Carlin How Mine

Overview

One of Bell Brothers' Cleveland ironstone mines, opened in 1873 within Mr Wharton's royalty and worked wholly by hand. It was raising three thousand tons a week when a contemporary account described it, with a hundred and fifty hands and not a machine among them.

History

Bell Brothers opened Carlin How Mines in 1873, in the ground of Mr Wharton's royalty above Loftus, thirteen miles west-north-west of Whitby. It was one of a group the firm worked along this coast: the Cliff Mines had been started in 1860 and were worked out by the time of the description that records them, Huntcliffe was opened adjacent in 1871, and Lumpsey followed in 1882. The same account gives Carlin How's weekly output as about three thousand tons, obtained wholly by hand mining, with a hundred and fifty hands employed. The Lists of Mines return ironstone from Carlin How in every year from 1873 to 1924. Employment was 164 in 1883, dipped to 135 in 1894 and climbed steadily afterwards — 209 in 1902, 254 in 1905, 272 in 1910 — before ending at 334 in 1924, of whom 248 worked below ground. The mine passed with Bell Brothers into Dorman, Long and Company in April 1923. It is known locally as Duck Hole, and the published family and local histories of the district give its working life as 1873 to 1924, with the Carlin How ground abandoned as worked out by 1944.

Geology

The Cleveland Ironstone Formation of the North York Moors, the seam that made Middlesbrough: worked here by adit and drift into the hillsides above the coast rather than by deep shaft.

Workings

Worked wholly by hand mining in the period the contemporary description covers, with about a hundred and fifty hands raising some three thousand tons a week. The neighbouring Bell Brothers mines were worked the same way: Huntcliffe, opened in 1871, is described as an adit drift with the stone won by hand and a hundred hands employed.

Closure

The official returns end in 1924, and the local histories give the mine's working life as 1873 to 1924. The Carlin How ground is described as worked out and abandoned by 1944.

What remains

No account of the mine site as it now stands has been found. Carlin How itself remains a village above Skinningrove, where the ironworks that the district's mines fed still operated into the twenty-first century.

None recorded.

Related mines

• Cliff Mine — One of Bell Brothers' four east Cleveland ironstone mines, described together in Bulmer's directory of 1890 as a single undertaking spread along the coast: Cliff from 1860, Huntcliffe from 1871, Carlin How from 1873 and Lumpsey from the early 1880s, all passing to Dorman, Long and Company in April 1923.
• Cragg's Hall Mine — The two are described together in Bulmer's account of Brotton parish in 1890 and lie a short distance apart, but they were not the same firm's: Cragg's Hall was Pease and Partners' and Carlin How Bell Brothers'.
• Huntcliffe Mine — One of Bell Brothers' four east Cleveland ironstone mines, described together in Bulmer's directory of 1890 as a single undertaking spread along the coast: Cliff from 1860, Huntcliffe from 1871, Carlin How from 1873 and Lumpsey from the early 1880s, all passing to Dorman, Long and Company in April 1923.
• Lumpsey Mine — One of Bell Brothers' four east Cleveland ironstone mines, described together in Bulmer's directory of 1890 as a single undertaking spread along the coast: Cliff from 1860, Huntcliffe from 1871, Carlin How from 1873 and Lumpsey from the early 1880s, all passing to Dorman, Long and Company in April 1923.

Nearby mines

• Loftus Mine — 0.2 km E
• Kilton Mine — 1.7 km W
• Lumpsey Mine — 2.4 km W
• Huntcliffe Mine — 2.6 km NW
• Cliff Mine — 3.2 km NW

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.

• A contemporary description transcribed by the Durham Mining Museum records that Carlin How Mines were opened out by Bell Brothers in 1873 and lie within Mr Wharton's royalty, that the weekly output is about three thousand tons obtained wholly by hand mining, and that a hundred and fifty hands are employed. ¹
• The same description sets Carlin How among Bell Brothers' neighbouring workings: the Cliff Mines, commenced in 1860, whose output in 1880 was 58,332 tons and whose ironstone was worked out by the time of writing; Huntcliffe, opened adjacent in 1871, worked by an adit drift with the stone won by hand and a hundred hands employed; and Lumpsey, commenced in 1882. ¹
• The official returns give 164 employed in 1883, 135 in 1894, 209 in 1902, 254 in 1905, 272 in 1910 and 334 in 1924, of whom 248 were below ground. Ownership passed from Bell Brothers Ltd to Dorman, Long and Company Ltd in April 1923. ¹
• The Farndale family history, working from census records and local sources, gives Carlin How mine — also known as Duck Hole — as operating from 1873 to 1924 under Bell Brothers, and the nearby Cragg Hall ironstone mine at Carlin How as working from 1871 to 1892 for the same firm. One of its subjects, John Farndale, was still an ironstone mines deputy with Bell Brothers at Carlin How in 1921, aged nearly seventy. ²
• The contemporary account of Carlin How and its neighbours, which the Durham Mining Museum reproduces on several of its pages, is from Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire of 1890, in the entry for Brotton parish. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Carlin How (Ironstone) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) The Ironstone Miners — The Farndale Story
3. (primary) Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire (1890), Brotton parish — Bulmer's Directory, transcribed by GENUKI

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