Old Gang Mines

Overview

Old Gang, high above Gunnerside in Swaledale, was one of the largest and most productive lead-mining complexes in the Yorkshire Dales, and its smelt mill survives as one of the best-preserved — and most structurally complex — in the whole of the North Pennines.

History

Lead has been worked in this part of Swaledale since Roman times, but the extensive remains visible today date mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, when Old Gang grew into one of the dale's most productive mines, worked by hundreds of men and boys who dug, crushed and smelted ore straight from the surrounding hillside in often severe weather and dangerous underground conditions. An early smelt mill here was superseded by a larger mill, probably built in 1846, which processed ore brought down from the workings at Hard Level Gill and Friarfold as well as Old Gang's own hushes, levels and shafts. Falling lead prices from the 1880s, driven by cheap imported ore from Spain and the United States, made the operation increasingly uneconomic; smelting activity wound down through the 1890s and had ceased entirely by 1903, after which any remaining local lead was smelted instead at Castleside Mill in County Durham.

Geology

The mines worked lead-bearing veins in the Carboniferous rocks of the northern Pennine orefield, the same broad mineralised belt that runs through Swaledale and Arkengarthdale.

Geological setting: Hydrothermal Deposits (well documented example), Veins and Lodes (well documented example)

Workings

The complex includes an older smelt mill and a large ore-dressing floor alongside levels, hushes and shallow shafts, feeding the later, larger mill; a spoil heap over 500 metres long testifies to the scale of the operation. The surviving mill building, roughly 24 by 10 metres, still stands to roof height in places and contains the remains of a wheelhouse, a slag hearth and three ore hearths, along with a roasting hearth and a separate silver hearth; its tall square chimney remains intact. An adjoining peat store, built of limestone and around 400 feet long with 39 bays, supplied fuel for the smelting hearths.

Closure

Smelting had effectively ceased by the early 1900s as falling lead prices made the operation uneconomic against cheaper Spanish and American imports.

What remains

The smelt mill and its flue are Grade II listed, and the peat store carries a separate Grade II listing; the whole site — including the older mill, mine workings, a miners' hut and a bridge — is a Scheduled Monument, and is considered one of the best-preserved and structurally most complex lead smelt mills in the North Pennines.

Substantial ruins survive across the site: the smelt mill standing to roof height in places, its intact chimney, the long limestone peat store, and the extensive spoil heaps and hush scars on the surrounding moorland.

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.

• Smelting at Old Gang wound down through the 1890s and had ceased by 1903, after which local lead was smelted instead at Castleside Mill in County Durham. ¹
• The mill building measures roughly 24 by 10 metres and survives to roof height in places, containing a wheelhouse, slag hearth and three ore hearths; the associated peat store runs to around 400 feet with 39 bays. ^1,2

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Old Gang Mill — Wikipedia
2. (primary) Lead mines, ore works and smeltmills at Old Gang on Reeth High Moor, Reeth, Fremington and Healaugh — Historic England (Scheduled Monument List Entry 1015860)
3. (primary) Old Gang Mine Plan (BGS Mine Plans Catalogue) — British Geological Survey

Record created: 22 August 2026 · Last researched: 22 August 2026