A - Arkengarthdale
2025
I live in the Yorkshire Dales and never tire of the beauty and specific characteristics of each of the many dales, there are over 50 dales in the area but most people only know of the main ones: Wharfedale, Wensleydale and Swaledale. Most dales have a tributary dale such as Littondale off Wharfedale and Waldendale from Wensleydale.
Today the Yorkshire Dales is a much visited tourist destination but in the past it was a hive of activity, especially in farming and lead mining.
One of the thriving lead mining areas was in Arkengarthdale and it is this dale that I will focus on for this short article.
Arkengarthdale
Arkengarthdale is a remote valley in the Yorkshire Dales, now designated as the Yorkshire Dales National Park, England. Arkengarthdale is midway between the east and west coasts of Northern England and seventy miles north of the city of Leeds.
Arkengarthdale is the most northern dale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park; however, Teessdale and Weardale are further north but not within the National Park. Arkengarthdale today is sparsely populated and the moors still show evidence of the once prolific lead mining industry. The narrow road from the small town of Reeth, at the junction with Swaledale, passes through the villages of Arkle and Langthwaite reaching the highest pub in England, the Tan Hill Inn.
Today it is hard to imagine the noise, grime and activity which the residents will have lived with day in and day out. The lead mining industry itself was noisy with the blasting, digging, building and rushing water of the hushes; hushes were used to clear the top layer of soil and vegetation to expose the surface for the veins of lead.
The constant noise of hammering metal on metal was also present from the many blacksmiths needed to manufacture iron products and to shoe the numerous horses required for the lead mining and for the residents in the dale. The children walking to school and the families going about their daily life in nailed boots and clogs will have sent a clattering noise through the dale as well as the trundling of carts and horses; the carts, or waggons, on rails carrying lead were called bouses.
The process of lead mining, a dangerous and laborious task, had different stages; the miners worked underground and children were employed to scrape the lead from the flues. The flues ran up the hillside ending with a large chimney, remains can still be seen today.
It was also a hive of activity above ground once the lead had been extracted. The lead had to be sorted and cleaned, known as dressing, before being smelted in furnaces to melt the lead which was poured into moulds creating blocks; water wheels were used to create the power to work the bellows.
Some of the jobs recorded in the census returns are:
· Lead miner – these were the most numerous
· Waggoner
· Lead ore dresser – this was often done by boys
· Clogger
· Shoemaker
· Blacksmith
· Mason
· Lead ore smelter
· Lead ore washer – this was often done by boys and women
· Lead agent – this was a prestigious role
Lead mining was poorly paid and many men also worked as farmers running their own smallholding to supplement the wages and to provide food for the family. It wasn’t unusual to see entire families working in lead mining.
Arkengarthdale is synonymous with CB. CB are the initials of Charles Bathurst whose family had owned Arkengarthdale since purchasing the land in 1656. Charles Bathurst, a descendant, developed a lead mining business employing many of the workers living in the dale, mainly in the villages of Arkle Town, Langthwaite and Booze. The image below shows the rear of the old peat house, carpenter shop and blacksmiths to one side of CB Yard, the main office was also situated in the yard along with some cottages for workers.
An important consideration when researching the lead mining families of Arkengarthdale is migration. Men and families came to the Yorkshire Dales from Cornwall and Derbyshire to use their transferable mining skills but once the lead ore reserves began to decline, in the latter part of the 19th century, the men and families migrated out of the dale to find employment. Some went to the cotton mills in Lancashire and many others emigrated to America and Australia.
If you would like to know more for your personal research please contact me stating your family of interest.
https://uwfs.org.uk/a-short-tale-of-two-smelt-mills/
www.mylearning.org/stories/lead-mining-in-the-yorkshire-dales/69
1861 census www.ancestry.co.uk