Spa Mine

Overview

One of two ironstone mines a hundred metres apart in the Slapewath gap, on the Skelton side of Alumwork Beck where Spa Wood lay on the Guisborough side. Different companies worked different royalties on either bank. Spa was opened by Bell Brothers in 1864, worked by Gjers, Mills & Co. from 1872 and closed in 1904; its site is now under a large scrapyard.

History

Spa was opened in 1864 by Bell Brothers and worked from 1872 by Gjers, Mills & Co. Ltd, who held it until it closed in 1904. It stood on the north, Skelton side of Alumwork Beck at Slapewath, within a hundred metres of Spa Wood on the Guisborough side; the two were worked by different companies on different royalties and are separate mines despite the names. One death here is recorded in detail. On 7 June 1883 Joseph White was on only his second shift at Spa. He had been a soldier for seven years and had returned from India a few weeks before. He was working alone, his mate being off for the day, and having fired a hole he was filling a wagon when the stone came down and killed him on the spot. The inquest found that he had fired his hole and begun to fill the wagon without trying the stone the shot had loosened, and that for want of a little care and forethought he had lost his life. By an unhappy coincidence the neighbouring Spa Wood mine also lost a man on 7 June, seventeen years later: John William Walker, a deputy of thirty-seven, killed by a fall while drawing a jud.

Geology

The mine worked the Cleveland ironstone of the Lias, the bedded Jurassic ore of the Cleveland Hills, here at about 120 metres above sea level on the northern side of the Slapewath gap.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Worked by both drift and shaft, on the Wikipedia table's classification of the Cleveland mines — the drift driven into the valley side and a shaft sunk as well, the usual arrangement where the ore could be reached from a hillside but ventilation and winding wanted a second opening.

Closure

The mine closed in 1904, after thirty-two years under Gjers, Mills & Co. Spa Wood on the other side of the beck outlived it by more than twenty years.

What remains

The site is covered by a large scrapyard and is private land. Where Spa Wood's remote powder house survives in the woods on the other bank, nothing comparable is recorded here.

Nothing is recorded as surviving: the accounts read describe the site as covered by a scrapyard, in contrast with the buildings and powder house that survived at Spa Wood across the beck.

Related mines

• Slapewath Ironstone Mine — Both worked the Cleveland ironstone in the Slapewath gap within a few hundred metres of each other, Slapewath from a drift and shafts south of Hollin Hill Farm and Spa across on the Skelton side of Alumwork Beck.
• Spa Wood Mine — Spa and Spa Wood lay within a hundred metres of each other on opposite banks of Alumwork Beck at Slapewath, worked by different companies on different royalties; each lost a man on 7 June, seventeen years apart.

Nearby mines

• Spa Wood Mine — 0.3 km W
• Stanghow Mine — 1.5 km E
• Aysdalegate Mine — 1.6 km SE
• South Skelton Mine — 1.7 km NE
• Waterfall Mine — 1.9 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.

• Buddlepit records the mine as worked from 1864 to 1904, under Bell Bros. in 1864-65 and Gjers, Mills & Co. Ltd from 1872; the Wikipedia table of Cleveland mines gives Spa at Guisborough, 1864-1904, worked by drift and shaft at NZ639158. ^1,2
• Spa and Spa Wood were two ironstone mines within a hundred metres of each other at Slapewath, Spa on the Skelton side of Alumwork Beck and Spa Wood on the Guisborough side, operated by different companies working different royalties. ³
• Joseph White, a former soldier recently back from India, was killed at Spa on 7 June 1883 on his second shift: working alone, he had fired a hole and begun filling a wagon when the loosened stone came down on him. The inquest attributed it to his not having tried the stone the shot had loosened. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Ironstone mining in Cleveland and North Yorkshire — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Spa Mine — Buddlepit Mine Database (from Northern Mine Research Society data)
3. (observational) Spawood and Spa Ironstone Mines — Out & About (fhithich.uk)

Record created: 12 September 2026 · Last researched: 12 September 2026