Force Crag Mine

FORCE CRAG MINE, CUMBRIA

 English Heritage's Landscape Investigation Team undertook a field survey of part of Force Crag Mine, which was, prior to its final abandonment in 1991, the last working metal mine in the Lake District. The investigation was carried out in partnership with the National Trust, which owns the site and is seeking in the short term to safeguard the dilapidated buildings and other surface remains, and perhaps in the long term to present them as a visitor attraction. Force Crag Mine occupies a spectacular location at the head of the remote Coledale Valley, 7kms west of Keswick, and the remains are scattered over an area of 75 hectares (185 acres). The site was mined for lead from 1839 until 1865, and for zinc and barytes from 1867, with varying success by a string of different companies.

We did not attempt any survey below ground, but the entrances of the five 'levels' (horizontal tunnels) that comprised the Low Force Workings were examined, along with the lowest of the High Force Workings. Tramways, initially with trolleys hauled by hand or pony and later by diesel engines, were used to bring ore and spoil to the surface and slight traces of these can still be identified, although the rails have long since been taken away for scrap. Explosives - gunpowder in the 19th century and later dynamite - were kept in a separate building well away from the main areas of activity; the later of two such stores still stands.

 The towering crag that provides the spectacular backdrop to the mine inevitably made it difficult to transport the ore from the levels on the valley sides to the mills on the valley floor where the ore was crushed and washed. The problem was solved by different ingenious means at different dates, reflecting improvements in technology improved. There are traces of tracks, tramways, a channel for lslushing' the ore (that is, moving it by the force of water) and an aerial ropeway, which worked like a ski-lift. Below ground, a vast inclined tunnel was dug to link the High Force Working with the Low Force Workings.

 The surviving crushing mill, built in 1908-9 and redesigned in 1939-40, was evidently remodelled frequently, and careful study of the building has improved the understanding of how it evolved. Early photographs show the building soon after it was built and other documentary sources shed further light on how the ore was processed at various dates. The sites of two 19th-century mills were also identified: evidence survives for water wheels, washing areas and settling tanks. Water was the primary source of power until the middle of the 20th century, so numerous cisterns, dams and leats (artificial water channels) were built.

The Coledale Valley is open to the public (although there is no vehicular access), but unauthorised entry into the mill building and the mines themselves is illegal and potentially dangerous.

The full report (ref: AI/1/1999) can be ordered online. For more information, contact: Alastair Oswald at English Heritage's York Office on 01904 601901 or e-mail al.oswald@english-heritage.org.uk