Stanghow Mine

Overview

A Cleveland ironstone mine between Guisborough and Stanghow, worked from the early 1870s through a long succession of owners — George Withes, the Stanghow Iron Company, Downey & Co. and finally Cochrane & Co. — and closed in the mid-1920s. It stood on private land at about 133 metres, a mile and a half from Spa Wood.

History

Stanghow was at work from the early 1870s: Buddlepit gives the mine as worked from 1872 and the Wikipedia table of Cleveland mines gives 1873. Its ownership changed more often than most. George Withes is recorded in 1875, the Stanghow Iron Company from 1881 to 1888, Downey & Co. in 1889, Stanghow Iron Co. Ltd in 1890-91, Cochrane & Co. from 1892 and Cochrane & Co. Ltd from 1894. The mine closed in the mid-1920s, in 1925 on the Wikipedia table and 1926 on Buddlepit, with Cochrane's tenure running to 1928 on the same entry — a spread of dates that the sources do not resolve between them. It sat in the same tight cluster of workings as the mines already in this archive: Spa Wood a mile and three-quarters off, Spa a mile and a half, South Skelton just under a kilometre, Boosbeck a mile and a third. Its ore, like theirs, went to the Teesside furnaces.

Geology

The mine worked the Cleveland ironstone of the Lias, the bedded Jurassic ore of the Cleveland Hills, at about 133 metres above sea level on the moor edge south-east of Guisborough.

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

Workings

Buddlepit classes the working as a mine rather than a drift or a quarry, and the Wikipedia table marks it likewise; no description of its shafts, drifts or plant was found in the sources read.

Closure

The mine closed in the mid-1920s. The Wikipedia table of Cleveland mines gives 1925, Buddlepit gives the working period as ending in 1926, and Buddlepit's own owner list runs Cochrane & Co. Ltd to 1928.

What remains

The site is private land. Nothing of its present state was established from the sources read for this pass.

Nearby mines

• Aysdalegate Mine — 0.7 km S
• South Skelton Mine — 0.9 km N
• Boosbeck Mine — 1.3 km N
• Spa Mine — 1.5 km W
• Spa Wood Mine — 1.7 km W

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 gives the mine as worked from 1872 to 1926; the Wikipedia table of Cleveland ironstone mines gives 1873 to 1925 at NZ654156. (disputed) ^1,2
• George Withes in 1875, the Stanghow Iron Co. from 1881 to 1888, Downey & Co. in 1889, Stanghow Iron Co. Ltd in 1890-91, Cochrane & Co. from 1892 and Cochrane & Co. Ltd from 1894 to 1928. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Ironstone mining in Cleveland and North Yorkshire — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Stanghow Mine — Buddlepit Mine Database (from Northern Mine Research Society data)

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