Now! Then! The railway will not revive lead mining at Grassington, but may bring tourism to the Dales

22 November 1884: The railway will not revive lead mining at Grassington, but may bring tourism to the Dales

J. Lucas. 1884/11/22. Grassington Lead Mines. Leeds Mercury. Leeds. Get it:

Excerpt

Formerly the hillside, for hundreds of acres round, was destitute of verdure, as every green thing was killed by the poisonous vapours. No sheep or cattle could be safely pastured on the adjoining hillsides, as the wind frequently carried the smoke long distances and affected everything on which it fell. But a few years ago a clever Welsh mining agent of the Duke’s suggested this alteration in the flue, by which, instead of escaping immediately from the furnace to the chimney, the smoke is made to traverse a long distance, and by means of several condensers, fixed at various points, it is rendered comparatively harmless, and made to deposit its leaden fumes in such quantities that it soon repaid the first outlay. The mining operations were discontinued about three years ago, but as there was a quantity of ore on hand the smelting-house was kept going about another twelve months. The Duke of Devonshire has upwards of 1,000 tons of pig lead stacked at Gargrave station, and it will give some idea of the depreciation in value and the unprofitable character of lead mining when it is known that the price is now about £10 per ton, whereas upwards of £20 per ton was the market price ten years ago. This is partly owing to foreign competition, and partly because lead is not now nearly so much in demand as formerly, other compound metals having largely superseded it. The hillsides in the neighbourhood of the smelting mill are dotted over with the remains of the workings, looking in the distance like large molehills, but not a soul now goes near them except from curiosity. The ladders by which the various levels were reached, the iron trucks, rails, tools, and various gears have all been brought to the surface, and are heaped together in a rusty pile of old iron, too far from a railway to make the carriage worth any price being offered. The barrows are under cover, and the remains of the last fire raked out from the furnace. The great water-wheel and crushing mill are left properly oiled, the wire rope in good order round the drum, but it is too evident that the works will not be resumed. The history of these mines is an illustration of the well-known mutability of all earthly things: new industries spring up, old ones decay, and populations naturally congregate where work is plentiful. As for the good people of Grassington, they are firmly convinced that nothing but railway communication can revive the spirit of the place. There is one thing it certainly would do: it would open up to the tourist and holidaymaker one of the finest dales in Yorkshire, and bring into public notice one of the most charming summer resorts for the lovers of nature, and in some degree relieve the pressure which is felt in the month of August on all the Yorkshire coast towns.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.
Abbreviations:

ER: East Riding
GM: Greater Manchester
NR: North Riding
NY: North Yorkshire
SY: South Yorkshire
WR: West Riding
WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

William Wheater interpolates the following near the beginning:

At that period the town was an ancient market town. In 1292 Robert de Plumpton was summoned before the Judges at York to answer for free warren in all his domain lands in Nestefield, Gersington, and Idel, and for having a market and fair, amends of the assize of bread and malt of all his tenants in Gersington, which belong to the dignity of the Crown. Robert claimed the liberties by Charter of Edward, then King, given in 1280, which he produced, granting to him and his heirs for ever a weekly market on the Friday at his manor of Gersington, and a yearly fair there of three days duration, viz., in the vigil, the day and the morrow of St. Michael, except the market and fair be to the harm of the neighbouring markets and fairs; and free warren in all his domain lands of Nestefield, Gersington and Idel so long as these lands are not within the metes of the King’s forest. It would appear to be safe to assume that this prosperity had some connexion with a local occupation beyond that of agriculture. On the 12th Nov., 1465, the King granted letters patent to Sir William Stanley, Kt., and Joan his wife, the widow of Sir John Lovell, Lord Lovell, and to their lawful issue of the Castle Manor and Lordship of Skipton-in-Craven, the Manor of Marton-inCraven, with all the towns, townships, &c., thereto belonging, and also the Mines of Coles and Leede and all other possessions and other appurtenances to the same Castell, Manors and Lordships belonging, with all the other towns, townships, hamletts, &c., veynes of Coles and Leede, and all other possessions in Craven, which came to oure handes and possession by strength and virtue of an Acte of Atteyndre of John Clyfford Knyght, late Lord Clyfford.” This early prominence is a fact highly illustrative of the ancient importance of the now decayed town, once a Roman outpost and garrison, afterwards a Saxon clan-station and a main point in their subjugation of Wharfedale. There is evidence in the Roman encampment at Grassington that lead ore has been smelted (Wheater 1885).

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Original

Grassington Lead Mines: A Decayed Industry.
Grassington, a quaint little town in Upper Wharfedale, nine miles from Skipton, has long been noted for its lead mines, belonging by manorial rights to the Dukes of Devonshire. The present Duke has only a few acres of land on Grassington Moor, on which the office and mining agent’s house, with outbuildings, now stand; but he claims all stone and minerals beneath the sod.
Probably the lead mines have been worked for two or three centuries, as this has been the staple industry of the little town for several generations, and many of the houses and cottages have dates over the doors going back to the seventeenth century. The miners also frequently drove into old workings in their search for the veins of lead. These mines may, indeed, be said to be a continuation of those old lead mines, ten miles away, near Pateley Bridge, which date from the time of the Romans; and it is an interesting circumstance in connection with the latter mines that some years ago there was found hidden among the stones on the moor an old “pig” of lead, about half the weight of those now smelted, with the name of the Emperor Trajan (A.D. 98) stamped on it. The population of Grassington shows a steady decline since 1851, when it stood at 1,138. In 1861 it was 1,015, in 1871, 830, in 1881 617; but this is partly owing to the closing of a spinning mill, which was worked in 1842 as a worsted mill, since converted into a cotton-spinning mill, but now closed altogether, as the cost of transit – being nine miles from the nearest railway station – puts it out of the power of the present owner (Mr. Joseph Mason, of Gargrave) to compete with manufacturers more conveniently situated. Still, the mill and machinery are kept in good order, in hope of the long-expected day when the projected line to Kettlewell shall be completed.
The mines in question, during their most prosperous days, employed between one and two hundred men and boys, who lived in the towns of Grassington and Hebden, about two miles away from the works. They worked in periods, or shifts, of eight hours — the first commencing at six a.m. and running till two p.m.; those coming on at two would work till ten; and when demand was good, and the mine was worked “all round,” another set of men and boys worked through the night till six o’clock next morning.
While staying a few weeks in this unfrequented but delightful district, the writer was introduced to an old but very intelligent man, who has worked for half a century under the Dukes of Devonshire, and knows the whole process of mining, from blasting the rock to smelting the ore; and the information now given was elicited from him in an afternoon’s visit to the now deserted workings. One thing we will note in passing. My guide was on the shady side of 70, as before observed; but his step was firm, his back was straight, and his eye was clear. Moreover, his father, who had followed the same calling, was still alive, though upwards of 90 years of age; so we may conclude that hard work and exposure on the moors breeds a hardy race of men.
These miners of the district appear to have been a steady class of men, for the most part chapel-goers, and of sober and careful habits; though out of the small wages which they earned (an average of 17s. per week) it was almost impossible for them to save money. Indeed, it has often been said that the shopkeepers of Grassington were the real workers of the mines, as they gave credit to the men, who, when they were successful in their “takes,” paid their debts.
On the last Saturday in each month the mining agent, from the window of the office, put up the various “takes,” such as driving the galleries in search of the veins, sinking the shafts, or getting the ore and rubbish to the surface, which work was usually done by the fathom (six feet), the price varying according to the difficulties met with. Sometimes the workings ran through ground so soft that the sides required propping with wood every foot of the way; sometimes rock of the hardest millstone grit had to be blasted with powder or gun cotton, and the work proceeded slowly. The nature of the ground was, however, pretty well known to both the agent and the men, who were not very particular in the price at which they took the work, as they knew that if they made too good a monthly bargain, the price would be pulled down next letting; or if, on the other hand, they had taken it too dear, they would next time be allowed to have it correspondingly cheap; i.e., they would demand more and get more for their work.
There was, however, this disadvantage for the owner, that if the men found they had easier work than they expected, they were tempted to spin out their time in order to deceive the agent.
All candles, powder, and gun-cotton were charged to the men, and the tools were weighed out to them at the commencement of the month – so much iron, so much steel – these latter being credited to them when returned at the end of the month, so that they were only made responsible for the wear and tear. Thus a check was kept upon them, and it became their interest to prevent waste.
The depth of the shafts and workings varied from 40 to 80 fathoms (i.e., 240ft. to 480ft.). The veins of lead ore are, unlike the beds of coal, found to lay perpendicular, or with a slight inclination towards the north, and can be followed as deep as it is profitable to work, the thickness varying from a few inches to several yards, though the thickness of the veins was no criterion of their richness, many of the smaller and thinner veins being more profitable and purer than the thicker ones. Another peculiarity of this ore is that the veins have an almost invariable east to west direction, so that in driving the workings, a gallery from north to south is sure to intersect the veins if lead is there.
When ore is found and brought to the surface, it has to go through quite a succession of washings, grindings, and screenings, before it is finally sorted into heaps according to its various qualities and fit for sending to the smelting mills. It must be borne in mind that pure lead is never found without some mixture of rock, mostly millstone grit, and all this must be separated from the ore. One of the latest money items spent by the present Duke was for the fitting up of a crushing mill to separate the rock from the ore. This is done by immense and ponderous wheels capable of crushing the hardest rock, and the motive-power is water, which turns a noble wheel of 36ft. diameter, or 108ft. circumference.
When the earthy and stony particles by which the ore is surrounded have been crushed and washed away, the last process is the smelting, by which the metal is melted in furnaces, run off into pans, and taken by immense iron ladles while in the liquid state and run into moulds holding about 1 cwt. The lead cools sufficiently in about five to seven minutes to be turned out in bars called “pigs,” which are weighed, and each one marked according as it weighs over or under the cwt., and piled with others in stacks ready for sale or removal.
The smoke from the furnace of this smelting-mill has to traverse a flue a mile long before it eventually emerges from the chimney on the top of the hill. Formerly the hill-side, for hundreds of acres round, was destitute of verdure, as every green thing was killed by the poisonous vapours. No sheep or cattle could be safely pastured on the adjoining hill-sides, as the wind frequently carried the smoke long distances and affected everything on which it fell. But a few years ago a clever Welsh mining agent of the Duke’s suggested this alteration in the flue, by which, instead of escaping immediately from the furnace to the chimney, the smoke is made to traverse a long distance, and by means of several condensers, fixed at various points, it is rendered comparatively harmless, and made to deposit its leaden fumes in such quantities that it soon repaid the first outlay, and has since been thousands of pounds to the credit of the workings. Two or three sweepings per year of this immense flue resulted in the recovery of many tons of the purest lead, which would otherwise have been worse than wasted. The hill-side is green again, and sheep and cattle may now be safely pastured in the neighbourhood of the chimney.
The mining operations were discontinued about three years ago, but as there was a quantity of ore on hand the smelting-house was kept going about another twelve months, so that this might all be worked up. There is still about 50 or 60 tons of pig lead stacked in the yard, the proceeds of a consignment of ore from the Buckton Mining Company, the last work which these furnaces have done, and it was rather melancholy to see already the evidences of decay and ruin where for so long a period an industry had given employment to so many families. The Duke of Devonshire has upwards of 1,000 tons of pig lead stacked at Gargrave station; and it will give some idea of the depreciation in value and the unprofitable character of lead-mining when it is known that the price is now about £10 per ton, whereas upwards of £20 per ton was the market price ten years ago. This is partly owing to foreign competition, by which lead, more easily and consequently cheaper got than our own, is poured into the market, and partly because lead is not now nearly so much in demand as formerly, other compound metals having largely superseded it.
The hill-sides in the neighbourhood of the smelting mill are dotted over with the remains of the workings, looking in the distance like large mole-hills, but not a soul now goes near them except from curiosity. The ladders by which the various levels were reached, the iron trucks, rails, tools, and various gears have all been brought to the surface, and are heaped together in a rusty pile of old iron, too far from a railway to make the carriage worth any price being offered. The barrows are under cover, and the remains of the last fire raked out from the furnace; the great water-wheel and crushing mill are left properly oiled, the wire rope in good order round the drum, but it is too evident that the works will not be resumed. The Duke is said to have carried on the mines for the last ten years at a positive loss. If this is so, however, there is a handsome set-off against it, as my informant assured me that some twenty-five years ago he could not have been making less than twenty thousand pounds per annum out of them. The history of these mines is an illustration of the well-known mutability of all earthly things. New industries spring up, old ones decay, and populations naturally congregate where work is plentiful.
As for the good people of Grassington, they are firmly convinced that nothing but railway communication can revive the spirit of the place. There is one thing it certainly would do; it would open up to the tourist and holiday-maker one of the finest dales in Yorkshire, and bring into public notice one of the most charming summer resorts for the lovers of nature, and in some degree relieve the pressure which is felt in the month of August on all the Yorkshire coast towns.-J.L.

2020 words.