Hidden Teesside

The stone is mentioned in the first preamble of the Duncombe Estate from 1642, other than that very little is known of its origins or the reason for the carving.

23 local scenes from 1994/1995 by the blacksmith Chris Topp from designs by Stephen Abbey, Humphrey Holland, Richard Albanese and Pete Douglas. , situated between the Regent cinema and the boating lake.

They all contain letters which form a riddle (answers on a postcard)

One very unusual artifact in the Whitby Museum is a Hand of Glory.

Reputed to be the hand of a hanged man which gives the owner the powers of a master thief.
I’ll leave the detailed descriptions of the item and its magical powers to the museum and wikipedia

More from the archives.

I’m struggling to find any reference to the origins of the naval mine that stands next to Saltburn Pier, presumably its from the war, but I don’t know which.

I do recall that from time to time munitions are washed up on Saltburn beach from wartime wrecks.

With the nights closing in, I’m having to trawl my old photos for new material.

On the Rosedale Railway, at the head of the incline down towards the Farndale mines are the remains of a hand powered windlass.

Many other scraps of railway embankments and cuttings lie in the immediate area.

The actual mine site lies to the west within a scrapyard, this circular structure houses a 60ft shaft which was used to pump water out of the mine.

It was also said to have housed a wooden staircase to allow access to underground stables.

The Cleveland Extension Mineral Railway was proposed in the 1870s to run from Kilton Thorpe to the ironworks at Glaisdale, the contractor was John Waddell.

With the collapse of mining in Eskdale the line was never completed although embankments and cuttings for the line can still be seen in several places.

The Station Hotel was also built in anticipation at Moorsholm, but the railway never materialised.

The two capped shafts at Liverton are unusually close together.

The smaller diameter upcast shaft plaque reads :-

Mine Shaft
Depth 143m
Dia 3.75m
Capped 7-4-90

The larger downcast shaft reads

Mine Shaft
Depth 143m
Dia 4.53m
Capped 8-5-90

The rest of the area including the shale tips has been heavily landscaped with a couple of nearby buildings being the only clue to the once industrial site.

The footpath down Hummersea steps cuts right through the remains of the Alum House for the Loftus Alum Quarries.

The remains of the building are fast eroding out of the cliff and will likely be gone within a few years.

A three story building with a large chimney was photographed on the site around 1900, by 1910 it was a complete ruin with only a couple of small wall remnants left.

Its seems like an eternity since I posted any new pillboxes, so here’s one from Hummersea above Skinningrove

Its flooded inside, so no internal shots.

North Skelton mine hold a number of records. It was the last ironstone mine in Cleveland to close, having operated from the early 1870s until the 17th January 1964. It was the deepest mine in Cleveland with a 770ft shaft. It was the last in Cleveland to use a regularly use a steam winder, right up until 1951 (although Lingdale did keep one in working order as a backup until closure in 1962)
Little remains today as the site is within the current premises of Tees Components who very kindly allowed our small group to photograph the remaining buildings.

The winding house with its 1871 date stone and small door in the wall for winding ropes is the most substantial original structure.

Other original buildings remain, although they have been modified for other uses.

Outside the site is a small headframe, although the real thing was very different as can be seen against the winding house
 

Loftus Alum works began operation in the 1650’s and ran until the 1860’s and cover roughly half a mile on a quarried shelf below the cliff. Alum is a mordant for fixing dyes to cloths.

The quarrying process has left large sandstone cliffs at the back of the quarries

The quarries themselves are still barren with little vegetation ever having returned to the slopes.

After quarrying the alum shale was burned for many months in large mounds called clamps, a process called calcining. Areas of burned red shale can be seen on the site, although its possible these are from natural fires at a later date rather than clamps.

There are the remains of several steeping pits, where the burnt alum shale would then have placed in water to dissolve the alum salts, these are rapidly nearing the cliff edge and will erode away in a few years time.

Carved stone troughs can also be found which would have transported liquids around the site.

The alum liquor would have been transferred into a tank or cistern to allow any particles to settle out, a double walled circular cistern can be still be seen protruding from the edge of the cliff.

The settled liquor would then have been transferred to the Alum House where it was concentrated by evaporation until a specific concentration was reached, said to be the point where an egg would float in it. Akali (usually kelp or urine) was then added and the alum crystals formed as the liquid cooled.

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE WALK
Sunday 13th September

Around Grosmont and Esk Valley

Meet outside St. Matthew’s Parish Church
At 1pm for a short walk
Over Lease Rigg
Return approx. 5pm

Details will include Hagg’s mine and Esk Valley mine, description of mining methods and tour of loco sheds.
Exhibition inside the Church.

Walk led by Simon Chapman
Author of Grosmont and it’s mines.
Refreshments included

Skelton 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.

Also a Blacksmiths and Joiners workshops.

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. 

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.

The “Docks” are actually a set of six water troughs beside the road

The origin of their name is unclear, the only explanation around seems to be that a “wag” named them that (not the footballers wife type)

I had no information on this, but have received the following from June Murray, Secretary of Stanghow Residents’ Group :-
The Blacksmith was made from old horseshoes by Graham Wattis, a retired welder from Stanghow. It was commissioned by Stanghow Residents Group and erected in July 2008 opposite the site of the old forge (now a house named the forge).

This attractive commemorative village name sign carved by Phil Townsend depicts numerous mining scenes on tiles made by local children, hopefully a new generation now won’t forget why the town exists.

Widely considered to be a whipping post, but I have heard it suggested it may be nothing more than an old sign post.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

Nearby are some reconstructions of an ironstone tub and kibble.

Unveiled as part of the recent wave of Redcar Heritage plaques.

The New Inn, Coathams first Hotel was built 1760 “for the accomodation of sea bathers”, become the Waterloo tavern in 1825, closed 1865.