Some thoughts on Peter Claughton's recent comments
on Ken Hamilton's work:-
Ken is writing a paper on his work for this year's British
Mining Memoirs - to be published in December.
The idea that the bale smelting industry in Yorkshire
developed along different lines from that of Derbyshire is
not new. Lawrence Barker and myself, for example,
have long held that view and said so at the Low Row
Conference on 'Boles and Smelt Mills'. Sadly, people
there were more inclined to listen to the Derby-centric
view and were treated to very suspect interpretations of
sites at Grinton and on Calver.
Peter's belief that Ken's work is the first 'Structured'
study of smelting in Yorkshire ignores the work of:-
Clough, R.T. The Lead Smelting Mills of the Yorkshire
Dales: Their Architectural Character, Construction and
Place in the European Tradition (Keighley: The author,
1962).
Raistrick, A. The Lead Industry of Wensleydale and
Swaledale: Volume 2 The Smelting Mills
(Moorland,1977)
Barker, J.L. "Bale Hills in Swaledale and
Arkengarthdale" British Mining, No.8 (1978), pp.49-54.
Gill, M.C. "Yorkshire Smelting Mills, Part 1: The Northern
Dales" British Mining, No.45 (1992), pp.111-150.
Gill, M.C. "Yorkshire Smelting Mills, Part 2: The Southern
Dales and Lancashire" British Mining, No.45 (1992),
pp.132-151.
Sadly, there is nothing like Clough's book for any of the
other lead mining areas.
Lawrence Barker's pioneering fieldwork (which he has
added to since) highlighted the great number of bale
sites in a smallish area.
Arthur Raistrick made the first serious attempt at
describing the smelting industry in Swaledale and
Wensleydale. Some interpretations have been shown to
be incorrect.
My own papers were the result of detailed research and
were written in response to the Low Row Conference,
where a great many incorrect interpretations were
trotted out without question.
Ken's work, plus some unpublished geophysical surveys
by Rob Vernon (also of Bradford Univ) and some site
specific work, either commissioned by the Yorkshire
Dales National Park Authority or by members of the
Northern Mine Research Society (eg Dickinson, Lamb,
Smith and Tyson), are valuable additions to this body of
work - which makes the Yorkshire industry one of the
best understood.
Ray Fairbairn is steadily adding to our knowledge of
lead smelting sites (both bales and mills) in the North
Pennines.
Mike Gill
Recorder - Northern Mine Research Society
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Mike Gill
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Northern Mine Research Society
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