Force Crag Mine, Cumbria: An Archaeological Survey and Investigation of the High Force Working

Author(s): Catherine Grindey, Phil Newman, A Oswald, David Went

Force Crag Mine, which was until 1991 the last working metal mine in Cumbria, is now owned by the National Trust; the 75-hectare (185-acre) site is accessible to walkers throughout the year and the extant processing mill is open to visitors on a number of advertised days during the summer. Following an archaeological survey of the surface remains of the Low Force Workings in 1999, which contributed to an award-winning series of conservation measures undertaken subsequently by the National Trust, in 2007 English Heritage undertook further analytical survey of the adits, buildings, tracks and other remains relating to the more inaccessible High Force Workings. Although mining for barytes in the High Force Workings spanned the hundred years between 1867 and 1967, it comprised five separate phases with a total duration of only 36 years and with one hiatus lasting nearly half a century, between 1881 and 1929. Underground, this part of the mine was the setting in 1949-52 of what has been called “one of the most ambitious mining operations in the Lake District”, but most of the surface remains relate to work undertaken, arguably on an equally ambitious scale, during the 1930s and ‘40s.

Report Number:
21/2008
Series:
Research Department Reports
Pages:
47
Keywords:
Survey

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