Bowes Cross Mine

Overview

Bowes Cross was a lead mine in the parish of Bowes on the Yorkshire side of Stainmore, returned in the 1888 List of Mines under a company of its own name. It takes that name from one of the hamlets of the township. The parish has a long mineral history — coal at Tan Hill from the fourteenth century, and lead rights bought and sold from the seventeenth — but almost nothing has been established about this particular working.

History

The parish of Bowes is composed of the township of Bowes, containing the hamlets of Bowes Cross, Stoney Keld, Gallow Hill — where the lords of Bowes had their gallows — Low Field, Mellwaters, Sleightholme, Spital Houses, Applegarth Forest and part of Tan Hill, together with the township of Gilmonby. The mine takes its name from the first of those hamlets. Mineral working in the parish is very old, though it is coal that dominates the early record: the Earl of Richmond had coal mines at Tackan Tan in 1387-8, which in that year were 'not accounted for this year because Lord de Clifford claims the soil unjustly', and a coal mine in Whitgyll in Esgyll within the lordship of Bowes belonged to the owner of Richmond in 1436. Coal was still being worked at Tan Hill in the twentieth century, in small quantities. The lead rights changed hands repeatedly. In 1670 a group of freeholders — Christopher Hamby, John Hamby, Ralph Clavering and Mary his wife, William Riddall and Margaret his wife and Matthew Middleton — conveyed all minerals, lead and coal in Bowes, Sleightholme, Stonykeld and Spital to Sir John Lowther, baronet, together with the profits of the toll of Bowes. In 1724 Wingate Pulleine, who held Bowes Manor in trust for the freeholders, granted the manor and all its minerals and tolls to Peter Hammond and his heirs. And in 1771 all mines of lead in the parish of Bowes were conveyed by Charles and Thomas Christopher, Elizabeth Christopher, and William and Jane Tatham to George Hutton. The mine itself appears in one line of one return. The 1888 List of Mines enters Bowes Cross at Bowes in the North Riding, owned by the Bowes Cross Mining Company. No opening date, workforce, output or closure is recorded in anything read for this account.

Geology

The subsoil of the Bowes township is Yoredale Rocks, with tracts of Millstone Grit forming the fells to the south — the alternating limestones, shales and sandstones of the Carboniferous that carry the lead of the northern Pennines in near-vertical veins, richest where a vein crosses a competent bed. This is the western edge of that orefield, on the Stainmore ground between Teesdale and the Eden valley. No source read for this record names the vein Bowes Cross was working.

Geological setting: Veins and Lodes (historical documentary reference)

Workings

Not established. Nothing read for this record describes the shafts, levels, dressing arrangements or workforce of this mine.

Closure

No closure date has been established. The mine was returning in 1888; the general collapse of British lead against imported ore through that decade and the next closed most of the small ventures on this ground, but nothing read here says when Bowes Cross stopped.

What remains

Not established. No dated site report or photograph of this mine has been found.

Not established. Nothing read for this record describes what survives at the site.

Nearby mines

• Faggergill Mine — 7.6 km S
• Punchard Gill Mine — 10.2 km S, Yorkshire
• Cragg End Flag Stone Mine — 10.5 km S
• Moulds Side Mine — 10.7 km S, Yorkshire
• Arkendale Mine — 11.2 km S

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 1888 List of Mines records Bowes Cross at Bowes in the North Riding of Yorkshire, owned by the Bowes Cross Mining Company. ¹
• The parish of Bowes is composed of the township of Bowes, containing the hamlets of Bowes Cross, Stoney Keld, Gallow Hill, Low Field, Mellwaters, Sleightholme, Spital Houses, Applegarth Forest and part of Tan Hill, and of the township of Gilmonby. ²
• In 1670 Christopher Hamby, John Hamby, Ralph Clavering and others conveyed all minerals, lead and coal in Bowes, Sleightholme, Stonykeld and Spital to Sir John Lowther, baronet, with the profits of the toll of Bowes; in 1724 Wingate Pulleine granted the manor and all minerals to Peter Hammond; and in 1771 all mines of lead in the parish of Bowes were conveyed to George Hutton. ²
• There were coal mines belonging to the Earl of Richmond at 'Tackan Tan' in 1387-8, when they were 'not accounted for this year because Lord de Clifford claims the soil unjustly', and a coal mine in Whitgyll in Esgyll within the lordship of Bowes belonged to the owner of Richmond in 1436. ²
• The subsoil of the Bowes township is Yoredale Rocks, with tracts of Millstone Grit forming the fells to the south. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) 1888 List of Mines under the Metalliferous Mines Act: Lead Mines (Durham District) — Mines Department, via the Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Parishes: Bowes, in A History of the County of York North Riding, Volume 1 — Victoria County History, via British History Online

Record created: 5 September 2026 · Last researched: 5 September 2026