Belmont Mine

Overview

An ironstone mine in the Belmont royalty above Guisborough, leased from the Chaloner family in 1853 and worked until trade collapsed in 1886. It lay idle for twenty years, was reopened by Bolckow Vaughan in 1907-08 and electrified, and finished under Dorman Long, having raised no ore at all in its last decade. Its drift mouth, sub-station and powder house survive above the town.

History

The Weardale Iron and Coal Company leased the Belmont royalty from the Chaloner family in 1853 and began work, their drift entrance driven between Belmangate and Butt Lane. The Buddlepit database, built from Northern Mine Research Society data, records a succession of lessees rather than one: Tow Law Coal & Iron from 1853, the Weardale Coal & Iron Company from 1867, Weardale Iron & Coal from 1872 and Weardale Iron & Coal Co. Ltd from 1875. In 1883 the mine employed 157 men, and in the same year's return it is also recorded standing. A downturn in the trade closed it in 1886, and the Durham Mining Museum's note against the mine is simply '1886 - Abandoned'. The second working began in 1907-08 under Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., from a new drift some 600 metres west of the first. This phase was the larger: 268 employed in 1910, 295 in 1915 and 463 in 1921, the mine's peak. Electricity came in, and the brick sub-station behind the drift mouth probably dates from 1914, when an electric Sirocco fan replaced ventilation by furnace — the older method of lighting a fire at the bottom of a shaft so that the heated air rose and drew fresh air through the workings. Then it stopped almost at once. From 1923 the returns show eleven men, then seven, ten, eight and four, the mine recorded idle in 1929 and 1930, and one account states that no ore was extracted after 1921. Dorman, Long & Co. took it with the rest of Bolckow Vaughan's holdings on 1 November 1929 and the mine closed in 1933. Two deaths are named in the museum's list: William Gardner, fourteen, crushed by tubs while coupling them in 1875, and William Watson, a miner of thirty-three, in 1911.

Geology

The mine worked the Cleveland ironstone, the bedded Jurassic ore of the Lias that runs through the Cleveland Hills, here in the escarpment above Guisborough at about 138 metres.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Drift mining into the escarpment rather than shaft sinking. The first working drove in between Belmangate and Butt Lane; the second, from 1907-08, entered about 600 metres further west. Ventilation was originally by furnace, a fire at the bottom of a shaft drawing air through the workings, and was replaced by an electric Sirocco fan, probably in 1914.

Closure

The first working closed in 1886 in a trade downturn. The second ran from 1907-08 but raised no ore after 1921 on one account, stood idle in 1929 and 1930, and closed in 1933. Sources differ on the final year: the Durham Mining Museum gives 1933, Buddlepit gives the mine as worked to 1929 and Dorman Long as holding it 1929-1933, and a site account gives the second working as 1907-1931.

What remains

The drift entrance has been deliberately blocked for public safety, with the brick electrical sub-station standing behind it and the remains of ceramic insulators still in its back wall. A little further up the hill a powder house stands, now filled with earth. Hunters Hill Farm occupies a large range of buildings that were the mine's stables and workshops, and close to the road a huge concrete wall survives that carried one end of the tipping gantry where railway wagons were loaded. The site is private land.

The blocked drift mouth, the electrical sub-station, the earth-filled powder house, the stables and workshops now at Hunters Hill Farm, and the concrete abutment of the loading gantry. The mineral railway that linked the site to the main line near Hutton Lane can be traced across the fields.

Related mines

• Spa Wood Mine — Spa Wood and Belmont were leased together from the Gisborough estate in 1853 by the Weardale company, and passed through several of the same lessees afterwards.

Nearby mines

• Spa Wood Mine — 2.3 km NE
• Spa Mine — 2.5 km NE
• Waterfall Mine — 2.8 km N
• Aysdalegate Mine — 3.5 km E
• Stanghow Mine — 3.8 km E

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The Weardale Iron and Coal Company leased the Belmont royalty from the Chaloner family in 1853 and worked it until a downturn in trade closed the mine in 1886. ^1,2
• A second phase began in 1907-08 from a drift about 600 metres west of the first, under Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., with an electric Sirocco fan probably installed in 1914 to replace furnace ventilation. ^3,2
• The Lists of Mines give 157 employed in 1883, 268 in 1910, 295 in 1915 and 463 in 1921, falling to eleven in 1923 and four by 1929, with the mine recorded idle in 1929 and 1930. ¹
• The Durham Mining Museum gives the mine as closed in 1933; Buddlepit records Dorman, Long & Co. holding it from 1929 to 1933 and the mine as worked from 1853 to 1929; and a site account gives the second working as 1907-1931 with no ore extracted after 1921. (disputed) ^1,4,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Belmont (Ironstone) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (observational) Belmont Ironstone Mine — Out & About (fhithich.uk)
3. (observational) Belmont Ironstone Mine — Hidden Teesside
4. (secondary) Belmont Mine — Buddlepit Mine Database (from Northern Mine Research Society data)

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 12 September 2026