Spa Wood Mine

Overview

Leased from the Gisborough estate in 1853 alongside Belmont, Spa Wood took eleven years to win its first stone and never found good ore. It worked in fits and starts for seventy years on low-grade ironstone, stopping repeatedly through the depression of 1873 to 1896, and closed in December 1928. Its powder house, built into the hillside well away from everything else, still stands in the trees.

History

The Weardale Coal and Iron Company leased Spa Wood from the Gisborough estate in 1853, on the same lease as the first Belmont mine to the west along the escarpment. Eleven years passed before the first stone was gained, production beginning in 1864, and when it came the ore was of low quality, which set the pattern for everything after: the mine worked stop-start for the rest of its life. During the long depression between 1873 and 1896 operations ceased many times for several years together, hardship that was felt down in Guisborough, where ironstone had doubled the population between 1851 and 1861 and where 1,600 men and boys were recorded as mine workers ten years after that, drawn from all over Britain. Weardale's production ended in 1886.

Sir B. Samuelson and Company took the lease in 1890 and restarted production through the Slapewath shaft, moving the output in 1897 to drifts near the viaduct. The mine was electrified in 1908, and an aerial ropeway was installed as late as 1928. Production finally ended in 1930. Dorman, Long & Company had held the lease since 1917 and kept it to 1933. The Buddlepit database, from Northern Mine Research Society data, gives a different chain — Tow Law Coal & Iron from 1866, the Weardale companies from 1870, Samuelson from 1889 and Dorman Long from 1923 — and Hidden Teesside dates the extraction of ironstone from March 1853 to December 1928; the disagreements are recorded rather than resolved. At Slapewath there were two ironstone mines within a hundred metres of each other in the late 19th century: Spa Wood on the Guisborough side of Alumwork Beck and the separate Spa mine on the Skelton side. In 1935 a picking belt was taken from Spa Wood to the South Skelton mine, which places the dismantling of its surface plant in the mid-1930s.

Geology

The mine worked the Cleveland ironstone of the Lias, as its neighbours did, but the ore here was poor: low quality from the first stone won, which is the reason given for the mine's repeated stoppages rather than any difficulty in reaching it.

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

Workings

Drift mining into the escarpment, with travelling and main drifts side by side, both now bricked up. The surface arrangement ran west from the drifts: offices and workshops, a chimney, two fan houses for ventilating the workings, and at the far west an electrical sub-station from the later years of electrification. The powder house, storing the black powder used in the ironstone mines, was built with thick walls set into the hillside a good distance from everything else, so that an explosion would do as little damage as possible.

Closure

Production ended in 1930, two years after an aerial ropeway had been installed. Dorman, Long held the lease to 1933 and the picking belt went to South Skelton in 1935. Hidden Teesside gives the extraction of ironstone as ending in December 1928 and Buddlepit gives the working period as ending in 1930; the accounts differ by two years.

What remains

The site was bought as a private residence and, in the words of the account that recorded it, should no longer be visited. When it was accessible the offices and workshops were still largely intact, having been part of a scrapyard until recent years; a chimney that stood among them was demolished not long before. The remote powder house in the woods remains the most complete thing on the site. The neighbouring Spa mine is covered by a large scrapyard.

The powder house set into the hillside, the bricked-up travelling and main drifts, the offices and workshops, the remains of two fan houses and an electrical sub-station, approached from the east through large spoil heaps.

Related mines

• Aysdalegate Mine — Aysdalegate's shafts were taken into the Spa Wood mine as ventilation shafts after its own working ended.
• Belmont Mine — Spa Wood and Belmont were leased together from the Gisborough estate in 1853 by the Weardale company, and passed through several of the same lessees afterwards.
• South Skelton Mine — A picking belt was taken from Spa Wood to South Skelton in 1935, after Spa Wood had stopped working.
• Spa 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.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Ironstone was extracted between March 1853 and December 1928 on one account, while Buddlepit gives the mine as worked from 1866 to 1930. (disputed) ^2,3
• East Cleveland's Industrial Heartland gives the Weardale Coal and Iron Company from 1853 to 1890, Sir B. Samuelson and Company from 1890 to 1917 and Dorman Long from 1917 to 1933; Buddlepit gives Tow Law Coal & Iron from 1866, the Weardale companies from 1870, Samuelson from 1889 and Dorman Long from 1923. (disputed) ⁴

Recorded claims

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

• Spa Wood was leased by the Weardale Coal and Iron Company from the Gisborough estate in 1853 along with Belmont, and eleven years passed before the first stone was gained; the ore proved to be of low quality. ¹
• Ironstone was extracted between March 1853 and December 1928 on one account, while Buddlepit gives the mine as worked from 1866 to 1930. (disputed) ^2,3
• Tow Law Coal & Iron from 1866, the Weardale companies from 1870, Sir B. Samuelson & Co. Ltd from 1889 to 1922 and Dorman, Long & Co. Ltd from 1923 to 1934. ²
• A powder magazine, the bricked-up travelling and main drifts, largely intact offices and workshops, the remains of two fan houses and an electrical sub-station were recorded on the site, which has since become a private residence. ³
• Production began in 1864, eleven years after the lease; Weardale's production ended in 1886; Samuelson restarted it in 1890 through the Slapewath shaft and moved output to drifts near the viaduct in 1897; the mine was electrified in 1908, an aerial ropeway installed in 1928 and production ended in 1930. ⁴
• East Cleveland's Industrial Heartland gives the Weardale Coal and Iron Company from 1853 to 1890, Sir B. Samuelson and Company from 1890 to 1917 and Dorman Long from 1917 to 1933; Buddlepit gives Tow Law Coal & Iron from 1866, the Weardale companies from 1870, Samuelson from 1889 and Dorman Long from 1923. (disputed) ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (observational) Spawood Mine Powder House — Out & About (fhithich.uk)
2. (secondary) Spawood Mine — Buddlepit Mine Database (from Northern Mine Research Society data)
3. (observational) Spa Wood Ironstone Mine — Hidden Teesside
4. (secondary) Spa Wood Ironstone Mine — East Cleveland's Industrial Heartland

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