INDUSTRIES 



HEMATITE MINING 



A history of haematite mining in Cumber- 

 land would be incomplete without some 

 reference to the subject in its earliest infancy. 

 Unfortunately, very few trustworthy records 

 are obtainable prior to the dawn of the 

 Victorian era, and this precludes the possi- 

 bility of any connected account being given 

 of the early working of this important mineral. 

 Judging however from the slag heaps that are 

 found scattered over the mountains and dales 

 of many parts of the Cumberland lake dis- 

 trict, where small veins of haematite are 

 known to exist in the syenite and other 

 older rocks, it may be safely asserted that as 

 far back as the time of the Romans iron ore 

 was worked and smelted by the primitive 

 methods then in use. 



In Mr. J. D. Kendall's recent work, en- 

 titled The Iron Ores of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, mention is made of an iron ore mine 

 in the parish of Egremont near Whitehaven, 

 as far back as the twelfth century, and the 

 same author also refers to iron ore having 

 been worked intermittently at Yeathouse in 

 the parish of Arlecdon during the seventeenth 

 century. These doubtless were merely sur- 

 face scratchings. Hutchinson states that 

 there was 'at Crowgarth (in Cleator parish) 

 the most singular mine of iron ore supposed 

 to be in Great Britain,' and that 'in 1790, 

 and 1791, the annual exportation from this 

 source to the Carron foundry in Scotland, 

 amounted to over 2O,OOO tons.' The same 

 author also says that ' in the parish of Arloch- 

 den (Arlecdon) freestone, iron ore, coal and 

 limestone are found and worked.' 1 



It was not until about the year 1825 that 

 the value of the Whitehaven district as an 

 important mining field began to be appreci- 

 ated, and that any regular and systematic 

 working of haematite was attempted. The 

 early pioneers in the discovery and opening 

 up of the great mineral wealth, which was 

 destined to play so important a part in the 

 iron industry of the country during the reign 

 of Queen Victoria, were Mr. Anthony Hill 

 of the Plymouth Iron Works, South Wales, 

 Mr. R. Barker and Messrs. Fitzsimmons & 

 Co., who under leases from the Earl of 

 Egremont began to work the outcrop ore at 

 Bigrigg in the parish of Egremont, and that 

 near the surface at Crowgarth in Cleator 

 parish. No certain record of the output 



raised at this time seems to be obtainable, but 

 that the lessees mentioned were fairly success- 

 ful is evidenced by the fact of other mining 

 adventurers shortly afterwards commencing 

 operations. In Mr. Kendall's work already 

 referred to, two instances are given of the 

 finding of old oak spades about this time, 

 one at Langhorne in Egremont parish, and 

 the other at Yeathouse in Arlecdon parish. 

 Another instance of the relics of ancient 

 mining came under the writer's own obser- 

 vation when working (about the year 1872) 

 a shallow deposit of ore on the Crossfield 

 estate near Cleator Moor, and within a short 

 distance of the Crowgarth mine mentioned 

 by Hutchinson. At about 5 or 6 fathoms 

 from the surface, several rounded pieces of old 

 oak were found, which had the appearance of 

 having been parts of old mining implements, 

 showing that workings had been carried on 

 here also at a very early date. 



The first records of the quantity of iron 

 ore raised in Cumberland are given by Mr. 

 Richard Meade, assistant keeper of mining 

 records, in his work entitled The Coal and 

 Iron Industries of the United Kingdom. He 

 gives the output and the number of mines at 

 work in the year 1849 as follows : 



1 History of Cumberland, ii. 30, 89 (published 

 1794)- 



Between the years 1849 and 1855 there does 

 not appear to have been any complete 

 record of output kept, but from the latter 

 year onwards, the total annual quantity 

 raised is given in the Board of Trade mining 

 returns. The outputs from the individual 

 mines are not shown until the year 1872, 

 when the first metalliferous Mines Act came 

 into operation. Tables containing these out- 

 puts will be given and made use of here- 

 after. The output of iron ore for the year 

 1855 was 200,000 tons, showing an increase 

 of 100,788 tons over that of 1849. This 

 increase of production clearly proves that 



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