Yorkshire Dales - A Lead Grey Mystery Tour
by Henk Francino
The lead-grey sky and driving rain were not particularly inviting and eventually drove me indoors. But who am I to complain? Just a cyclist in the Dales.
"Give me a shout if you need help", said Jim who went on cling-clanging a piece of iron with his hammer on the anvil in the old Gunnerside smithy.
A couple of hours ago I was following a maze of paths and minor roads up Argengarthdale. I could have done with a booze but the only thing I found just north of Booze (NZ 014024) were the remnants of a disused lead mine. Some years before I also saw these remnants while walking in the area with my wife Martha. Then I considered them to be a few witnesses from a far away industrial past. But now I felt intrigued. It was not just the one mine shaft I stumbled across. While cycling and stumbling on I heard mysterious voices whispering names into my wind-beaten ears: ...AlcockHush..., ...Windegg..., ...Stang...
I passed Shaw Farm (NZ 005052) and slipslided down to Whaw Bridge where I crossed an Arkle Beck in full spate. Taking the path to Great Punchard Gill the strong westerly wind started gusting and almost succeeded in blowing me out of the saddle.
On Whaw Moor the ghosts of the lead mining industry returned and I inspected the remnants of Danby and Stone's before having an al fresco lunch at Routh Level. While munching my sandwiches I imagined the world here in the 19th century. The miners walking up the hill, wielding their jumpers (crowbars) and hacking the ore out of the seams. The air filled with noises, people moving around, the throbbing of pumping machinery, the heat of the sumpter pots in which the ore was melted...
And here I sat alone, at the beginning of the 21st century, in a deserted landscape where wind and rain washed away the images. Continuing my journey in the present I passed Agnes and Punchard (NY 946043) heading for West Moor. Here I found out I had left my camera at the Routh Level mine, so back I went and recovered my photographic memory.
A couple of fords and two wet feet later I struck the road at Tan Hill. Leaving the Pennine Way to the drowned walkers I flew down the parallel road along Stones Dale. Cream tea and scones in Keld undrowned me a wee bit, enough to climb up to Crackpot Hall and beyond.
Kisdon Force had turned into a raging fall, the white foam on muddy brown water reminded me of a gigantic pint of good-for-your-thirst Guinness. But that had to wait. A tiresome climb up to Swinner Gill (NY 912012) followed before I could cycle on.
One mile further down the path there suddenly was this enigmatic character. I simply had to stop because he was blocking my way.
"Listen", he said, "Can you hear this whistling sound?"
I put off my hood and only heard windy noises, splattering rain and the call of an angry crow, but no whistling.
"Blind Gill always sings in this type of weather", he went on, "take heed!"
Before I could say "Amen" he seemed to have vanished into thin air and I was left to guess what he meant. I took this mystery with me downhill into Gunnerside. Here I spotted the Smithy Museum where old Jim Calvert let me in.
The Calvert family have wielded the smith's hammer for over two hundred years now. Father Jim and son Stephen had just started the museum (2003) and by doing so they hope that both the history of the smithy and that of the lead mining industry will not be lost to future generations. I had a good look round and read a lot about the smith in relation to his surroundings. Most of his work was, and partly still is, carried out for the farmers in and around Swaledale, making and sharpening scythes and sheep shears, making collars for the cattle, milk and butter pails, fences, hammers for the construction of stone walls, etc. Many artefacts and old photographs gave a vivid impression of times gone by.
The exhibition on the lead mining industry, though, drew most of my attention. Here came alive the images and ghosts I had seen during the past hours. The smith used to make lots of tools for the miners, such as hammers, pick-axes, jumpers, crowbars, etc.
Galena (lead ore) has been known in Swaledale for ages, even the Romans knew about it. One exhibit, a newspaper cutting about the death of John Thomas Rutter, was particularly interesting. Rutter, who died in January 1975 aged 90, was the last lead miner. He worked in Blind Gill (Gunnerside Moor), and also Ill Pun chard and Fagger Gill, Argengarthdale, where his wife came from.
When I had finished my tour of this cosy and highly informative museum, John's son Stephen came in. We started chatting about the lead mining industry and I mentioned my exploits high up on the hills. When I told him about my encounter with this mysterious character near Blind Gill, Stephen's face turned lead-grey as if he had just seen a ghost. Or had I?
The Smithy Museum at Gunnerside opens during the Easter Period and remains open to the public until the end of the summer season.
Map used: OS Outdoor Leisure 30 1:25,000, Yorkshire Dales, Northern & Central Areas.