The rise and fall of the lead mines
The nineteenth century was a boom time for the sleepy villages and farmhouses of the North Pennines. High quality lead had been mined in the area for centuries, but the introduction of new technology harnessing the power of water and steam meant production could be stepped up. For a few decades in the 1800s, hundreds of people flocked from other parts of the country to be part of Hunstanworth's lead mining success story.
Hill farmers have also made a living from the moorlands around Hunstanworth for hundreds of years, grazing their hardy flocks on the rugged hilltops and improved pastures in the valleys. Usually, lead mining families combined work in the mines with grazing livestock on an allotment, creating landscapes of small cottages dotted on the hillsides with field strips attached to them.
These pages chart the growth of lead mining in Hunstanworth, the ingenuity that went into its operation, its eventual demise - and the industry that grew from the materials the lead miners had thrown to one side.
