Category Archives: Ironstone

Ironstone

Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum, More Work

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Myself and other members of the Cleveland Mining Heritage Society also cleared the location of the early Cookes ventilator where we removed undergrowth from the masonery.
Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum, Skinningrove
Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum Work Day,
As a reward for helping out, we were allowed to look into the drift which is not open to the public.Inside is a hole in the wall which was opened when the museum was first developed, this leads over a flooded shaft. This would have been blocked then ventilation moved to other machinery.
Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum, Skinningrove
Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum Work Day,
A second short shaft also goes upwards, into the back of the mine recreation part of the museum.
Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum Work Day,
There also a small bypass tunnel, to get you past the machinery when it was in use.
Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum Work Day,

Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum, Work Day

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Several difficult to access areas of museum have become overgrown, so myself and some friends volunteered to help. The main area looked at was the Waddle Fan pit which was full of moss and rubbish.
Waddle Fan, Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum, Skinningrove
Several members of our group descended into the pit to remove the debris
Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum Work Day,
Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum Work Day,
Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum Work Day,
By the end of the day the pit was scrubbed clean and good for another few years.
Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum Work Day,

Upsall Pit

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The remains of Upsall Pit are now heavily covered in undergrowth, although the outline of the reservoir and spoil heap can still be identified

The pit was 564ft deep and sunk in the 1850s – 1860s, it is the lowest point of the Eston Mines so was used in pumping water from the mine and ventilation as well as providing access for men and tubs.
The row of houses know as Barnaby Moor or Pit Top (now demolished) were still in existence but deserted in the late 1940s.
Upsall Well
This concrete cover marks the location of the village well.

This extract from ‘A Century is Stone’ by Craig Hornby gives much more detail.

1884 Bible Christian Church, Eston

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The ‘Bible Christians’ were a Methodist denomination formed in 1815 and centered on Devon and Cornwall.
1884 Bible Christian Chapel, Eston
I think there’s a very strong possibility that miners from that area migrated to Cleveland to work in the mines and brought this specific brand of religion with them, as emigrants from Devon and Cornwall also took the religion to America and Canada.
1884 Bible Christian Chapel, Eston
The church name ceased to exist in 1907 when they merged to become the United Methodist Church which itself merged in 1932 to become the Methodist Church of Great Britain.

Grave of Thomas Carlton, Blast Furnacemens Secretary

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While walking in Linthorpe Cemetary I noticed this large obelisk erected to commemorate Thomas Carlton.
Thomas Carlton - Blast Furnacemens Secretary
It includes the interesting inscription ‘Erected by the blast furnacemen in recognition of deceased in the service as their secretary, more especially in assiting to secure shorter hours of toil’
Thomas Carlton - Blast Furnacemens Secretary
A little digging in the newspaper archives uncovered these details from his obituary on January 6th 1899.
Thomas Carlton - Blast Furnacemens Secretary

Thomas Carlton was the Secretary of the Cleveland and South Durham Branch of the National Federation of Blast-furnacemen. Originally from Lincolnshire he moved to Cleveland in 1871 and worked in the ironstone mines, presumably at Upleatham Mine as he was president of the Marske Institute when it opened in 1875.

He helped secure an 8 hour working day for blast furnacemen at Ormesby, Seaton Carew and Carlton Ironworks (reduced from 12 hours) around 1894.

The picture from the Flickr Photostream of Bolckow shows a banner featuring the same portrait.

Cleveland and Durham Blastfurnacemens Association

Charles Acklam Tyreman Grave, Kirkleatham

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Charles Acklam Tyreman was killed in the Eston Ironstone mines on September 2nd 1907 aged 23
Charles Acklam
He was kirving (a coal mining term for undercutting) in the bottom part of the seam when a piece of stone suddenly burst away from a natural break in the upper part of the seam, and, falling upon him, caused fatal injuries.

Rushpool Hall

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Rushpool Hall has very strong links to the ironstone industry, especially as it is built from main seam ironstone from the Skelton Shaft mine, for John Bell of the Bell Brothers company between 1862 and 1865. After Bells death in 1888 another ironmaster Sir Arthur Dorman of Dorman Long lived in the house.
Rushpool Hall
Rushpool Hall
The hall was nearly destroyed by fire on 20th February 1904 after which it was renovated and lived in by Sir Joseph Walton, colliery owner and MP.

In later years it became a boarding school in the 1940s and switched to its current role as a hotel in 1986 (thanks to Callum for the update in the comments)

Bridge between Cargo Fleet Ironworks and Cargo Fleet Wharf

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This bridge crossing the main railway now stands isolated behind Dockside Road and the back of the South Tees Motor Sports Park which covers the location of the Cargo Fleet Ironworks
Bridge to Cargo Fleet Wharf
Its inaccessible from either end, presumably to stop vandals throwing things onto passing trains as crossing wouldn’t actually get you anywhere.
Bridge to Cargo Fleet Wharf
Dave Walsh then quickly posed an interesting question about whether this was actually the bridge that carried the Cleveland Railway to the Normanby Jetty, to which I didn’t know the answer. Looking at the 1894 map there are actually two adjacent bridges, the northern one going to the Cargo Fleet Wharf and the southern one going to the Normanby Jetty used by Bell Brothers to transport ironstone to their works at Port Clarence.

The 1915 map appear the show the southerly bridge gone, leaving only the remaining one to the Cargo Fleet Wharf, but i’m by no means certain of all its functions over the years so any additional information would be welcome.

Update : Simon Chapman has kindly shared a 1972 photo of the bridge with me. In front of the bridge on the right can be seen the remaining parapet of the Cleveland Railway bridge to Normanby Jetty which was subsequently demolished. On the left of the photo is Normanby signalbox which controlled the junction for mineral traffic into Cargo Fleet Works.