Winterings Mine

Overview

A lead-mining area above Gunnerside in Swaledale, notable chiefly for its bale hills -- open-air bonfire smelting sites predating Yorkshire's first purpose-built smelt mills -- surviving today as slag scatters and grass-covered depressions across Winterings Edge, Winterings High Scar and Winterings Gill.

History

Before smelting mills began to be built in Yorkshire in the late 16th century, lead ore was smelted on open hilltop bonfires known as bales or boles, sited on exposed ground where the wind would fan and intensify the fire. Several such bale sites survive across the high ground at Winterings, above Gunnerside Gill: grey and black slag scatters and grass-covered circular depressions -- probable bale hills -- have been recorded at Winterings Edge, Winterings High Scar and Winterings Gill. One site's unusually black, vitreous slag indicates a more sophisticated smelting technique was used there than at comparable locations nearby, and this site is thought to be of a somewhat later date. Establishing precisely when bale smelting began or ended at any individual site is difficult -- lead had certainly been mined and smelted in the wider Swaledale area since Norman times, if not earlier, with mining recorded on Grinton Moor and in Arkengarthdale by medieval times, and the earliest recorded purpose-built smelt mills, at Marske and Marrick, dating to 1588 and 1592 respectively. Lead mining in Swaledale as a whole reached its peak during the 18th and 19th centuries, when the dale's mines were among the most productive in the country; the last of the Swaledale and Arkengarthdale mines closed in 1912.

Geology

Lead of the Yorkshire orefield, the ore first smelted in the open air on hilltop bale hearths, using the wind to raise the heat.

Workings

Worked initially by open-air bale smelting -- burning ore on exposed hilltop bonfires to use the wind to intensify the heat -- with several separate bale sites surviving across Winterings Edge, Winterings High Scar and Winterings Gill.

Closure

No closing date for the mine itself is recorded; the last of the Swaledale and Arkengarthdale mines closed in 1912.

What remains

Bale sites survive as grey and black slag scatters and grass-covered circular depressions across the high ground at Winterings.

Multiple bale-hill sites, identified by slag scatters and circular depressions, across Winterings Edge, Winterings High Scar and Winterings Gill.

Recorded claims

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

• Before smelting mills began to be built in Yorkshire in the late 16th century, lead ore was smelted on open hilltop bonfires known as bales or boles, sited on exposed ground to let the wind fan and intensify the fire. ¹
• Grey and black slag scatters and grass-covered circular depressions -- probable bale hills -- have been recorded at Winterings Edge, Winterings High Scar and Winterings Gill; one site's unusually black, vitreous slag indicates a more sophisticated smelting technique and a somewhat later date than comparable sites nearby. ¹
• Lead mining in Swaledale reached its peak during the 18th and 19th centuries, when the dale's mines were among the most productive in the country; the last of the Swaledale and Arkengarthdale mines closed in 1912. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Bale Hills in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale (British Mining No. 8) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Lead Mining in Swaledale — Yorkshire Dales National Park

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 31 August 2026