Lead Smelters in the Yorkshire Dales

There are a growing number of web sites devoted to mining related 
topics and, as with publications, there is a widely varying level of 
quality.  One unfortunate effect of the relative ease with which material 
can be published on the web is that basic grammar, spelling and 
sentence structure have gone to pot.  Even more frustratingly, material 
is often presented on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis, with a total absence 
of reference to sources.

This is a review of a site 
(http://www.ayresnet.swinternet.co.uk/msmelter.htm) covering the 47 
[really 44] lead smelting mills in Swaledale, Wensleydale and 
Arkengarthdale, which I was told about by someone working on their 
family history.  Rod Ayres and John Archbold had a good idea when 
they set up this web-site “to make the beauty of these places better 
known to the world and provide extra interest by providing some 
short accounts of their histories”.

To this end, they have taken on the challenge of trying to cater for all 
levels of interest, from the casual visitor or walkers to the industrial 
archaeologist.  Pages of text are devoted to describing “From 
outcrops to mine”, “From baille [sic] hills to smelters” and the 
“Leading families”.   Regrettably, in their attempt to present a simple 
description, the message has become corrupt.  For example, we are 
told that “lead ore occurs in long seams, known as veins” and, whilst 
talking of outcropping veins, “these veins were called rakes, 
presumably because the ore could be exposed by raking off the 
surface soil”.  There are also a number of references to ‘bell pits’, 
which is a term borrowed from coal mining and mis-applied to 
shallow shafts on lead veins.

Unfortunately, the site’s authors have given no means of contacting 
them to draw new material to their attention.  This is an especial 
problem as their core data is almost totally lifted, without 
acknowledgement, from Arthur Raistrick’s book “The Lead Industry 
of Wensleydale and Swaledale: Volume 2 - The Smelting Mills”.  
When published, in 1975, this was the first attempt to identify and fix 
a chronology to the area’s smelt mills.  Raistrick’s model was 
followed assiduously until it became clear to some that it had some 
serious flaws.  In order to expose these, in 1992 I wrote a paper on 
“Yorkshire Smelting Mills: Part 1 - The Northern Dales” which was 
published in British Mining.  This changed many of the spatial and 
chronological elements of Raistrick’s model and showed that his 
Applegarth smelt mill never existed.  Since then, others have refined 
my model and also published their work in British Mining.  For 
example, Les Tyson discounted one of Raistrick’s four mills at Clints 
and greatly improved our understanding of their chronology and 
ownership.  He also showed that the Cupola Mill, at Marrick, was not 
built in 1854 but in 1701 - making it a very important site (now a 
Scheduled Ancient Monument).  Subsequent work, by Dennison, 
Lamb and Vernon, is likely to revise our knowledge of early smelt 
mills even further.

Strangely, their notes on the condition of the mills fail to mention the 
consolidation work done by the Yorkshire Dales National Park 
Authority (Old Gang, Surrender, Blakethwaite and Grinton) or by 
English Heritage at Marrick.  Not all the mills are described, but the 
authors propose to add more as they visit them.  It is to be hoped that 
they do not use their own map for this task as they will have some 
long and fruitless searches!  For some reason, Keld Side Mill has 
been moved from near the head of the dale to Gunnerside Gill - being 
put almost where the Blakethwaite Mill is, while the latter has been 
moved about a mile up the gill.  Cupola Mill now stands on the Arkle, 
between Grinton and Reeth.  Scott’s Mill has moved to near Grinton 
Youth Hostel.  Moulds Low Mill has changed liberties and stands 
alongside Surrender Mill.  None of the four smaller, 17th and 18th 
century mills on Barney Beck are shown.

I would be the last to discourage people from putting information on 
the web, but I hope that it will not become the home of vanity 
publishers whose work would not pass the mildest of peer reviews.  
The Archbold-Ayres site is well worth visiting, if only to get some 
ideas on what should and shouldn’t be done, but the content should 
come with a health warning.  It’s like digital Hardy - John not Thomas.

Mike Gill

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Mike Gill

President and Recorder of the NORTHERN MINE RESEARCH SOCIETY

Britain's foremost mining history society at:-
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~RBurt/MinHistNet/NMRS.html

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