Show on mapSkelton Park is the most complete set of ironstone mining buildings left in Cleveland, the mine was operated by Bell Brothers between 1872 and 1923, then Dorman Long through to 1938.
The most substantial building on site is the Main Winding House, dated 1872. This housed a steam winding engine which wound cages in the adjacent 384ft deep downcast shaft. The roof of this building was intact until late 1994 when it finally succumbed to the elements.
  
 
The largely intact Power House originally housed an air compressor for drilling and haulage, attached to this are a small ambulance room and time office.
 
The impressive Schiele fanhouse building also houses the 378ft deep upcast shaft. The different coloured 8ft of bricks at the top of shaft date from its conversion to also be winding shaft as well as ventilation.
 
 
Next to the fanhouse is a Secondary Winding House, its construction suggest it was modified for hauling in the upcast shaft and may originally have been used during construction of the downcast shaft which can be seen from the window.
 
Numerous other ranges of mine buildings still exist, such as a saddlers shop and Provinder House used for preparation of feed for the horses.
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Also a Blacksmiths and Joiners workshops.
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A substation from the electrification of the site in 1909 is shown below, the base of a chimney, weighbridge, boiler pump house, horse gins and a couple of powder magazines are also hidden away within the site.Â
Please note that the mine site is on private land and the mine managers house approached from Skelton Ellers has been converted into a private residence so should not be visited. That said the path from Back Lane in Skelton is heavily used by dog walkers. A detailed survey of the site can be found in the excellent “Skelton Park Ironstone Mine” by Simon Chapman.
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Excellent post – very informative.
Have had another look at these excellent photographs and it has to be said that this really is a fantastic site. Does anyone know what the current status of the site is? Is it a working farm, or purely a residence? I believe from previous comments that the site is owned by S & G Estates but as we can see from South Skelton (another S & G plot?) they appear to have abandoned that site completely, with little attempt made to either keep the site in use or even secure it in any way.
The buildings are listed, but unfortunately that also makes it very difficult to undertake repair work to stop them falling down.
in terms of the surrounding land, it is largely a working farm, but mamanged from another farm in the area. I imagine the pople lving in the farmhouse have either rented or leased the building as a home. On that basis i guess the buildings are not put to any faming related use, as such buildings, for obviouls reasons, need to be secure
I believe park house was sold in the late 80s ,the Thomas’s were the last tenents of Skelton estates .
When they lived there I was a regular visitor and me and Ian who lived there at the time opened a door on a toilet building within the mine and thought’people have been in here recently’ as there was a lot of graffiti on the walls. When we read it it had been done by the miners,I remember one saying ‘Gerry is coming!’ and another with last train loaded and some names underneath .Why this was in the loo god only knows!
Shame to see how much the site has deteriorated in the last 20yrs or so.
Great site Chris,as I now live in Norfolk need a regular fix of good old Cleveland industrial remains
The substation shown above appears to be of similar construction style to the one built at Spawood.
The electric substation was built in 1910 and is similar to the one at Spawood – but Spawood was the first Cleveland mine to get an outside electric supply (from the new power station at Grangetown) so the sub-station there is possibly unique. As the supply was extended and more sub-stations were built they became standardised and differed in detail from Spawood e.g. the first floor is supported by a long rivetted girder on the front whereas other buildings used concrete instead.
I live at park house now and the land is owned by \skelton Gill and the land around is farmed, this is private land but we have many visitors
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great pictures and very ineresting,i live in whitby now but i lived in teesside when i was at school,did not know about the buildings at skelton,used to go to the old fanhouse [ss castle ]as it was known by us
wow i wonder what it is like now…
wow i wonder what it is like now…
and great pictures i love them i wonder what it wold be like to be a miner now and to be one back then
I had a walk up there today and was surprised to hear a large amount of water flowing at the bottom of this shaft https://www.flickr.com/photos/11065676@N00/3832298169/
Its brick work had collapsed to the point where I could look over the side and listen. It sounded like quite a large flow, surprising because I wondered where the water might be flowing to/from.
The shafts go through lots of geology that allows water in, so you hear it falling inside.
https://ourindustrialheartland.co.uk/2017/03/29/skelton-park-shaft-section/
Most likely it eventually ends up at Saltburn Gill via the interconnected mines.
https://restorerivers.eu/wiki/index.php?title=Case_study%3ASaltburn_Gill_ironstones_mines
Used to mess about in those buildings way back in the late 60s/early 70s got chased away from there many a time
Whats it like these days? Are you able to get up the buildings still without people thinking you are there to commit crimes..
Its still private property as it always was, the Cleveland Mining Heritage Society are up there with permission every week looking after the buildings.
https://ourindustrialheartland.co.uk/2017/04/11/skelton-park-nissen-huts/
So wouldnt really be able to get up there to take some pictures?
There may be opportunity for some public visits over the next couple of years as part of the “Our Industrial Heartland” project that we started a couple of months ago. Keep an eye on that http://www.ourindustrialheartland.co.uk/
i used to leave there 1987 !! the number of animals that randomly disappeared was surprising… down a shaft was always suspected… that house used to scare the crap out of me !! the house subsided by nearly 10 inches in 12 months so we moved before it disappeared as well!
Is it OK to visit the mine or is it private land. I hope that one day it will be restord to proserve it for future generations.
Its private land although that has some some way to protecting it (even though the buildings are in a bad way)
Cleveland Mining Heritage Society have been working there for a number of years to try an protect the buildings from further damage and decay.
I lived in Park End Cottage woo to 2004. Nice place but spooky.
2000to 2002.
ActuallyI lived inThe cottage 1998 to 2000.