Today the old lead mining industry has become somewhat romanticised but what was it really like? Few can now remember the industry's last few years let alone the time when it dominated the area. A number of clues remain:

There were not just one or two companies operating a few mines. The mining area was extensive. It covered many square miles. The number of shafts sunk and tunnels cut are such that it is almost possible to imagine the underground region of upper Swaledale as being hollow.

Some of the shafts are as much as 450 feet deep and lead to three or more levels. The conditions were difficult. Water flooding was a continual problem. Large pumping engines were necessary but even so a number of workings had to be abandoned.

Many mine workings originated up narrow valleys where streams washed away the surface to reveal ore veins

Mine entrance near Langthwaite

Inside the mine. The arched roof of the tunnel is clearly visible

The tools used in the early 18th Century were primitive but effective. Two wedges known as "Feathers" would be driven into cracks in the rock face and a third wedge known as the "Plug" was hammered in between them bursting the rock. Sometimes to crack the rock a charcoal fire would be lit against the work face. When the rock became hot it would be drenched with cold water. The rapid thermal change would often crack the rock. The cramped and often damp conditions coupled with smoke from the fires cannot have been conducive to good health. Shafts became deeper with the advent of gunpowder which in turn was replaced by dynamite in the late 19th Century.

Old Powder house at Langthwaite built at the turn of the Century to store gunpowder and dynamite. It is situated well away from other buildings

With increased depth the problems of removing the waste and ore became more severe; "Jack Rollers" used for hauling loads over short distances were eventually replaced by the horse driven "Whim Gin".

On the surface the ore was crushed usually by woman or boys with "buckers" a sort of hammer. After a sieving process to remove unwanted material it was dispatched to the local smelt mills. Ore preparation was mechanised with the introduction of water wheel driven crushing machines. A mechanical sieve known as the "Hotching Tub" further improved the process.

The smelt burnt off sulphur leaving malleable lead which was poured into moulds and allowed to cool to form "pigs". The pigs stamped with the mark of the respective mining company were then then transported by horse to Richmond.

There were a considerable number of smelt mills and their remains can still be found:

Beldi Hill, Blakethwaite, Grinton, the High and Low mills at Marske and the New Mills of Arkengarthdale are just a few.

Little remains of this smelt mill at Langthwaite but the blackened ground is clearly visible

It is difficult now to imagine the extent of the industry. Before lead mining dominated the area and again today the upper reaches of Swaledale rank as an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Photographs can scarce do justice to breath taking beauty

At the height of the mining industry it must have been a different story. Lead and the waste products from smelting are not environmentally friendly. Smoke from the many smelters must have cast an appalling shroud over the valleys. In winter the smoke may have lingered for days or even weeks trapped by thermal inversions. The fragile ecology would have been severely damaged by the poisonous spoil heaps created by the outpourings from the mines and smelters. Those poisons would have leached from the heaps into the many streams feeding the Swale. Who knows what damage was done to the ecology, environment and the people of the area.

Old Surrender Smelt Mill. Located between Arkengarthdale and Low Row

Spoil heap located at CB mines Langthwaite

Spoil heap and remains of smelt mill located on a small tributary of Arkle Beck on the way to Stang

Fortunately Nature has remarkable powers of recovery. Visitors to the area are scarcely aware of the impact of a former industry that despoiled the land. Spoil heaps have weathered with the years and having become (mostly) overgrown they are usually mistaken for natural features. Indeed they blend well with this rolling, hilly countryside shaped by mighty glaciers. Even the smelt mills may be taken for disused and ruined farm buildings, the black slag perhaps mistaken for the dark peat common to the area.

The remains of the former industry are there, if you know where to look. Today however they add interest rather than detract from this magnificent area.

(See also Gunnerside Gill)

See also Miners' Tragedy

(See also Swaledales Last Miner)

(Return to Swaledale)

(Return to top)

Return to Home Page