Grassington Moor Mines

Overview

Grassington Moor, in the hills above Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales, was one of the most extensive lead-mining landscapes in northern England, worked from at least the 16th century to 1880 under the Duke of Devonshire, and dominated today by the 1,600m flue and chimney of its Cupola smelt mill.

History

Mining on Grassington Moor began on a small scale in the 16th century. By the early 19th century the Duke of Devonshire's Mineral Agents were exploiting the lead veins intensively, sinking deep shafts and putting water to ingenious use to power ore crushing, sorting, ventilation and the smelt mill's bellows. A Cupola smelt mill was built in 1792, with two coal-fired reverberatory (‘cupola’) furnaces, a roasting furnace and a slag hearth; between 1821 and 1861 the mines produced 20,273 tonnes of lead and employed around 170 people. To recover lead lost in waste gases, an elaborate flue nearly 1,600 metres long was built in the 1850s, with two brushwood-filled condensers along its course; workers periodically scraped and washed the flue out by hand — a dangerous and unpleasant job — channelling the recovered material to settling ponds above the mill. In 1849 the mill's original two chimneys were demolished and replaced by a single 18-metre chimney, which still stands at the end of the flue. Work at the mines on Grassington Moor stopped in May 1880. The spoil heaps were later reworked for barytes, fluorspar and residual lead, most intensively between 1916 and 1920 and again between 1956 and 1963.

Geology

The workings follow two main lead-bearing seams running roughly northwest to southeast across the moor.

Workings

Mine shafts, engine houses, ore-processing works, drainage channels and ropeways for distributing mechanical power survive across the moor; the powder house at Beever Mine, used for storing the gunpowder needed for deep shaft mining, survives nearly intact.

What remains

The chimney and much of the flue survive, having been repaired by the Earby Mines Research Group in 1966 and 1971; the site is a scheduled monument, and the locally run Grassington Mines Appreciation Group documents and maintains it, with Subterranea Britannica funding shaft-protection fencing and interpretive signage in 2021.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• Between 1821 and 1861, the mines on Grassington Moor produced 20,273 tonnes of lead and employed around 170 people. ¹
• The Cupola smelt mill, built in 1792, was linked to its 18-metre chimney by nearly 1,600 metres of flue, built in the 1850s to recover lead lost in waste gases via two brushwood-filled condensers. ²
• The mill's original two chimneys were demolished in 1849 and replaced by the single 18-metre chimney that still stands on Grassington Moor today. ²
• Following the Earby Mines Research Group's repairs to the chimney in 1966 and 1971, Subterranea Britannica funded shaft-protection fencing and interpretive signage on the moor in 2021. ^2,3
• Spoil heaps on Grassington Moor were reworked for barytes, fluorspar and residual lead, most intensively between 1916 and 1920 and again between 1956 and 1963. ¹

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Multi-period lead mines and processing works and 20th century barytes mill on Grassington Moor — Historic England
2. (secondary) Cupola smelt mill — Out of Oblivion
3. (secondary) Grassington Moor Lead Mines — Subterranea Britannica

Record created: 19 August 2026 · Last researched: 20 August 2026