INDUSTRIES 



Henry Fletcher, Tallentire ; and in 1709 

 his son, Mr. James Lowther, purchased the 

 reversion. 



From that time the Lowthers bought coal 

 property in Distington whenever opportunity 

 offered ; and in 1737 Mr. John Brougham 

 of Scales, who purchased the manor when it 

 was sold in 1720, under a decree of Chancery, 

 on the Fletcher family becoming extinct, con- 

 veyed it to Sir James Lowther. 



In 1694 Mr. Lamplugh was working a 

 colliery at Stubscales. North of Boonwood 

 fault, Gunnerdine Level, driven from Stubs- 

 gill to Moss Pit, West Croft, drained the old 

 Main Band pits, sunk on the outcrop ; and 

 south of the fault Rugard's or Castlerigg level, 

 made from the hillside, near Bottom Bank, 

 to Rugard's or Castlerigg Pit, served a similar 

 purpose. 



Although the records are scanty, coal was 

 worked continuously during the eighteenth 

 century at Distington. In 1768 a colliery 

 was working at Boonwood, Distington, at 

 which there was a cinder oven. In 1781 Mr. 

 Crosthwaite worked the Three Feet or Six 

 Quarters Seam at Moss and High Pits, on 

 his own property, at Gunnerdine near Boon- 

 wood ; and Sir James Lowther was working 

 the Metal Band ( 1 2 fathoms under the Main 

 Band) at Moor Gate and Moss Pits, also known 

 as Gunnerdine Colliery. The Main Band at 

 those pits and the adjacent Glaister Pit had 

 been exhausted at that date, up to the outcrop. 

 Mr. Walker had then a pit, 19 fathoms to 

 the Yard Band, north of Mr. Crosthwaite's 

 Moss Pit. In 1805 Jackson Pit was at work 

 in Mr. Crosthwaite's royalty. In 1806 the 

 output of Moss and Moor Gate Pits, Gun- 

 nerdine, still worked by Lord Lonsdale, was 

 6,581 tons. In 1812 Lord Lonsdale's Gun- 

 nerdine Colliery consisted of Moss and Ru- 

 gard's Pits, with an output of 3,258 tons. 

 In 1813 Mrs. Martin was working two thin 

 seams of coal from two ' bearmouths ' at Fisher 

 Beck near Prospect House. Coal was drawn 

 at Gunnerdine Colliery until 1815, when 

 Bottom Bank Colliery superseded it. In 

 that year Stubscales or Dyan Pit was sunk to 

 the Main Band, 36 fathoms. In 1820 there 

 were three 'cinder' ovens at Castlerigg Pit, 

 which was worked in connection with Bot- 

 tom Bank Colliery. In 1831 Jane Pit, Boon- 

 wood, belonging to Mr. Allinson Crosthwaite, 

 was drawing coals from the Bannock and Four 

 Feet Seams. In 1845 Bottom Bank Colliery 

 was abandoned. The Main Band and the 

 seams underneath, viz. the Metal, Two Feet 

 and Three Feet Bands, had been worked from 

 Boonwood fault to the line of Parton drifts. 



From 1845 to J 85i the Dyan Pit was 



the only colliery worked by Lord Lonsdale 

 in Distington. 



In 1859 Mr. Ralph Tate worked a colliery 

 at Commonside. In 1863 he took a lease of 

 Haycastle Colliery, Distington, where he 

 worked the Yard Band until 1872. 



In Gilgarran Captain Robertson Walker 

 began mining coal about 1830. He had 

 three pits from which the Yard Band was 

 worked at depths varying from 10 to 20 

 fathoms. He had also six ' cinder ' ovens. 



In 1843 Mr. Ralph Tate worked the Gil- 

 garran Pits sunk by Captain Walker. Lack 

 of capital compelled him to desist in 1854. 



The next coal-mining at Gilgarran was 

 in 1872, by a company in which Messrs. 

 Mackenzie and Main were interested. After 

 reopening the old Yard Band Pits, the com- 

 pany abandoned active operations in 1875. 



In 1866 Mr. James Rankin put down 

 Greyhound Pit at Studfold near the Dean 

 boundary. He worked an upper seam, 2 ft. 

 6 in. thick, at 25 fathoms, and the China 

 Band, 4 ft. thick, at 35 fathoms ; but the 

 workings in both seams were very limited. 



After the closing of the Gilgarran and 

 Haycastle Pits no coal was worked in Dis- 

 tington until 1880, when the Moresby 

 Coal Co., Ltd., completed their Oatlands 

 Pit to a depth of 1 08 fathoms, whence the 

 Main Band was won by a short drift. Since 

 that date the Main Band has been worked 

 over a large area to the south-west, and 

 to the west up to the great ' nip ' lying 

 immediately to the dip of the Old Gunner- 

 dine Colliery. At the same pit the Bannock 

 Band has been and is being worked exten- 

 sively in conjunction with the Main Band ; 

 and the China Band has been worked to a 

 less extent. 



Records of coal-mining in the parish of 

 Moresby date back to 1680, when Mr. 

 Thomas Addison was working Howgate 

 Colliery, and Mr. Thomas Tickell (Sir John 

 Lowther's agent) had a colliery at Goose- 

 green. 



In 1693 Howgate Colliery was still at 

 work, whilst Mr. Richard Sanderson and Mr. 

 Henry Birkett were working adjacent pits in 

 Moresby ; and Sir John Lowther began the 

 working of Lattera Colliery, which drained 

 into a level made from the ghyll, descending 

 to Lowca Beck, near Moresby House. 



The output from Lattera Colliery in 1695 

 was 1,387 tons, derived from the Little Main 

 and Yard Bands. 



In 1697 the owners of the copper mines 

 in Dunnerdale, Millom, erected works in 

 Moresby for the smelting of their ore with 

 coal. 



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