CONTENTS

• Mineral Wealth
• Mining
• Dressing
• Power
• Transportation
• Mining communities
• Gunpowder
• Coal
• Iron ore (haematite)
• Tungsten (wolfram)
• Copper
• Zinc and Barytes
• Lead
• Diatomite
• Gypsum
• Graphite
• Further Information
• Getting Around
• Credits

MINERAL WEALTH

Minerals have been dug from the Cumbrian Fells and Dales for centuries. In places, the landscape has been permanently scarred by mining, and the ground disembowelled in the constant search for mineral wealth.

Early settlers and the Romans first exploited some of Cumbria's ores. In medieval times, the monks at Furness Abbey smelted bloomery iron in small bloomeries (early furnaces). By Elizabethan times the central Lake District was one of the most important sources of copper, lead and other metals in the whole of Britain. Rare minerals like graphite and wolfram (tungsten) created local prosperity for short periods.

With the Industrial Revolution, the coal and iron mines of West Cumbria and Furness led to the growth of large urban and industrial communities based on the export of coal and the production of steel. The proximity of steel manufacture contributed to the development of the ship building yards at Barrow-in-Furness. Today, most of this extractive industry is silent - only gypsum and small quantities of iron ore continue to be mined in the area.

In a region where farming is a constant struggle against a wet climate, steep slopes and thin soils, mineral resources were important for the local economy. Today, almost all mining has ceased, but its legacy is still visible in the landscape - spoil heaps, mine entrances, rusting machinery, traces of water courses, bloomery sites, remains of blast furnaces and gunpowder works - and in local place and pub names, such as Coppermines Valley (Coniston) and numerous Miner's Arms.

MINING

Until the late 18th century, most mines were small and relied on primitive techniques - use of picks, hammers, wedges, chisels and spades. Ventilation and preventing water ingress were constant problems. Most mines were worked intermittently with periods of success and failure depending on economic conditions and accessibility of the deposits. In the 19th century with the advent of better pumping systems, improved tools, explosives, water power and use of tramways and railways to move material, some mines developed into considerable enterprises, with their own mining communities.

The early miners traced thin veins of metallic ores where they outcropped at the surface, progressively working deeper underground. This involved digging shafts, levels and adits into the hillsides. Frequently veins criss-crossed, forcing networks of passageways to be cut. Large quantities of rock were shifted, creating visible waste tips on the surface. Before the use of gunpowder, passageways and shafts were cut just wide and high enough for a man to squeeze through to work the deposits, resulting in a 'coffin shaped' passage.

A vein was usually accessed by an adit - a horizontal tunnel cut into the hillside. Inside, the mineral veins were exploited along passages called levels. It was always cheaper and easier to haul material along a level, rather than raise it up a shaft. If possible, a level would have a slight gradient - enabling water to drain out and ore-laden trucks to exit under gravity. Vertical shafts would link one level with another and were important for ventilation. If a level was cut along the line of a vein, the ore was first removed from the roof, producing cavities called stopes. If the vein walls were strong it was possible to stope out most of the vein material, leaving behind long narrow underground cavities - the Bonser Copper Vein at Coniston has stopes nearly 500 metres deep. In other mines pillars of rock were left to support the roof and walls.

DRESSING

Metallic ores are often combined with other materials and need separating out - a process called dressing. If the ore was extracted in large chunks, hand dressing was the simplest method with many mines employing young boys to sort the ore. More often, crushing plants were installed and the crushed material agitated in water to allow the heavy ore to settle out. In the 20th century, more complex flotation processes were adopted to separate out the valuable ores - an example being at Force Crag Mine, near Keswick.

POWER

Power was needed to run crushing machinery, pumps and haulage gear, so miners often harnessed the energy of local fast-flowing streams. Some mines had huge water wheels. Barrow Mine in the Newlands Valley, for example, had a 20 m diameter wheel. Sadly, most water wheels have disappeared, leaving empty wheel pits as the only tangible evidence of this former power source.

TRANSPORTATION

Packhorses provided the most reliable way of carrying ore over rough ground, either directly to the smelters or furnaces, or to the lake shores for transportation by boat. For example, copper ore from the Newlands valley was taken to Copperheap Bay on Derwentwater and shipped across the lake to the smelting works at Brigham, near Keswick. At Coniston, ore was taken to a holding warehouse at Coniston Hall and shipped down the lake to Nibthwaite Quay. There the ores were offloaded onto carts and taken to Greenodd to continue their journey by sea to Merseyside for smelting.

Coal was moved on simple tramways or inclined planes down to staithes or wharves at Maryport and Whitehaven. The development of railways allowed for more efficient movement of minerals. A network of lines soon linked the coal and iron ore mines with the West Cumbrian ports and the ship yards at Barrow. A special branch line to Coniston brought copper out from Coppermines Valley, and the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway connected the haematite mines in Eskdale with the port at Ravenglass.

The ports of Maryport, Workington and Whitehaven prospered through the mineral trade, which formed the outward leg of the shipping trade to Africa and the Americas.

MINING COMMUNITIES

Mineral exploitation attracted a large influx of miners from outside the area, all of whom needed housing. Rows of small cottages were built near to the mines, such as at Irish Row at Coniston and Rake Cottages at Glenridding. Often, these small and relatively isolated mining communities provided a nucleus for the development of much larger settlements, as at Glenridding and Coniston. On the west coast and in the Furness area, large mining communities grew up around the coal and iron ore mines, for example at Millom and Egremont.

GUNPOWDER

From the 18th century the demand for blasting powder for mines and quarries led to the establishment of a number of gunpowder mills in the south Lakeland area. The region was highly suited to gunpowder manufacture. Whilst some of the raw materials (sulphur and saltpetre) had to be brought in, there were abundant local supplies of charcoal, graphite and water. By 1860, the industry was in decline but it struggled on until 1936 when the last mill at Gatebeck (south of Kendal) closed. The old gunpowder sites at Sedgwick in the Kent valley are being preserved and the site at Elterwater incorporates and interprets remnants of the old mill.

COAL

The legacy of mining coal is the urban industrial sprawl from Whitehaven to Workington and Maryport and spilling into the western dales around Egremont and Cleator. In its heyday in the 19th and early 20th centuries, over 40 major collieries employed close to 9,000 people.

Coal was mined at depths of 400 m and extended under the Irish Sea. Sadly the area had a tragic history of mining disasters and poor working conditions. Whitehaven was the centre of the industry, with coal exported in huge quantities by boat and rail. The combination of coal and local iron ore led to the establishment of steel works at Workington, ship building at Barrow-in-Furness and many other manufacturing enterprises. Coal working finally ceased in 1986.

IRON ORE (HAEMATITE)

Deposits of haematite were found over large areas of west and south Cumbria. It was rich in iron and low in phosphorous, making it worthwhile to mine and easy to smelt. The very large ore bodies (sops) at Hodbarrow (near Millom) and in Low Furness were up to 70 m thick and lay close to the surface, whereas around Egremont the ore was deep mined. At Hodbarrow, dams were constructed to hold the sea back so that the ore could be safely extracted.

In medieval times, small bloomeries smelted iron ore using locally produced charcoal. By the 18th century the industry became concentrated around large blast furnaces that harnessed water power to produce wrought iron and steel. Gradually the change to using coke (instead of charcoal) for smelting moved the industry to sites nearer the coal fields.

Iron ore mining declined gradually. The small mines working narrow bands of haematite in the Eskdale area struggled on until 1917. In Low Furness, decline came as resources were exhausted. Several mines were profitable well into the 20th century, with Hodbarrow lasting until 1968. In the Cleator Moor/Egremont area, Florence Mine is the last deep working iron mine left in Europe. It produces small quantities of high grade ore for specialist uses.

TUNGSTEN (WOLFRAM)

Carrock Mine in the Skiddaw fells contained the richest deposit of tungsten in the country and was the only mine outside Devon and Cornwall to produce commercial quantities of the ore. The value of the deposits became important in the 20th century when tungsten was increasingly used for electric light filaments and for hardening steel. Mining at Carrock was sporadic, but production was stepped up during the two World Wars when tungsten was used in the manufacture of munitions. The mine was last worked between 1972 and 1982.

COPPER

In the 16th century Cumbria was the main centre for copper mining in Britain. With little mining expertise locally, German miners were brought over (c.1560) to work the thick veins of copper at Goldscope (Newlands Valley, Keswick). Later, the huge copper deposits at Coniston (Coppermines valley) became the focus of a large mining and refining industry, which eventually ceased in 1915. Extensive remains of this enterprise are still evident today - old mines, shafts, adits, wheelpits and levels, tips and dressing floors, the power house and miners' cottages. Copper was also mined in the Caldbeck and Skiddaw Fells, at Thirlmere and around Derwentwater. Copper was used for plating on ships, for coinage, and mixed with tin to make bronze.

ZINC AND BARYTES

These minerals often occur together and were a problem to separate. Neither occurred in large quantities, but both were of value, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s. The Caldbeck Fells and Force Crag Mine in Coledale (near Braithwaite) were the most important sites.

Zinc occurs as sphalerite or blende and is usually black and shiny (hence its common name 'Black Jack'). It is mainly used for galvanising iron. Barytes, on the other hand, is white or grey and is used in paint, in glass and paper making, as lubrication for oil well drills, and in barium meals.

LEAD

There are hundreds of old lead mine workings scattered throughout the Fells and Dales region. The most common ore, galena, has a high lead content and is a distinctive, heavy, silver-grey metallic material which forms neat cubic crystals. Lead was a useful material for roofing, pipes, electrical cables, paint and bullets.

The most productive mines were in the Caldbeck Fells, in the Newlands/Derwentwater area and at Greenside (Glenridding). Greenside was the largest mine in Cumbria, being around 500 metres deep and following a wide vein of lead (up to 12 metres wide) for nearly 1 km. It was in operation for nearly 170 years and was the first mine in the country to have electric winding gear and underground electric locomotives for haulage. Production reached around 1600 tons of lead ore per year between 1862 and 1872. The mine closed in 1962 but the impact of the industry on the landscape is still highly visible.

DIATOMITE

A very unusual and rare deposit of diatomite created a small industrial enterprise in Kentmere, near Staveley. Diatomite is composed of the siliceous skeletons of diatoms (microscopic plants) that collected in a shallow lake basin in the valley. The brown-black sludge was dredged from the lake bed, carried by an aerial ropeway to a small works to be drained and then 'calcined' (dried) in a kiln. It was used as a filter, an absorbent and clarifier in many industrial processes. The remains of Kentmere Tarn and the works are still to be seen.

GYPSUM

Gypsum (calcium sulphate) has been mined in the Eden Valley for over 200 years. Two large mines, Birkshead near Long Marton and Newbiggin Mine, still produce large quantities and feed the plant at Kirkby Thore. Here gypsum is ground to a powder, heated and made into plaster and plasterboard. The rich gypsum beds are the remains of huge salt lake deposits in the Permian sandstones.

Anhydrite (a form of gypsum) is also mined near Kirkby Thore and used in the production of cement. Anhydrite was also produced at Barrowmouth Mine near Whitehaven and was used in the huge Marchon chemical plant nearby. Both the mine and the chemical plant are now closed.

GRAPHITE

Graphite (plumbago) is pure carbon. Known locally as wadd or 'black lead' this was Cumbria's most valuable resource. Its value in 1800 was £3600 a ton - so valuable that the mines had to be heavily protected. They were frequently plundered, and illicit dealings in black lead led to the expression 'black market'.

The deposit was regarded as the purest in the world, but it was only found in one small area at Seathwaite in the Borrowdale valley. It occurred in a series of pipe-like structures in the hillside, where the remains of the adits and spoil heaps can still be seen one above the other on the fellside. Wadd is grey-black, soft and greasy. It was exploited as early as the 14th century, but the heyday of the industry was from the late 16th to the 19th centuries.

Wadd has many uses from medicinal compounds to refractory moulds, but locally it founded the pencil industry in Keswick around the end of the 18th century. Pencils are still made in the town, although no longer using local graphite.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Keswick Mining Museum, Otley House, Otley Road, Keswick, CA12 5EP.
Tel: 017687 80055. Website: www.keswickminingmuseum.co.uk.
Geological and mineral displays alongside artefacts on the mining and quarrying industries of Cumbria.

Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum, Threlkeld, Keswick, CA12 4TT.
Tel: 017687 79747.
Photographs and displays on the mineral heritage of Cumbria. Realistic reconstruction of a working mine.

Museum of Lakeland Life, Abbot Hall, Kendal, LA9 5AL.
Tel: 01539 722464. Website: www.lakelandmuseum.org.uk.
Small reconstruction of a mine and displays of mineral specimens.

Kendal Museum, Station Road, Kendal, LA9 6BT.
Tel: 01539 721374. Website: www.kendalmuseum.org.uk.
Comprehensive collection of Cumbrian rocks and minerals displayed in relation to their sources.

Ruskin Museum, Yewdale Road, Coniston, LA21 8DU.
Tel: 015394 41164. Website: www.ruskinmuseum.com
Displays and material on the copper and slate mining heritage of Coniston.

Maryport Maritime Museum, Senhouse Street, Maryport, CA15 6AB
Tel: 01900 813738. Website: www.visitcumbria.com
The history of coal and iron ore mining is described in relation to the development of the port.

GETTING AROUND

For details on public transport, please contact Traveline on 08700 608 2608.
Email: info@traveline-cumbria.co.uk.
Website: www.traveline.org.uk.

CREDITS

Produced by Anna Gray at Voluntary Action Cumbria for LEADER+
(Cumbria Fells & Dales)
Text by Alan Smith & Ian Tyler
Designed by Andrew Lathwell Design Ltd.
Printed by Reeds of Penrith, 2005.
Front cover photographs by Keith Wood.
Other photographs supplied by Cumbria Amenity Trust Mining History Society, David Bridge, Ian Tyler, LDNPA, National Trust, Ruskin Museum, Alan Smith, Keith Wood & Anna Gray.

LEADER+ (Cumbria Fells & Dales)
The Old Stables,
Redhills,
Penrith,
Cumbria,
CA11 0DT

Tel: 01768 869533
Email: info@fellsanddales.org.uk
Website: www.fellsanddales.org.uk

Fells and Dales LEADER+ Programme is based at Voluntary Action Cumbria, a company limited by guarantee, Charity No. 1080875, Companyh No. 3957858.

This is one of a series of themed trails being produced by LEADER+ (Cumbria Fells & Dales) to promote the area and its local products.

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the content of this trail is accurate and up to date at the time of writing, no liability can be accepted for any errors, omissions or misrepresentations of fact contained herein.

This project is being part financed by the European Agriculture Guidance adn Guarantee Fund of the European Union and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs through the Cumbria Fells and Dales LEADER+ Programme.

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