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• Introduction
• Early mining: a brief history
• Lead production in the 18th and 19th Centuries
• Mining Methods - Bell Pits and Hushes
• Mining Methods - Levels, Stopes, Deads and Spoil
• Mining Methods - Shafts
• Processing Ore - The Dressing Floor
• Processing Ore - The Smelt Mill
• Mining Landscape
• Where Miners lived
• A life of exremely hard work
• Time for Fun and Games
• The end of an era
• Grinton Smelt Mill - A Case Study
• Grinton Smelt Mill - Diagrams
• Grinton Smelt Mill - Come and See
• Suggested Activities
• Resources to Download
• Further sources of information
• National Curriculum Objectives
• Generic Learning Outcomes

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• Print

Lead Mining in the Yorkshire Dales

Further sources of information

Published materials:

YDNP Education File: Dales Countryside Museum - MINES Found in the Ground

Lead Mining (booklet), Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Yorebridge House, Bainbridge, Leyburn, North Yorkshire DL8 3EE

John Morrison: Lead Mining in the Yorkshire Dales, Dalesman ISBN 185568138-2

Lynn Willies: Lead and Leadmining, Shire Publications, ISBN 0-85263-596-6

Tyson, Spensley & White: British Mining No. 51 The Grinton Mines, NMRS, ISBN 0-901450-42-1

Robert T. Clough: The Lead Smelting Mills of the Yorkshire Dales and Northern Pennines, published by the author in 1962 in 2 limited editions.

Robert White: The Yorkshire Dales, A Landscape Through Time, Great Northern Books, ISBN 0-9539740-3-0

Arthur Raistrick & Arthur Roberts: Life and Work of the Northern Lead Miner, Beamish, ISBN 0-86299-826-3

Arthur Raistrick, Lead Mining in the Yorkshire Dales, Dalesman, ISBN 0-85206-171-4

A number of the books above are out of print. A good source to find second hand copies is via the Advanced Book Exchange website which links second hand book sellers’ catalogues into one place from all over the world and offers an easy centralised ordering process.

Web based materials:

Northern Mine Research Society

Out of Oblivion: A landscape through time (Lead)

The article “Mystery Photograph” in the Upper Wenselydale Newsletter (Issue 86) (PDF file)

The Arthur Raistrick Collection at Bradford University

Oxford Archaeology Lead Mining Page (refers to mines in Cumbria)