As you drive along the Skipton Bypass towards Keighley, or the other way round, you can see green fields, hills and villages, which range from Carleton, Bradley, Kildwick, Crosshills and Cononley. You would think that until the burgeoning 20th century, that industrialisation did not affect this area, but you would be wrong. High above Cononley and Carleton, lead was once mined. Now, lead is not an uncommon mineral to be mined in Yorkshire, but here we have an example in South Craven. Lead mining was once the main industry in parts of the Dales, including Wharfedale. From the seventeenth century to the late nineteenth it employed hundreds of men and boys, exploiting the veins in the limestone at Greenhow, Hebden, Grassington, Linton and Conistone, Appletreewick and elsewhere.
Lead is a bright silvery metal with a very slight shade of blue in a dry atmosphere, its characteristic properties include high density, softness, ductility, malleability, poor electrical conductivity compared to other metals, high resistance to corrosion, and ability to react with organic chemicals. It has been commonly used for thousands of years because it is widespread, easy to extract, and easy to work with. The metal has been used by many ancient peoples. A major reason for the spread of lead production was its association with silver, which may be obtained by burning galena, a widespread lead mineral. The Ancient Egyptians are thought to have used lead for sinkers in fishing nets, in glazes, glasses and enamels, and for ornaments. Various civilizations of the Fertile Crescent used lead as a writing material, as currency, and for construction. The Ancient Chinese used lead as a stimulant in the royal court, a currency, and a contraceptive, whilst the Romans mined for lead in Great Britain.
As you enter the site there is an information board, take your time to read it, then have a look around at what remains.
HISTORY OF THE SITE
The first record of mining at Cononley dates from July 1532 when Christopher Aske leased "all the mines on the wastes and moors of the Manor of Cononley for 20 years." The wording of the lease suggests that mining had already taken place at an earlier date, but had been abandoned by the time of this lease. Previously the manor was part of the Bolton Priory estate, which was broken up on the dissolution of the monasteries. It would appear that Aske was not successful as a record of 1538 indicates that no lead was found. Patchy records indicate that small-scale mining occurred in both townships intermittently through the next two centuries.
The main vein of ore was in Mason's shaft (the main shaft). Between 1848 and 1863 the Cononley mines produced between 329 and 350 tons of lead every year. At the Height of the Mine, 1700 Miners worked the mines. The main period of working was between 1825 and 1882 when the mine was worked for lead ore. Hall and Co, lead merchants who had previous experience with lead mining in the North Pennines and Arkengarthdale, are recorded as working on both the Glusburn and Cononley royalties from 1825. They abandoned the project by 1830, as at this time the price of lead fell dramatically and it is suggested that this rather than the geology is the reason for the Hall's failure. Work began again in 1836, by George Gill & Co, and after 17 months and 200m later the main vein was reached. This work was all undertaken directly for the Duke of Devonshire who had inherited the Cononley mineral rights from the Dukes of Burlington. For the next two decades further development work continued with shafts and levels driven to fully explore and exploit the main vein. The mine, is noteworthy as being the most southerly of the lead mines of northwest Yorkshire. The mine was worked by shafts and adits serving seven levels, the deepest being 45 fathoms. Mining the lead ore became more expensive with the influx of cheaper lean from Spain, meaning the mine eventually closed, but over the last 100 years the mine has been reopened in the search for a new vein of Lead ore until its eventually demolished in the 1960's. The main shaft building and wheel house still stand today as a reminder of a by-gone era
After the mine closed a market developed for barytes (Barium Sulphate), which was the principal mineral present in the Cononley veins and had previously been discarded. It had previously been thought that the mine remained closed until the 1920s but evidence found underground suggests that some work may have occurred earlier. This operation run by Edward Murgatroyd to recover barytes from the tips as well as from new underground workings was not successful and was abandoned by 1927 when it was then taken over by J.H. Clay and run until the mine was mothballed in 1933 and finally closed in 1937. The surface tips continued to be worked sporadically through to the 1950's when some underground work was done between 1957 and 1958 by McKecnie Bros. of Widnes, after which the mine was finally abandoned. An application was made to reopen the mine in the 1980's but planning permission was refused.
GEOLOGY
Please look at the images for pictures of some of the minerals.
Lead ore (galena) is found deposited in mineral veins alongside other minerals such as fluorspar, calcite and barites. These veins are cracks or faults in the rock that have been filled with a mineral rich solution that has crystallised out to form the vein.
The matrix of the vein here was was principally sulphate of barytes, with the wide part of the vein being intersected by "slants" or clay joints, the removing of this ground entailed considerable danger to the miners. In one part of the mine, the vein-stuff was practically stratified, the matrix coming away in beds of one to three feet in thickness.
Baryte
Baryte or barite (BaSO4) is a mineral consisting of barium sulphate, it is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of barium, which is used in barium meals and enemas, to help show up structures in our alimentary tract.
Besides the baryte, a lesser quantity of witherite (barium carbonate mineral, BaCO3), smithsonite, calcite and iron pyrites were also found.
Witherite
Witherite is barium carbonate ( BaCO3), a rare mineral, especially since it easily alters to the more common mineral Barite. It alters when sulfuric acid from sulfide minerals dissolves the Witherite, and the sulfur combines with the barium element to form Barite. Witherite is also formed from Calcite that loses the calcium element which instead gets replaced by barium, thus forming Witherite in the process.
Smithsonite
Smithsonite, or zinc spar, is zinc carbonate (ZnCO3), a mineral ore of zinc. At times the zinc may be partially replaced with other elements. This is responsible for the colour variations this mineral exhibits. Copper is responsible for green to blue colouring, and cobalt causes a pink to purple colour. Cadmium makes Smithsonite yellow, and iron gives it a brown to reddish-brown colour.
Calcite
Calcite is a rock-forming mineral with a chemical formula of CaCO3. It is extremely common and found throughout the world in sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Some geologists consider it to be a "ubiquitous mineral" - one that is found everywhere. Calcite is colourless or white when pure but may be of almost any colour—reddish, pink, yellow, greenish, bluish, lavender, black, or brown—owing to the presence of diverse impurities. It may be transparent, translucent, or opaque. Its lustre ranges from vitreous to dull; many crystals, especially the colourless ones, are vitreous, whereas granular masses, especially those that are fine-grained, tend to be dull.
Iron pyrite
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a superficial resemblance to gold, hence the well-known nickname of fool's gold. The color has also led to the nicknames brass, brazzle, and Brazil, primarily used to refer to pyrite found in coal. Pyrite is the most common of the sulfide minerals.
As well as the mine ruins, the bare heaps of mining waste remain, contaminated with lead, and on which little will grow. The few plants that will are known as ‘lead plants’ – spring sandwort and alpine penny-cress. Spring sandwort is characteristic of limestone areas, where it grows on scree, pavements and grassland as well as old lead mines. It requires reduced competition, and the bare spoil heaps suit it well. Its British distribution centres on northern England, on the limestone, but it is also found in north Wales, the Peak District, the west of Ireland and scattered areas of Scotland and England. Unlike the commoner spring sandwort, alpine penny-cress is almost entirely restricted to rocks or soils enriched with lead or zinc. It is found on the lead spoil heaps and also river gravels, and, rarely, on outcrops of rocks which contain metals. Again, its main centre of distribution is in the northern Pennines. It can be fairly easily distinguished from other penny-cresses by its violet anthers. It does not actually require lead to grow – lead is normally toxic to plants, reducing root cell division, for example – but has developed an ability to grow there and to enjoy the reduced competition from other plants.
So this is an earthcache, in order for you to log your find, I ask that you complete a series of questions and send them to me, please do not include them in your log. However, please do log when you send your questions.
- Please have a look at the notice board, at what gradient was the inclined plane driven?
- Where was Thomas Daniels from?
- Please look around the site, what name does the pump and angle have?
- Please look around the site, can you see any evidence of any of the minerals that were found along with the galaena? Please describe what you find.
- Look at the area of spoil, why is there no or little vegetation on it? What effect do you think the weather will eventually have on this area compared to the surrounding fields?
- What colour is the spoil, please describe what it consists of?