Scordale

View along Scordale, demonstrating the steepness of the valley sides. Remains of industrial processes can be seen along the valley, even on very steep slopes. ©English Heritage Rugged, remote Scordale, with its steep slopes, dramatic streams and stark limestone buttresses, lies within the boundaries of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). It is also designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Special Protection Area (SPA). The valley forms part of the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Warcop Training Area and public access is therefore tightly restricted. Flowing through the valley is the Scordale Beck, which is a tributary of the Hilton Beck and part of the catchment of the River Eden. Scordale’s natural beauty is overlain by an artificial landscape created, in large part, by over 400 years of mining, principally for lead, which finally ceased in the early 20th century. Industrial remains extend for nearly 3kms along the valley, including, in addition to dozens of mine entrances and trial workings, the sites of mills, tramways, processing areas and waste heaps. Water was used to power machinery, to refine the ore, and to expose the mineral-bearing outcrops by the process of ‘hushing’, which involved the release of water from reservoirs high on the valley sides. Consequently, the system of water management was complex and frequently modified, leaving reservoirs, channels and drains scattered across the valley sides. The national importance of all these remains is acknowledged in their designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

View north along Scordale showing Scordale Beck flowing through the valley. ©English Heritage However, the Scordale Beck, which at one time powered the industry, is now threatening to erode away the heart of the scheduled monument. Over the past few years, catastrophic flash floods after winter rains have reduced the abandoned industrial buildings to piles of rubble and have undermined waste-heaps. This erosion has both revealed and damaged buried structures and surfaces which may represent the earliest phases of mining on the site. Downstream, it is also threatening the fringes of an extensive Bronze Age field system with associated hut platforms, also designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Further downstream, the flooding and sediment distribution has also impacted upon the modern landscape, undermining field walls, roads and footpaths near the village of Hilton. To understand why these problems are occurring and to help formulate a strategy for future management of the river system and conservation, the Eden Rivers Trust, in collaboration with the MoD, commissioned a study of the flow and migration of the river, which was conducted by Durham University’s Geography Department. This study pointed out that as well as local topography and climate change, historic human land-use, particularly the dumping of waste material from the lead mines, was a factor in the dynamics of the river system. However, the importance of this was unclear without a detailed understanding of the nature and scale of the industrial activity. In order to make sense of the interaction between the natural and artificial factors and also to address the conservation issues, it was apparent that an analysis of historic environment factors was also necessary.

An example of an ore bin in Scordale. This stone-built structure, which incorporates a natural boulder, has a curved rear wall and was one of a series of six interlinked, open-fronted bins which were used to store lead ore removed from the mines, prior to processing. Photo by Alun Bull ©English Heritage To this end, English Heritage’s Research Department has carried out a detailed analytical survey of the whole valley, working with the MoD (who are part-funding the study), Durham University, the North Pennines AONB Partnership, and the Eden Rivers Trust. The results of the project will inform the preparation of recommendations for the conservation and management of Scordale. The methodology for the archaeological survey has had to be tailored to the restrictions of an active military firing range to which access is only available for a few days each year. Where complex industrial landscapes are concerned, evidence for the processing method, for where specific activities were carried out, and for change over time can only be gleaned by detailed examination of the surface remains. Faint earthworks, timber posts, differences in the colour and texture of waste material, discarded artefacts and stratigraphic relationships can all offer vital clues. Experience has demonstrated that this level of observation Stone-built arch marking the entrance to a mine level high on the valley sides in Scordale. Historic map evidence suggests that this was the level known as Jacques Level. Photo by Alun Bull ©English Heritage  and analysis is best achieved by ground-based analysis and survey. However, to maximise the value of the limited recording time on the ground, detailed survey, using highly accurate survey-grade GPS, is being restricted to the most complex and threatened remains at the heart of the complex. Digital aerial photography (commissioned by the MoD) was used as the basis for an overall transcription of the valley margins, principally to record topography and plot the more obvious archaeological features, such as quarries and waste-heaps.  Rapid ground survey was undertaken on the available open-access days between 2006 and 2008 to enhance the transcription and bring together the results, allowing in-depth analysis. Ground-based photogrammetry was also used to record the areas where erosion is most severe as part of a ‘preservation by record’ strategy. English Heritage commissioned small-scale excavations, carried out by North Pennines Archaeology, to gauge the condition of the most threatened remains and record them before they are inevitably destroyed. The results of the whole suite of investigations will be published in English Heritage’s Research Department Report Series.

View towards Great Augill with industrial remains in the foreground. Both lead and barytes were extracted from the area around Great Augill and remains of these processes still survive there. Photograph by Bob Skingle ©English Heritage Scordale can be accessed by the general public, but only on specified days, as advertised by the MoD. Access is limited to the public footpaths through the valley, as the there are many serious risks, including unexploded munitions, open and flooded workings, precipitous slopes and loose scree.

The investigations in Scordale are contributing to English Heritage’s 5-year research programme entitled ‘Miner-Farmer Landscapes of the North Pennines AONB’, which is being undertaken in partnership with the North Pennines AONB Partnership. This project is designed to investigate the impacts on the landscape around Alston of 2000 years of lead and minerals extraction, and the farming and settlement that accompanied the industrial activity. Through the research, predictive models and methodologies that can be applied elsewhere within the AONB will be developed, contributing to the Joint Accord on the historic environment signed in 2004 by English Heritage, Cadw and the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This Accord represents a commitment by the three organisations to work in partnership to promote the conservation, understanding and public enjoyment of heritage within the AONBs.

 
For more information on the Scordale project, contact Abby Hunt abby.hunt@english-heritage.org.uk.