Chimney at Warren Moor Mine | |
Location | |
---|---|
Location | Kildale |
County | North Yorkshire |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 54°28′16″N1°02′13″W / 54.471°N 1.037°W Coordinates: 54°28′16″N1°02′13″W / 54.471°N 1.037°W |
History | |
Opened | 1866 |
Closed | 1874 |
The Warren Moor Mine, was a short-lived mining concern south of Kildale, North Yorkshire, England. Activity at the site was limited to drift mining, and although shafts were sunk to mine the underground schemes, these ventures failed. The site of the workings have been stabilised, and the old chimney is the only Victorian ironstone mining chimney left in the United Kingdom.
The site was made safe in the 2010s to allow public access.
Warren Moor is 0.93 miles (1.5 km) south east of Kildale, near the head of the River Leven and 700 feet (210 m) above sea level. [1] The mine was developed despite the poor quality of the ironstone; the actual content of iron in the stone was 26%, relatively low compared with nearby Rosedale which averaged nearly 50% iron content. [2] Having been surveyed in 1857 with several boreholes drilled, [3] the proposers, the Bell Brothers, declined to open the site, however, a railway to export the ironstone was built that connected to what is now the Esk Valley Line. [2] Between 1864 and 1874, two companies tried to exploit the iron and both ventures failed. [4] John Watson and partners took out a 42-year lease in 1866, but poor returns meant by 1867, the venture was in trouble and by June 1868, the Kildale Estate had re-acquired the land. [5]
In 1872, a second concern, the Leven Vale Company, took over running the site and installed the miners' housing. A letter to the Kildale Estate showed the company had an intent to build more housing on the site, but a slump in iron prices in 1873, resulted in the company going into liquidation in August 1874. [6] The cottages were demolished in 1927, with the stone being used in the rebuilding of Kildale village hall. [7] [8] A further 19 boreholes were drilled in 1913, which confirmed iron content at 26% and a bed of ironstone that was 5 feet 1 inch (1.55 m) thick, split in the middle by a band of shale that was 1 foot 8 inches (0.51 m) wide. [9]
The former mine workings are known to have polluted the River Leven, which flows near to the site. [10]
The 64-foot (20 m) high chimney was built between 1856 and 1857, but was never used, and has been described as "standing as a monument to the failed venture". [11] [4] The chimney is the only one left in the United Kingdom that was associated with ironstone mining in the Victorian era. [12] The structure is constructed of bricks and is grade II listed. [13] The base of the chimney, which is 17 feet 6 inches (5.33 m) high, is constructed of sandstone blocks, with an oval opening in all sides faced with white firebricks. The rest of the chimney is constructed of red bricks with thin courses of firebricks and a sandstone top. [14]
The site was remediated and made safe throughout the 2010s. One of the reasons that the site was easy to preserve was that it was abandoned early in the ventures and just left rather than being demolished after use. Besides the chimney, the site has the remains of mineshaft, boiler and pump houses and the trackbed leading eastwards. [15]
Cleveland is a land of hills and dales from the River Tees to Vale of Pickering, England. The name Cleveland comes from a variant of "cliff-land", referring to the Yorkshire Moors.
The River Leven in North Yorkshire, England is a tributary of the River Tees. It rises on Warren Moor, part of Kildale Moor, in the North York Moors and flows to the north of the moors to join the River Tees at Yarm.
Westerdale is a village, civil parish and dale within the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. The Esk Valley Walk runs through part of the village. The village is at the confluence of three streams (Esklets) which combine as the head of the River Esk.
Grosmont is a village and civil parish situated in Eskdale in the North York Moors National Park, within the boundaries of the Scarborough district of the county of North Yorkshire, England.
Skinningrove is a village in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. Its name is Viking influenced and is thought to mean skinners' grove or pit.
North Skelton is a village in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England.
The Cleveland Hills are a range of hills on the north-west edge of the North York Moors in North Yorkshire, England, overlooking Cleveland and Teesside. They lie entirely within the boundaries of the North York Moors National Park. Part of the 110-mile (177 km) long Cleveland Way National Trail runs along the hills, and they are also crossed by a section of Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk. The hills, which rise abruptly from the flat Tees Valley to the north, include distinctive landmarks such as the cone-shaped peak of Roseberry Topping, near the village of Great Ayton – childhood home of Captain James Cook.
Liverton Mines is a village in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. It is surrounded by large, local towns Middlesbrough, Redcar, Guisborough and Whitby. The village has a shop (Charlie's), a post office, a fish and chip shop, church and a pub.
Lockwood is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland with ceremonial association with North Yorkshire, England. The population of Lockwood ward in the Redcar and Cleveland Unitary authority taken at the 2011 census was 2,022.
The Rosedale Railway was an 19.5-mile (31.4 km) goods-only railway line running from Battersby Junction via Ingleby Incline, across the heights of the North York Moors in North Yorkshire, England to reach iron ore deposits in the remote hills of the Rosedale valley. It opened to traffic as a narrow gauge railway to Ingleby Incline top in 1858, converted to standard gauge and opened to Rosedale West in 1861, and closed completely in 1929. Apart from Ingleby Incline, no major engineering works were constructed, and as such, particularly the east branch, the railway followed the contours of the surrounding hillside. The former trackbeds of the railway are in use by walkers and cyclists.
Iron Blow was the site of the earliest major mining venture at Mount Lyell on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia in 1883.
The Cleveland Ironstone Formation is a sequence of marine ironstone seams interbedded with shale and siltstone units which collectively form a part of the Lower Jurassic System of rocks underlying Cleveland in North Yorkshire. Exploitation of the ironstone seams became a major driving force behind the industrialisation of the Teesside district during the mid- to late-1800s.
Losh, Wilson and Bell, later Bells, Goodman, then Bells, Lightfoot and finally Bell Brothers, was a leading Northeast England manufacturing company, founded in 1809 by the partners William Losh, Thomas Wilson, and Thomas Bell.
Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., Ltd was an English ironmaking and mining company founded in 1864, based on the partnership since 1840 of its two founders, Henry Bolckow and John Vaughan. The firm drove the dramatic growth of Middlesbrough and the production of coal and iron in the north-east of England in the 19th century. The two founding partners had an exceptionally close working relationship which lasted until Vaughan's death.
Kettleness, is a hamlet in the Scarborough District of North Yorkshire, England. The settlement only consists of half-a-dozen houses, but up until the early 19th century, it was a much larger village. However, most of that village, which was on the headland, slipped into the sea as a result of instability caused by quarrying for the alum industry. Kettleness became a smaller settlement, and was relocated slightly further inland.
Grinkle Mine, was an ironstone mine working the main Cleveland Seam near to Roxby in North Yorkshire, England. Initially, the ironstone was mined specifically for the furnaces at the Palmer Shipbuilders in Jarrow on the River Tyne, but later, the mine became independent of Palmers. To enable the output from the mine to be exported, a 3-mile (4.8 km) narrow-gauge tramway was constructed that ran across three viaducts and through two tunnels to the harbour of Port Mulgrave, where ships would take the ore directly to Tyneside.
North Skelton Mine was an ironstone mine in the village of North Skelton in North Yorkshire, England. The mine was the deepest of the ironstone mines in Cleveland and was also the last to close, which came in January 1964. Some buildings still exist on the surface as well as spoil heaps.
Roseberry Mine was an ironstone mine in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, which operated between 1883 and 1924, with a break of 24 years. Both periods of mining used a form of tramway to transport the ironstone out, which connected with the railway line north of Great Ayton railway station. The mine was located on the south side of Roseberry Topping digging into the hillside. Of the three ironstone mines in the Great Ayton area, Roseberry was the largest.
Ironstone mining in Cleveland and North Yorkshire, extended across the east of Cleveland and the northernmost part of North Yorkshire, being exploited from the 1830s, to the 1960s. Iron working in North Yorkshire has been recorded as far back as Roman times, but until the 1830s, most workings were small-scale concerns, which were intended for local use
The Ironstone mining in Rosedale, was a major mining concern, in Rosedale, North Yorkshire, England. It flourished in the 19th century and ceased in the early 20th, though smaller scale iron workings were in use through the Middle Ages. The ironstone from Rosedale was typically rated at a higher iron ore concentration in the rock than other mines in the Cleveland and North Yorkshire area.