Coal Mines
Mining historians have identified the sites of eight former coal mines in upper Swaledale and Arkengarthdale. They were all relatively small operations, supplying poor-quality coal to the lead-smelting mills and domestic households in the two dales.
By about 1900, four of them – at Grinton, Hurst, Wetshaw, and William Gill – had closed, never to reopen. The other four – two at Tan Hill, one at Punchard Gill and one above the Buttertubs Pass – continued in production but struggled to survive against top-quality coal from County Durham, made more accessible by the railways. Output from the Dales pits became variable depending on whether anyone was prepared to take on a tenancy to work the seams. During miners’ strikes affecting the large commercial collieries in 1912 and 1926, the press reported that all four Dales pits either increased output or were reopened after a period of abandonment.
However, such resurgences were short lived. The mine at Punchard Gill finally closed in 1927, the Stockdale mine above Buttertubs Pass closed in 1931, and the Tan Hill mine closed in 1938. The last remaining mine at Tan Hill, which was managed from Tan Hill Inn and was called the King’s Pit, survived until 1945. More information about the coal mines in the two dales can be viewed in context at:
Northern Mine Research Society website – Yorkshire Dales Coalfields (nmrs.org.uk)
Durham Mining Museum website – Durham Mining Museum – List of Mines (dmm.org.uk)
| Historic England Monument William Gill Colliery – the only one in the two dales to be scheduled. | William Gill 19th century colliery on Stonesdale Moor, Arkengarthdale – 1018368 | Historic England. See also SWAAG database Mining 1 category PDF, record 478. |
SWAAG database – coal mines and related structures
Mining 2 category PDF
– see record 744 for information and photographs about Rollinson Colliery, near Nine Standards Rigg overlooking Eden Valley.
– see record 816 for images around Stainmore Summit of the track of the disused Barnard Castle-Tebay railway that used to carry coke from the Durham Coalfield to the iron smelting works at Barrow, and iron ore from Cumberland to the steelworks at Middlesbrough.
Geographic category PDF
– see record 690 for six photographs concerning the remains of Witton Moor Colliery on East Witton Fell, south of Middleham in Wensleydale.
Stone Structures category PDF
– see record 1008 for description and photographs concerning the remains of coal pits on Preston Moor, west of the Bellerby Army ranges.
