Following Mike's review of this website, I took a look. The best part of
the site consists of potted tours of the Dales smeltmills in Swaledale,
Wensleydale and tributaries but they have n't yet got round to Nidderdale,
Wharfedale etc. Each site description has good quality photos which
download very fast and give a good indication of what you will see when you
get there. There is also some material on mill history, important
families and mining/smelting technology. For a mining/smelting/ind.arch.
enthusiast who wants to spend a week's holiday or more in the northern
Yorkshire Dales, this is probably the best way to develop an itinerary. I
think it does a great deal for people who are not familiar with the
sights/sites and for whom the historical inaccuracies may not be noticed or
may not be important. There are plenty of good things to learn from how
the authors have presented their information and succeeded in making it
interesting.
Mike is correct in the criticisms he makes. The map is inaccurate in
many respects, to the point where the visitor can end up in the wrong
place. I didn't check the map references given but I hope they were not
lifted straight from Raistrick as several of his are wrong. Mike's
review was a fair one but with a little work the inaccuracies in the
history and some of the simplistic descriptions of the technology can be
changed. If that were done the site would be a great introduction to the
best and largest collection of lead smelting mills in the country. It's a
pity there are no address details for contacting the authors; this is a
very good first effort and I'm sure there are plenty of enthusiasts who
would help clear up the problems.
Richard Smith
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