Notes on the smelting of lead in Upper Wharfedale in the 18th century

In the 18th century a number of smeltmills were in operation in Upper Wharfedale; Buckden High and Low Mills, Kettlewell, Kilnsey, Grassington Low Mill and the Grassington Moor Mill. All used the ore hearth process. The small, single hearth mills at Buckden, Kettlewell and Kilnsey smelted small parcels of ore from their local and adjoining liberties. The Grassington mills served a large number of mines on Grassington Moor, Coalgrovehead and Coalgrovebeck in addition to smelting some ores from the Conistone and Hawkswick liberties (Gill 1993, 138-143). The expansion of lead production from the Grassington mines in mid century is shown in Figure 1, below; with the Coalgrovehead mines showing a similar trend (Gill and Burt 2003, 114-115 and 177-179).Grassington Low Mill was expanded to three hearths by 1754 to cope with increased production.

Figure 1

All of the mills, with the initial exception of the Grassington Moor Mill, were fuelled using chop-wood (otherwise known as white-coal) produced from local woodland and, with theexception of the short-lived Buckden High Mill, were located close to the river and suitable sources of fuel. The Moor Mill, however, was built close to the mines on Grassington Moor in 1756 with a view to using peat or turves as fuel. In 1768, after the mineral lord’s right to take peat from the Moor was challenged by the freeholders, it too had to use chop-wood as fuel (Gill 1993b, 142).According to custom, codified in the Rara Avis in Terrisafter an enquiry in 1737 (Gill 1993a, 24) the mineral lord at Grassington was to supply the miners with sufficient chop-wood to smelt their lead. The requirement for chop-wood was met by exploiting woodland in the immediate area but, increasingly, it was sought further afield; in woods close to Bolton Abbey and elsewhere lower down the dale (Heward, pers comm., quoting lead ledgers in the Bolton Abbey MSS).

The move to using peat at the Moor Mill suggests that an alternative fuel was sought to mitigate the demand on local woodland; and the continued reliance on chop-wood could have limited the ability for further expansion. After 1774 new leases were drawn up for the mines at Grassington which reduced the duty paid to the mineral lord but gave the miners responsibility for finding their own fuel, thus breaking with the last vestiges of custom. Thereafter, it was possible to utilise peat for smelting purposes although a decline in output from the mines did reduce the overall demand on fuel. When, in the 1790s, work was in hand to improve drainage and create an environment for further expansion; a new smelt mill was erected on Grassington Moor. The new Cupola Mill used reverberatory furnaces, rather than the ore hearth process, and relied on imported mineral coal as fuel.

The Grassington Low Mill was abandoned but the smaller mills in Upper Wharfedale continued to use the ore hearth and relied on local woodland for fuel. Kilnsey had little in the way of peat deposits and appears, on occasion, to have supplemented its chop-wood with small amounts of mineral coal; “carriage of 7 loads of coal to Kilnsey smelt mill at 4d per load” (Gill 1993b, 141, quoting Chatsworth MSS, Smelt mill costs and sales sheet for 1729).

Sources

Gill, M. C. 1993a The Grassington Mines, British Mining 46, Keighley: Northern Mine Research Society.

Gill, M. C. 1993b ‘Yorkshire Smelting Mills Part 2: The Southern Dales and Lancashire’, British Mining 48, 132-151, Keighley: Northern Mine Research Society.

Gill, M. and Burt, R. 2003 The Mines of Yorkshire, British Mining 72, Keighley: Northern Mine Research Society.

Peter Claughton

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15 April 2006