Lead mining in Britain stretches back to the Late Bronze Age (circa 1000 BC), and during the Roman occupation (43 AD-410 AD) it was certainly active in Yorkshire, possibly including in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale.
At the height of British lead mining, the two dales were among the most productive in the country until the whole industry collapsed at the end of the 19th century. The last of the Swaledale and Arkengarthdale mines closed in 1912, and while elsewhere in Britain some small operations continue today, lead mining is now almost entirely confined to the interest of historians and industrial archaeologists.
Click the links below or scroll down the page to explore SWAAG’s knowledge-base about lead mining in the two dales.
Historic England Scheduled Monuments
SWAAG database – mines, smelt mills, and other structures
Bale Sites and the Hagg Farm Bale Site Excavation
Investigating a Tramway or Trackway
Publications
Other Metal Mining Activities
Historic England Scheduled Monuments
Historic England estimates that about 10,000 historic lead-industry sites survive in England. Of these, 251 have been selected as representing the industry’s chronological depth, technological breadth, and regional diversity, and have been scheduled as historic monuments. Thirteen of these sites, or just over five per cent of the total, are in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, highlighting the national importance of the lead-mining remains in the two dales. Below are links to Historic England’s descriptions of the 13 sites, together, in six cases, with links to relevant entries in the SWAAG database, where additional and complementary information and photographs can be found.
SWAAG database – mines, smelt mills, and other structures
The SWAAG database contains 100 entries categorised as Mining, of which 91 concern lead mines and their related works. References to some of the sites can also be found in database entries in different categories. To explore the whole knowledge-base, see the following links:
Mining 1 category PDF – for information and photographs about: lead mines in Swaledale at: Gunnerside Gill, Brownsey Moor, Swinnergill, Whitaside, Cogden Hall, Lover Gill, Great Sleddale, Birkdale Common, Crackpot Moor; mines in Arkengarthdale at: Booze, Slei Gill, Punchard Gill, Whaw, Wetshaw, Shaw Beck Gill, Fell End; mines in Wensleydale at Bellerby, Preston under Scar.
Mining 2 category PDF – for information and photographs about lead mines in Swaledale at: Muker Common, Jingle Pot Gill, Skelton Moor, Shaw Gill, Juniper Gill, Stainton Moor, Fremington Edge, Harkerside Moor, Ellerton Moor, Satron Moor, Marske Beck, Gunnerside Gill; mines in Arkengarthdale at: Hurr Gill, Booze Moor, Little Windegg; mines in Wensleydale at: Braithwaite, Apedale, Thoralby; mines in Teesdale at Cronkley Fell, Netherhearth, Lunedale.
Photographic category PDF – see record 785, image 2 image of a lead mine in Swaledale on Stainton Moor; record 482, images 25-26 for mines in Arkengarthdale at Fell End; and record 483, images 20-22, 27 for mines at Turf Moor and Slei Gill.
Vernacular 1 category PDF – records 148, 218, 220 for information and photographs about lead mines in Arkengarthdale at Moulds Side.
Geographic category PDF – record 892, images 14-16, 21-22 for images of a lead mine in Swaledale on Satron Side.
Bale Sites and the Hagg Farm Bale Site Excavation
Before smelting mills started to be constructed in Yorkshire in the late 16th century, lead was extracted from its ore by burning on open bonfires, called bales or boles, usually located on high, exposed hills where the wind could accelerate the fire and boost the heating process.
An excellent summary of the study of bale sites in the Yorkshire Dales was written by Richard Smith and published in the Northern Mine Research Society’s journal, British Mining, no. 92, Memoirs (2011). In it, he explained that a bale site at Winterings, above Gunnerside, was recognised in 1927 by the eminent Dales archaeologist Arthur Raistrick, but that it was not until the 1970s that the extent of bale sites in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale became more widely understood, thanks to the work of local historian, Lawrence Barker.
New sites are being identified continuously, some of them obvious by the circular areas of stony ground, bare of vegetation because of the lead contamination and containing remnants of lead ore and smelted slag. It’s assumed that the fires were fuelled by charcoal or by kiln-dried wood, known as chop wood. Smith reported the emergence of carbon-dating evidence confirming the use of bale sites in the northern Pennines and Scotland as early as around 900 AD. Of the 100 entries in the SWAAG database categorised as Mining, 19 of them concern bale sites, and can be seen as follows:
Mining 1 category PDF – see records 141, 191, 229, 238, 282, 353, 397, 486 (8 entries).
Mining 2 category PDF – see records 640 (and see excavation reports below), 683, 684, 735, 749, 750, 767, 849, 893, 923, 953, 955 (11 entries).
See also, Geographic category PDF – record 892.
Hagg Farm bale site excavation
A potential bale site identified by SWAAG president Tim Laurie in 2012, at Hagg Farm, Fremington, near the site of the extensive Romano-British settlement excavations being undertaken by SWAAG members, was entered in the SWAAG database Mining 2 category PDF at record 640 and became the subject of special interest and attention.
It was thought that further investigation could raise the possibility that it was an early lead bale site, once worked from the settlement at Hagg Farm during the Romano-British period. It was one of three bale sites identified in the area. The others are entered in the SWAAG database at records 683 and 684.
After consultation with Richard Smith of the Northern Mine Research Society (NMRS), it was decided to undertake a five-day excavation of the site at record 640, as a joint exercise between the NMRS and SWAAG, with Tony Liddell, of Vindomora Solutions, providing professional archaeological support. The dig took place in August 2013, after which Tony Liddell reported that there was no conclusive archaeological evidence of a bale being present within the excavation site, although the presence of smelting in the area was suggested by a test pit west of the drystone wall bordering the site, where certain waste deposits, potential deliberate areas of hard-standing, and heated natural clay geology was found.
In a separate report on laboratory tests conducted by Durham University on samples from the excavation, Richard Smith revealed that three samples had been radiocarbon dated to the early 15th century. The relevant reports can be read by clicking the links below:
NMRS Geophysics Report
Excavation Expectations Statement
Excavation Report by Vindomora Solutions
Laboratory Results by Richard Smith
Investigating a Tramway or Trackway
The transportation of lead ore between different processing workstations above ground is an area of research for mining historians. At the request of Mike Gill of the Northern Mines Research Society, SWAAG members were asked to investigate the appearance on satellite and aerial images of three potential tramways or trackways converging on the lead mineshaft of Black Whim in an area called Wetshaw on Reeth High Moor. Their findings were reported in the Mining 2 category PDF – see records 733, 735.
Publications
Numerous books and journal articles have been published concerning the lead mines of Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, too many to list comprehensively here. However, among them is one researched and written by SWAAG member Alan Mills. Look out for Mining and Miners in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale: An Introduction to Lead Mining, 2nd edition (The Friends of Swaledale Museum, 2011)
Other Metal Mining Activities
Mining 1 category PDF – see record 330 (copper mine at Long Scar, Great Sleddale).
Mining 2 category PDF – see records 635 and 791 (iron-ore bloomery or smelter sites at Cronkley Fell, Teesdale, and in Coverdale).
