. Through the village flows Gunnerside Gill which was once a hive of industrial activity with several leads mines operating along the narrow dale. The Blakethwaite Mine began in 1806 operated by Thomas Chippindale…

  • Grinton Lead Smelting Mill

    Grinton Lead Smelting Mill

    Arguably the best-preserved and most visited lead ore smelting mill in the Yorkshire Dales. Located by Cogden Beck, south of Grinton village, it probably dates from about 1820 and was saved from becoming a derelict ruin by being reused as an agricultural barn soon after smelting ceased. The two ranges remaining are the mill itself…

  • Brundholme Lead Mine

    Brundholme Lead Mine

    Glenderaterra Beck, a tributary of the River Greta, flows between the massifs of Skiddaw and Blencathra. Waking up to rain and cloud covering the high fells, I explored the mine workings alongside the beck. The ruins tell of a history of hope, hardship and disappointment. Work first began at the Brundholme Mine in 1872 but…

  • Greenside Mines, Glenridding

    Greenside Mines, Glenridding

    In the North East Lakes for the weekend and a wander up Raise. This is looking down on the scene of early lead mining operations which became known Greenside Mine. Mining began around 1690 where the galena vein was exposed at the surface. In 1822 the Greenside Mining Company was formed and more industrious excavation…

  • Newlands Valley

    Newlands Valley

    Newlands Beck meandering down the dale from its head below the appropriately named 753m high summit Dale Head. In the distance the prominent Causey Pike, a tortuous climb from this direction. The spoil heaps far left are from Goldscope Mine, one of the earliest mines in the area documented back to 1564, the year Shakespeare…