Roanhead Iron Mine

Overview

One of the major haematite deposits of the Furness iron field, between Barrow and Ulverston, worked by top slicing and controlled for three generations by the Kennedy family.

History

Roanhead was one of the principal ore bodies of the Furness haematite field, worked using top slicing -- removing ore in successive slices and allowing the roof to crush down onto the void left behind, a method also used at the neighbouring Park, Mouzell, Elliscales and Lindal Moor mines. Mineral leases at Roanhead were held by the Kennedy family from before 1857, inherited by Myles Burton Kennedy from his grandfather Charles Storr Kennedy; the firm of Kennedy Brothers, which Myles Burton went on to control, described Roanhead as consistently profitable ('a winner'). Myles Burton Kennedy joined the board of the North Lonsdale Ironworks Company in 1889 -- a firm his own father had helped launch as vice-chairman in 1873 -- later becoming its chairman, a position he held until his death in 1928, when the Roanhead leases passed to his son Nigel.

Workings

An engine bed for the mine's No. 16 Pit, originally catalogued as a magazine, was modified around 1945.

What remains

A 2013 report found the site heavily overgrown. Surviving remains include concrete bases of the pumping and winding engines at Violet Pit, a small pond marking the site of No. 16 Pit, the No. 16 winding engine bed (converted to an air raid shelter, matching the arched roof already noted from Cumbria industrial-history sources), and Kathleen Pit's changehouse, still standing after 70 years of abandonment.

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.

• Roanhead was worked using top slicing -- removing ore in successive slices and letting the roof crush down on the void -- a method also used at the neighbouring Park, Mouzell, Elliscales and Lindal Moor mines. ¹
• Mineral leases at Roanhead were held by the Kennedy family from before 1857, passing from Charles Storr Kennedy to his grandson Myles Burton Kennedy and then to Myles Burton's son Nigel on his death in 1928. ²
• Violet Pit, Roanhead Mine is listed as a site of clear national importance in the Cumbria industrial heritage sites table. ¹
• Myles Kennedy leased the mineral rights at Roanhead in 1852; the mine worked a series of named pits including Violet, Rita, Nigel, Kathleen, Betty, Wilfred and Plunger, with the pumping engine moved to Violet Pit in 1901 and operated there from 1912 to 1942. ³
• Roanhead worked until 1942, when the last deposit was exhausted; the mines are said to have produced around 11 million tons of ore in total. ³

Sources

1. (secondary) Iron mining — Industrial History of Cumbria
2. (secondary) Myles Burton Kennedy — Wikipedia
3. (observational) Roanhead mines Nr Askam in Furness, June 2013 — 28DaysLater

Record created: 29 August 2026 · Last researched: 29 August 2026