The Iron-Age (Nidderdale) Project Mining and Smelting in Dacre and Darley Jim Brophy and Gillian Hovell

Iron-Age (Nidderdale) is a community archaeology project operating with financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and it is now in its third year. It is, however, only the latest of a continuous sequence of projects that started with a course of evening classes organised by the Workers Educational Association (WEA) in 1998 at Summerbridge in Nidderdale which used a site on Dacre Pasture (NGR SE 1815 6025) for practical work. The site, which has been the centre of increasing archaeological activity since then, is on the south side of the ridge that separates Nidderdale from the valley of its tributary, Darley Beck, and it has proved to be a site of enormous interest with a wide range of structures from many eras. There are excellent views that extend eastward over the Plain of York to the Yorkshire Wolds 30 miles away but the shorter view to the south across the valley to Darley village and the rising ground beyond (NGR SE 1940 5880) just one mile away is of particular significance. That rising ground is the south side of the glacial valley of Darley Beck and the opportunity to study it from a distance while working on the main site at Dacre over several years has resulted in a clearer understanding of its terrain. An occasional walk on public footpaths in the area has resulted in more detailed knowledge and some finds of real significance that are related to historic iron extraction and smelting. These include some very obvious bell pits, numerous spoil heaps and the remains of a blast furnace. There are, as always, some features that prompt questions rather than answers. For example there are stone mullions that have been incorporated into a dry stone wall that seem to be the remains of a building of some quality and an unusual stone structure at the head of a shaft or well. To date there has been no formal programme of scientific testing so the dating of finds and features is based primarily on typography as well as informal expert opinion and a small number of X-ray diffraction tests on slag samples. A comprehensive programme of chemical analysis of slags and archaeomagnetic dating are planned for a later stage of the project and the professional identification of geological strata and drift will be sought. A detailed study of the geology is handicapped at present because there is no modern Geological Survey map for the Dacre area, nor it seems is there any indication of a publication date. The sequencing of landscape features does give some indication of age and one particularly useful indicator at Dacre is a layer of soot in the topsoil across the three fields at the centre of the archaeological excavations. This is pollution similar to that found in many industrial areas of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but it can only have been formed here during the medieval era when hundreds of bloomery furnaces were at work together with charcoal burning and other polluting activities. Records of land ownership have also helped the dating process and the fact that Dacre was held by Fountains Abbey for nearly four centuries is particularly helpful since the Cistercians were diligent at recording. After a brief interlude in the post- monastic era the land was held by the Ingilbys of Ripley Castle from the end of the 16th century and some of their documents are also available.

Figure 1: Nidderdale with the upper Washburn Valley in the SW quadrant.

Dacre The work that has been undertaken on the Dacre side of the valley has been extraordinarily productive with a variety of archaeological features including domestic and ritual features but beyond these a wide range of metal smelting and forging sites have been revealed dating from at least the Iron Age to the seventeenth century and raising the possibility that there are remains from any or all of the periods between these limits. The earliest structure on the site is a prehistoric cairn, partly demolished but showing typical characteristics of a Neolithic long barrow and half a mile from that is a Bronze Age barrow. There are two Iron Age settlements half a mile apart and separated by a shallow valley, the western settlement has not been investigated in detail but a number of features are clearly visible. The first project started here because of a quern stone that was found by a local farmer and there followed a typical community archaeology project that involved no digging, the technique being a formalised method of observing and recording the visible structures and the few visible artefacts as well as field boundaries, tracks and water courses. This worked well and a lot was discovered that was previously unknown and in particular there were clearly visible hut circles and compounds from two Iron Age settlements and significantly, a single small piece of iron slag in some rabbit scratchings in the valley that separates the two settlements. This slag was found in red sand close to a small circular feature that was cautiously identified as the remains of a bloomery furnace. No further study was made of this feature as the focus of the project moved elsewhere but a more detailed investigation is planned. The slag was subjected to an inspection and chemical analysis at Bradford University, the conclusion being that it dates from the Iron Age. The western settlement includes a very fine hut as well as four or five enclosures that all merit further investigation The eastern settlement lies at the centre of the main study area for the current Iron-Age (Nidderdale) project and it includes at least eight hut circles, some more obvious than others. It is here that most of the remains of prehistoric metal working have been discovered. Some rectangular features are located adjacent to the western Iron Age. These include the foundations of a hut and a separate enclosure with evidence of stone walls and there is the possibility that these date from the Viking era but no detailed investigation has been completed There are also stone box culverts that were initially thought to be modern agricultural drains but were later discovered to be a Cistercian system for collecting water. The monastic connection is through Fountains Abbey near Ripon which held Dacre as a grange from the early 1100s and carried out the smelting of iron there at least into the fourteenth century and probably until the suppression of the monasteries in the mid-sixteenth Century. There is evidence in the form of mill or forge sites that confirms that water power was the purpose of culverts. Iron smelting and smithing The early WEA project at Dacre was followed by two other general community archaeology projects which continued the discovery process and revealed an especially rich crop of finds related to iron manufacture and it was these discoveries that prompted the current project, the target of which is to excavate eleven specific iron working features. In historical sequence rather than the order of discovery the industrial features seem to have started in the Iron-Age with eight or more bowl furnaces for the smelting of iron. These, like many more features, have been discovered in one of three unimproved fields on the hillside and the top of the ridge. These fields were enclosed by dry stone walls around 1850 but the ground is still rough, acidic pasture with many sandstone and gritstone boulders and stones on the surface. Field clearance and ploughing would have been very difficult and it is our good fortune that the challenge was too great at the time and that the fields remain unspoiled from an archaeological point of view. Another reason for the challenging nature of these fields for the nineteenth century farmers is that there is extensive industrial pollution in the soil, including the layer of soot mentioned above. In addition many furnaces and a few charcoal clamps have also destroyed and polluted the ground directly and the only real option to improve the ground is to remove the damaged soil. This industrial pollution and the exposed position of the site provide an agricultural challenge but benefit an archaeologist because the natural creation of soil has been very slow and many features lie just under the turf at a depth of 10cm or thereabouts and some have even been exposed by the weather and the hooves of grazing cattle. The bowl furnaces were discovered during a purely speculative excavation that was prompted by earlier finds close by and by a single clump of rushes that suggested an impermeable surface below the topsoil. It did become apparent (although not immediately) that this was the case and that the impermeable surface was the clay lining of the hearth of a furnace. The origin of these features was confirmed during excavation by the presence of slag which was best displayed by one particular furnace that provided some quite detailed information.

Figure 2: Bowl furnace with slag (centre of photograph) and air entry hole.

The hearth was roughly oval, approximately 20cm long and 10cm wide. The slag was near one end of the hearth and there was a circular passage about 2cm diameter into the body of the slag; clearly this was the cavity left by the air pipe from the bellows that had been inserted into the charge of broken ore. There was also a sloping stone that appeared to have been built into the wall of the hearth in such a way that it would have provided support for the pipe. Beyond the slag this hearth and others nearby displayed an empty cavity. This was roughly circular in plan and had clearly been the location of the bloom that had been formed from the ore that had received the full blast of the air from the bellows. There was an indentation in the rim of the hearth at the opposite edge from the air pipe that seemed to have been deliberately formed by a finger or thumb. It is presumed that this provided an air outlet beneath a clay cover that was placed on top of the bowl during the smelting operation. There was a quantity of degraded clay infilling the hearth and this could have come from a cover as text books1 suggest. Although the residue in the hearth has been described as slag this may not be entirely correct because its appearance is similar to medieval roast ore and it is clear from its appearance that it has not been melted. This ore has been out of the direct air blast from the bellows therefore its temperature has remained low and it is perhaps better described as roasted ore, although accidentally roasted. Other bowl hearths discovered nearby displayed similar features and seem to have been from the same era although their random arrangement and closeness to each other suggests consecutive use rather than concurrent, indeed the impression is that each hearth was used just once and a new one was made for each smelt, the main prompt for such a conclusion being that unsmelted ore was left in place in each hearth that was discovered. It does appear that there had been no attempt to clear the furnaces or to use this ore in a subsequent smelt, an inefficient and wasteful approach that is in sharp contrast with later procedures. Also, in contrast with later bloomery furnace operation, the heat appears to have been concentrated in the ore that was being smelted. There were no visible signs of excessive heating of the hearth itself. There were “shadows” of metallic iron in the form of iron oxide stains in the soil nearby and there was one lump of iron oxide and accreted sand that had a cavity within it, a cavity that had been left by a small rod of iron that had completely corroded away. It has not yet been possible to come to a firm conclusion about the original nature of the vanished artefact. Other finds were few but there was a very fine flint point and two other similar items knapped from chert. Neither flint nor chert exist in the local geology and these items were in the silt that had filled the furnace cavity seeming to indicate the use of stone tools or weapons in the Iron Age on this site. There are other features that are related to pre-historic iron smelting in an arc that extends for approximately eighty metres on the downwind side of an Iron Age settlement including three more smelting hearths. Unlike those mentioned above these appear to have been constructed on the surface rather than set into the ground, the baked remains of the hearths being on, rather than within, the contemporary surface. There has also been the discovery of several kilograms of Iron Age slag near a hut circle and very close to a small boulder that is surrounded by tiny flakes and balls of hammer scale. It is probable that the boulder was used as an anvil although this is difficult to verify after two millennia of erosion by wind and rain. It is the hammer scale that elicited the name that we now use for all these features, the Dacre Iron Age Smithy (a name suggested by Dr. Gerry McDonnell of Bradford University on a visit to the site). The confident dating of the slag and hammer scale has helped the project enormously because it identifies the context in which we can expect pre-historic features to be located and at Dacre this is surprisingly close to the surface or even on the surface in those places where erosion and low levels of soil creation have has their most marked effects. Three smithing hearths have been found ten metres from the “anvil” boulder. These are smaller than the smelting hearths and include signs of clay linings within supporting stonework much of it being the natural stony ground into which the hearths had been set. They were all approximately rectangular and around 20cm in length and 15cm wide and there was a small piece of iron embedded in the wall of one hearth. Metal finds are unusual in this highly acidic soil but this one survived as a result of a layer of black iron oxide, a probable consequence of the high temperatures to which it had been exposed. Another had held a larger piece of iron that appears to have formed a part of the tuyere or nozzle that led the air into the hearth from a set of bellows. This iron is heavily corroded, indeed it seems that little or no metallic iron remains so details will be difficult to confirm.

Figure 3: Smithing hearth with the end of an embedded iron rod visible below the ruler.

The presence of the Romans in this area is a near certainty because Greenhow is only five miles away and it is well known that they were extracting lead there (and probably seeking silver) less than thirty years after their initial conquest of Britain and just a few years after their victory over the Brigantes at Stanwick in 74AD. Three lead ingots with Roman inscriptions have been found, two were a mile or two to the east of Greenhow and the other a mile away to the west near Stump Cross Caverns. “It is reasonable to suppose that the vein outcrops were worked by the local Celtic tribes, the Brigantes and consequently were known to their Roman conquerors” (A History of Nidderdale2). The Romans were great users of iron and very efficient in producing it so we do need to consider the possibility of their presence as we try to understand the site. It is possible, however, that even if they were present at Dacre their presence was simply a part of the process of securing the area and they may not have been making iron on this site. Some artefacts have been discovered at Dacre that could be from that period but there is no proof as yet. These are channel stones; two rough hewn slabs with a channel cut along their length, the marks of a soft iron chisel being clearly visible. They appear to have been adapted in the medieval period as part of a water supply to a small pond. It is possible that they were of medieval manufacture rather than Roman but there has been no sign of anything comparable among the extensive medieval remains in the area and they are remarkably similar to some similar stones at the Roman site of Vindolanda. Another indication of a Roman presence is a collection of coins that have been reported to have been found a kilometre or so away along the ridge near the modern settlement of Dacre but this report has not yet been substantiated.

There is also a field name ('Mansion Knoll') that could have Roman origins. There is no sign that there has ever been a mansion or anything that could be so called nearby so the name, at first sight, is a puzzle, especially since 'Mansion' is not a word in common use in this area. There is, however, Mansion House Farm four miles away and Roman coins have been found scattered nearby giving a little more credibility to the theory that where 'Mansion' appears in a local site name, it may be a derivative of Latin's “mansio”. A mansio was a lodge close to or on a Roman thoroughfare providing safe overnight accommodation for Roman-friendly travellers carrying an official pass and this would put a Roman presence firmly on the map of our site.

The small but highly visible mound within the field called 'Mansion Knoll' may have acted as a landmark for the nearby site of a mansio although no remains of such a building have been found to date. It is perhaps significant that the dry stone wall around the mound is in the typical Roman style of a rectangle with rounded corners when there is no obvious practical reason why this shape should have been chosen and especially as its shape does not respect that of the burial mound which it encloses. The wall itself is modern although there are indications that the foundations could be much older. A detailed examination will be carried out in due course.

There are several bloomery furnace sites fifty metres to the south of Mansion Knoll and two of these have been partially excavated. They are on a steep hillside with their clay lined hearths set into the ground and there is a platform of around ten square metres cut into the hillside nearby that has been used for a charcoal clamp or charcoal storage. The different features do appear from their contexts to be contemporaneous It is clear that this a bigger furnace than those found near the Iron Age settlement and the depth of the hearth and the collapsed stonework indicate that this is a stack furnace that has used convection for the flow of air as well as bellows which would have been necessary in the early stages of the smelt. Rubble around the hearth and the remains of the structure confirm the use of local unshaped stones in its construction and there is evidence of the slag being drained from the front of the furnace (the downhill side) where there was a channel through a part of the furnace wall that had been deliberately constructed so that it could be easily dismantled, presumably to facilitate the removal the bloom. This is clearly a significant development beyond the Iron Age bloomeries that lie on level ground two hundred metres to the west and therefore it is safe to assume that it is later although how much later is difficult to establish at present. Some pieces of slag were found and these will be used in a program of chemical analysis later in the project, a process which may help to date the feature or at least enable comparison with the evidence of known medieval iron smelting that lies in neighbouring fields.

Figure 4: Excavated bloomery furnace with slag drain at the front.

There are many remains of medieval iron smelting to the west and the north of Mansion Knoll. These include scores of bloomery furnace sites together with the ancillary operations of charcoal burning and ore roasting and there are water management features including culverts and forges. These are the remains of a large, organised and efficient industry and this evidence dates from the medieval period, In particular it is from the time of Fountains Abbey’s tenure of Dacre. Typical Cistercian enterprises, whether in agriculture or industry, demonstrate the dedication to doing everything well for the greater glory of God and their work on Dacre Pasture appears to have been no exception.

Figure 5: Medieval culvert and spoil mound. The line of the stone box culvert is to the right of the spoil.

The water management system demonstrates this assertion as well as anything else. The main conduit consists of a stone box culvert that extends for one and a half miles from the top of the ridge to Darley Beck and there are two major tributaries that originate up to three quarters of a mile away along the ridge. All three have more tributaries in the form of smaller culverts and since water enters through the dry stone walls of the culverts it means that water is being collected from the whole area of the top and the flank of the ridge. There are also French drains (small trenches filled with broken stones) that are connected to the culvert system and while they add to the supply of water it is likely that their main purpose was to improve the ground in work areas. There are no ponds on the system apart from one that seems to have been a later addition and that appears to have been created primarily to drain a spoil heap rather than to provide a reserve supply of water. It can be seen that impounding ponds would have been unnecessary with such an extensive collection system in a district that has a high annual rainfall and that may have had widespread peat bogs that would have acted as a natural reservoir. Even without these peat bogs the project’s fieldworkers can confirm that the rain falls and the culverts still function throughout the year. The spoil heap that is mentioned above was created by quarrying and mining on the hillside above the middle section of the culvert and while it is difficult to date the mining it is clear that it post-dates the water management system for it has spilled over the main culvert to a depth of two or three metres and for a length of fifty metres or more. The nature of the spoil suggests that iron was the target. It is much lighter in colour than the later coal mining spoil and there are obvious indications of iron bearing rocks. There are also many small piles of sand on the spoil heaps, each about the size of a barrow or a pannier and some have the characteristic soot layer within them. This suggests that they were deposited during the busy medieval era and that the mining and quarrying date from that time. The fact that the spoil overlays the culvert suggest that the water management system was constructed earlier in the medieval period for it is unlikely that there was any organisation in the area prior to Fountains Abbey that would have had the ability to carry out such work. Another indication that the culverts date from the medieval era is provided by some alder trees. There are around ten of these beside a section of the main culvert and one of its tributaries and several of them have attracted the attention of local tree wardens because of their great age. They have been coppiced, a management technique that extends the life of the tree and it has been estimated that some of them are six hundred years old. The culverts must pre-date the trees so this too places the construction of the culverts firmly within the Middle Ages. The indications are that the water management system originated to operate several water-powered forges of which there is evidence of three or maybe four, this evidence being level rectangular platforms with sides around four or five metres in length adjacent to a culvert and with a by-pass channel close by. Very little investigative work has been carried out on the presumed forges to date but they have the space to hold a hearth and a hammer that could have been used to reheat and forge the blooms from a number of furnaces. There are no significant quantities of rubble on these platforms so it seems likely that the main structures were of timber. There is evidence of water power that is separate from the culvert system in the form of one or maybe two small pond sites with clay dams and it is logical to assume that these pre-date the Cistercian system although to date no detailed investigation has been made. They may mark the earliest medieval activity or could even be earlier than that, whatever the truth turns out to be it suggests, as one would expect, that the large scale water management system was a major upgrade of existing iron working activity in order to maximise production and efficiency - a very Cistercian objective. It is clear too that the there have been adaptations over the life of the system: the French drains, for example, are likely to have been added as and when they were required to drain areas of ground near furnaces and other structures. There is also one very significant diversion of the stream from the culvert to power a “smelt house” - work that was probably carried out in the sixteenth century and there is a branch from the culvert upstream of this feature that seems to have been created to operate an associated water powered hearth. Bloomery furnaces from the medieval era are present in abundance, or at least, many of their hearths are present. The upper structures have been lost in every case, some apparently dismantled and removed while others have collapsed. Several hearths have been excavated and it is clear that local sandstone and clay were the main structural material. The internal diameter of the hearths is generally around half a metre and they are recessed into the gently sloping ground. The soil and stones in the ground up to a one and a half metre radius have generally been severely damaged by heat so that there are typically no large stones and no sign of humic material. The remaining soil is usually grey sand while there is usually red sand at the centre and sometimes yellow sand close to the hearth. This leads to the conclusion that there has been repeated and probably continuous use of each furnace and that induced draught played a part in the operation of the bloomeries. It also seems that the reducing atmosphere had a detrimental effect on the stonework of the furnaces as well as its intended purpose of removing the oxygen from the iron oxide in the ore because the lower walls of several excavated hearths consisted of sand, not stone; much more damage than seems likely to have been caused by heat alone. The large number of bloomery furnaces in the area confirms the fact that this was no purely local enterprise but a very commercial activity operating with significant levels of investment and organisation. The furnaces are often visible as shallow hollows in the ground approximately one metre diameter and partly stone lined. There are approximately one hundred of these over three fields but we know from trial excavations that there are many more that have been lost from view as they have been filled by silt or spoil. The efficiency of the operation is also indicated by evidence of ancillary activities on the site. There are, for example, two large charcoal clamp sites in one field demonstrating that good quality charcoal was required and that despite the greater weight of the wood from which it was made it was better to transport the wood over the greater distance to the furnace site rather than damage the charcoal in transit. The charcoal clamp sites are patches of ground approximately ten metres diameter in which the grass is greener and finer than in the field at large. The area is attractive to rabbits, partly because of the grass but also because of the softness of the ground which is mainly sand in which it is easy to burrow. It is evident that the original soil and rocks have been destroyed in the area that lay beneath the clamps and there is a thick deposit of charcoal particles and soot in the ground. Larger pieces of charcoal have been found close to the edges and these finds include a number of very good quality pieces of charcoal that have been made from coppiced hardwood springs around three centimetres diameter. It is possible that this was the preferred fuel for the furnaces. Another ancillary activity that is much in evidence is ore roasting and several hearths have been found that have been used for this purpose. They differ in detail but confirm that this process was more technical than the simple use of a bonfire that is sometimes suggested. The process is essentially the application of heat to remove moisture and impurities from the ore nodules and to cause them to fracture into smaller pieces all of which improves the prospects of producing good quality metal. The use of the hearths indicates a batch process and the batch is likely to be a single charge for a furnace, the size of which could be indicated by an unused pile of ore that has been found on one of the roasting hearths. A planned experimental furnace will enable the verification of this hypothesis.

Figure 6: Excavated roasting hearth with a mound of roasted ore.

One of the roasting hearths is also a useful indicator of the sequence of archaeological features for it was found within an Iron Age hut circle but above the obvious Iron Age level. It has clearly been placed there after the main structure of the hut had been lost, simply to take advantage of a good, hard and level floor. This roasting hearth was a simple kerb of stones laid around a rectangular section of the floor, probably with air gaps between the stones. The floor of the hearth had a thin covering of roast ore and readings on a magnetic susceptibility meter confirm that heating has taken place within the hearth. The Iron Age hut circle that contains the roasting hearth has been used by the medieval iron workers in other ways too because, as well as the roasting hearth, there are three circular hollows cut into the bank of the circle (the original wall). They have not been fully investigated but they do have the appearance of bloomery furnaces. We shall never know whether or not the medieval smelters were aware that they were working on the site of their Iron Age predecessors but that was the case.

Figure 7: Medieval roasting hearth within an Iron Age hut circle.

Exactly when the monastic iron industry at Dacre came to and end is not yet known. The Black Death could have finished it in the mid-fourteenth century but it does seem likely that it continued in one form or another until the suppression of Fountains Abbey in 1539 for there is very clear evidence of a large water powered forge or furnace on the lower section of the culvert system half a mile away and downhill from the main concentration of monastic smelting activity. Fieldwork led to the conclusion that it was likely to be charcoal powered blast furnace which, if confirmed, would mean that smelting continued into the 16th century, blast furnaces having been introduced into this country around AD 1500. The construction of a blast furnace would have resulted in a reduction in the use of bloomery furnaces and probably their disappearance altogether from the local area. A casual observer will see nothing of this feature today because of the agricultural improvements that have been carried out on this low lying part of Dacre Pasture over the last four centuries. These improvements include the dismantling of buildings and landscaping to convert the area to grassland. By great good fortune though, at some point in this process, the walls of the wheel pit for the furnace were used as the supports for a bridge which is still there today so we can still see parts of the walls beneath the bridge and, of greater importance, part of the structure that supported the sluice gate is still there too.

Figure 8: Wheelpit of the smelt house converted into a bridge. Stones have been laid across the pit. Wear from the wheel is visible on the wall stones and timbers can be seen at the head of the pit.

The nature of this site was confirmed further by the discovery of a map of 1611 in the Ingilby Collection at the Leeds branch of the West Yorkshire Archive Service. The map was drawn to define parcels of land that were to be let to local residents on long term leases by the then landowners, the Ingilbys of Ripley and this, it seems, was the beginning of the process of converting derelict industrial sites back to agriculture for it is known that the local iron smelting industry was in permanent decline from the beginning of the seventeenth century. The map was properly surveyed and is remarkably accurate as can be verified by several features that can be seen in Dacre today and at precisely the point where the wheel pit is located there is a tiny sketch of a two bay building with a water wheel. This level of corroboration is rarely achieved after a four hundred year gap but it does raise other questions because the building is described on the map as a Smelt House, a term which is commonly applied to a lead smelting facility. With one small exception mentioned below there has been no evidence of lead smelting on this site so, if this does turn out to be a lead smelt house there is a whole new line of enquiry to be followed. Fieldwork over the next two years will be planned to establish the exact nature of the Smelt House at Dacre

Figure 9: The Ingilby Map of 1611. [By courtesy of the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds]

The smelt house is shown on the map in a reasonable detail but it should not be interpreted as a sketch of the building itself. The most likely reason for its inclusion in the map is for its role as a landmark and it is possible, even probable, that it was drawn off site, the actual building unseen by the draughtsman. It is, nevertheless, an insight into the structures of the time and the style of its label confirms its authenticity.

Figure 10: The Smelt House from the Ingilby Map of 1611.

Lead Smelting at Dacre Nidderdale is famous for the mining and smelting of lead, an industry that existed from pre-Roman times to the 20th century and its fame has had the disadvantage of obscuring other metal based activities. The assumption that all mining and smelting in Nidderdale was related to lead continues to be strong despite the research into iron production in Nidderdale that has been carried out for the Northern Mine Research Society and published in 19963 and 19974 and the fact that there are nine index references to iron mining and smelting in that bible of local history, A History of Nidderdale2. The credibility of the iron smelting project has been challenged so frequently on the assumption that “There is no iron in Nidderdale” that some members of the project group have denied the existence of any lead working on Dacre Pasture to emphasise the true origins of the mines, quarries and hearths. It was therefore a surprise when a lead smelting site was found close to the Dacre Iron Age Smithy. The lead smelting was a small scale activity and it is within the area of the Iron Age settlement and in the same context as known Iron Age features so, rare though such a thing may be, there is the distinct possibility that this too is of the Iron Age or even earlier; this is a totally unexpected feature and a full investigation is beyond the scope of the current project. The only excavations to date therefore consist of four small trenches that were necessary to establish the nature of the site and it will be considered for inclusion in a planned project to deal more fully with the many prehistoric features that are being discovered as a by-product as we investigate Dacre’s iron industry.

Figure 11: Early lead smelting site at Dacre (centre).

The finds include several pieces of lead that have been spilled in the molten condition on a rough but more or less level area of ground on the edge of the Iron Age settlement. It seems likely that these were dross that had been removed from the surface of a crucible of molten lead. There is also a small hollow that could have been a smelting hearth. In addition there are a few small pieces of galena, an ore that does not exist in the rock formations at Dacre but that is abundant at Greenhow five miles away. It does seem likely therefore that the lead was smelted here as a result of local demand and the existence of appropriate skills in the local community and that ore was brought to the site. Peripatetic metal workers seem to be less likely because of the well defined area that appears to have been dedicated to the activity. There has been at least an enclosure and possibly a hut and, insofar as the current investigation suggests, it is only lead work that has been carried on this spot. Plans to study this site in depth are in the course of preparation. Mining There is very obvious evidence of mining at Dacre in the form of spoil heaps and shafts but this did not help the project in its early days because it is the remains of coal mining from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when there was a desperate need for the fuel for local industry. The coal was not of good quality so that activity came to an end when the railway arrived in Nidderdale bringing, among other things, good coal at reasonable prices from Leeds and the surrounding area. The abandoned square section shafts and spoil heaps hindered the project initially and have probably misled others too because they created the impression that all mining in the area was coal mining. We now know that this is not the case and that there is very real evidence of iron extraction but it does seem likely that the modern activity has destroyed a lot of evidence of mining from the Middle Ages or earlier.

Figure 12: Coal pit at Dacre.

It is very likely that the early iron smelters did not need to mine ore because there would have been ample supplies to hand on or close to the surface. There is clear evidence of peat in the area and it is likely that bog iron was available, especially on the plateau on top of the ridge. These solidified blocks of ore derived from the water that oozed into the peat from iron bearing shale beds would have been easily collected and could have supported Iron Age smelting activity on their own. Peat only exists in small areas today but this could be because of modern drainage and the effect of medieval activity. At that time peat would have been a useful fuel and could have been deliberately excavated for this purpose, in addition, the water collection system created by the Cistercians would have dried out the peat which could then have been dispersed by the wind. Since the valley of Darley Beck is glacial it is also possible, even likely, that ore nodules had been dropped by melt water in the valley and that iron bearing shales had been revealed on the hill side; both of these could have supported small-scale Iron Age smelting activity. There is ample evidence of surface excavation at Dacre that could have been for the removal of some of iron ore but it is difficult to be certain about any particular hollow or scoop because there is excellent stone in the area for building purposes and some are likely been used for this purpose. Other shallow delves appear to be clay pits and there was a need for clay for the construction of hearths and floors. There is little evidence of bell pits at Dacre and it seems likely that some of these have been lost to the coal miners but there are two probable sites. One is a small rush filled hollow with only a small amount of spoil but with a circular track around it that has the appearance of the path of a donkey or pony at work and a recent find of a flat area of broken stone and shale on a field that contains many medieval bloomeries has also raised the possibility that earlier bell pits and their spoil heaps have been levelled during the Cistercian era of iron smelting. There is however clear evidence of adits with spoil that is appropriate to iron extraction rather than coal, the most obvious of these being a classic example with a notch in the hillside and a “fan” of spoil in front of it. There is no visible stonework at the portal site but the hillside in that area has been extensively excavated and it is possible that details of this and other adits have been buried beneath the spoil. There is also a possible bell pit or shaft close to the adit but the large volume of spoil makes it difficult to be sure.

Figure 13: Iron ore adit at Dacre. The evidence of iron mining at Dacre is limited and it has taken some time for the project members to answer the question that if there is iron smelting in the area, where did the ore come from? Fortunately the project is not restricted to Dacre and information from other sites has been very helpful in understanding the possible sources of suitable rock. Prominent among these sites is Darley, the neighbouring village at which we often gaze while lunching or resting on our days on Dacre Pasture. Darley We have no knowledge of Darley before the Norman Conquest but it is on the south side of Darley Beck (part of the boundary of the Royal Forest of Knaresborough) and therefore, unlike our main site, it was a part of the Forest from soon after 1066 until the eighteenth century. There are several possible meanings for the name of the village but the most commonly accepted interpretation locally assumes “Dar” to mean deer and “ley” to be a clearing in woodland, an idea that is beautifully illustrated on the village signs by a leaping stag on grassland against a background of trees. This rustic ideal may well have been true for the forest was an area of countryside that was dedicated for hunting and the protection of deer and boar for that purpose, at least that was the theory but it is known that there was iron smelting in Knaresborough Forest and some of that has happened near Darley. The name of the area to the east of the village (NGR SE 2155 5880) is Cinder Hills, a clear indication of industry and in this case we know that it was specifically iron smelting. Today, at first sight, there is nothing to be seen of this industry; the slag heaps (cinder hills) have gone, probably into the local roads and the nearby railway embankment. The mining and other activities that took place there have been obliterated by agricultural improvements and the most certain evidence is in a stream that passes under an old but well constructed track: the stream bed is covered with iron slag but in addition it is supplied by water from two sources, one being a culvert that emerges beneath the track and supplies free flowing clear water to the stream. The other source is not as readily recognised as a culvert but thick red “iron water” emerges from the bank beside the clear water culvert. At the very least this shows that there is an iron source close by but in addition the volume and density of the deposits suggest that the second culvert could be draining water from old mine workings. There are also three stone buildings that are now used for agriculture but which have industrial origins. One was a smithy while the other two are likely to have housed ancillary processes associated with a blast furnace. The furnace itself has gone but its foundations remain now supporting a derelict bungalow that was built there in the 1940s. All of this confirms that iron was made here until the 16th century or maybe a little later. There is more work to be done to fully investigate the site.

Figure 14: Bungalow built on the foundations of a blast furnace at Darley.

Cinder Hills then has just a little to add to the Iron-Age (Nidderdale) project at present but the western end of Darley around Darley Bank or Hardgroves Hill has more to offer. This is a site that we see from Dacre Pasture and there are two relevant references to this location in the history books. One is in Harrogate and the Forest of Knaresborough5, a book of 1871 by the local historian, William Grainge, when he mentions the widening of the Otley road from Darley and states that excavations revealed the galleries of ancient iron workers. It is also interesting to note that this same road was closed two years ago to repair damage that had been caused by subsidence. It seems very likely that the old mines are still causing problems. The other documentary reference which is described in the History of Nidderdale2 relates to the twelfth century when, around 1175, Roger de Mowbray, Lord of the Manor of Kirkby Malzeard who held most of upper Nidderdale gave this land to Fountains Abbey; this action may have had no connection with the iron industry but it is a possibility. A problem with the intended transfer of ownership was quickly brought to the attention of the Lord of the Manor by William de Stuteville, Constable of Knaresborough Castle, who informed him that he had no right to give the land to Fountains Abbey or anyone else because the land was a part of the Forest of Knaresborough and therefore was held directly by the king. We know little else beyond that but it is often assumed that the monks relinquished their rights. There is, however the distinct possibility that they did not do so but came to an arrangement with the forest authorities and developed an iron mining and smelting operation there. Another question relating to this incident is how the “gift” came to be made and while Lords of the Manor often made unprompted gifts to monasteries it is also true that requests were made by abbots or their representatives. It is unlikely that we will ever know the truth in this case but the possibility remains that the Brothers of Dacre Grange looked across the valley and spotted another business opportunity on a hillside that was very similar to their own. Whether the work was carried out by Fountains Abbey or the Forest of Knaresborough is an interesting question but whoever controlled the operation it was a major undertaking. The disruption extends along the hillside for a mile or more in a band of shale approximately 200 metres wide with numerous quarries and pits, easier ground than Dacre where the bands of shale within the sandstone are very narrow.

Figure 15: Darley Bank showing the scars left on the landscape by mining and quarrying

The existence of galleries has been mentioned and it therefore seems likely that there will be access shafts in the area but, until recently there was no recognisable sign of such a thing. A recent field walk however revealed an unusual little building of dry stone construction with a barrel roof that could be an important clue. It is approximately three metres square of uncertain depth because it has been used as a dump for garden waste but certainly extends below ground level and there are a number of construction details that can be arranged (on paper at least) to support a mechanism for the raising of spoil, ore or water. In addition, there are two cavities built into opposite sides of the shaft that could be sealed galleries. There has been a suggestion that it was a well but the shaft, if shaft it is, is bigger than would be necessary for such a purpose and in any case there is a stream just a few metres down slope that has been used as a managed water supply, an old dam being evident thirty metres away. Further research is required but it is a most intriguing structure that seems to be unique in the area.

Figure 16: Pit head or well at Darley.

Figure 17: Interior of pit head or well. There is still much to be learned about industrial activity at a Darley Bank but there is one other feature that tells a great deal. This is a blast furnace or at least, the upstanding remains of one about four metres high. It is the only such feature in the area and it stands in the garden of a private house. It still awaits detailed investigation but it seems likely to date from the sixteenth century, telling of a well established iron industry on both sides of the Darley Beck at that time and probably in earlier centuries too. When first seen by the project team two years ago it was noted that there was a crack extending through the full visible height of the circular structure and a smaller one two or three metres away. Unfortunately the frost and snow of the winter of 2009/10 has caused even more damage with the section of wall between the cracks falling away. It is an important feature and a full record is becoming a matter of some urgency.

Figure 18: Blast furnace at Darley.

The Iron-Age (Nidderdale) Project continues with a lot of work still to be done and there are certainly more discoveries to be made relating to the iron industry in Nidderdale, but there is much more too that we could not avoid even if we wished to, especially the abundant evidence of prehistoric domestic and ritual activity. The prehistoric lead work too is beyond the scope of the current project but steps are being taken to complete a full investigation into this intriguing feature. Nor is an exploration of the historic mining activity in the minds of the current members of Iron- Age (Nidderdale). There are good reasons for the uninitiated to be cautious in this area of work but there is an interesting project here for some enthusiastic mining experts and a useful one too for it is in everyone’s interest to identify such features especially when they can still impact on our everyday lives by causing damage to roads and possibly to buildings too. Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to members of the Iron-Age (Nidderdale) Project who have worked on the excavations and fieldwork and to Drs. Gerry McDonnell, Jane Wheeler and Tim Horsley of Bradford University for their advice and expertise. We would also thank Norman Bradley of Clocken Syke Farm, Alwyn Alsop and sons of Mineral Farm Dacre, Michael Thorman of Heck Gill Farm, Darley and Pamela Holliday of Low Hall, Dacre Banks for their kind co-operation and encouragement. References: 1. Iron Age Communities. Barry Cunliffe. Publ. Routledge, Abingdon 2005. 2. A History of Nidderdale. Bernard Jennings (Ed). Published by The Nidderdale History Group, Pateley Bridge. First published 1967, second edition 1983, third edition 1992. 3. Post Mediaeval Iron production in Nidderdale and an Association with the Ingilby and Yorke Families. Blacker J.G., Barley M. and Moorhouse S., British Mining No 57, Memoirs 1996. Published by the Northern Mine Research Society.

4. Thomas Dyke and the Brimham Iron Works - A Technological Link between the Weald of Sussex and Kent and Nidderdale Blacker JG. and Barley M., British Mining No 59, Memoirs 1997. Published by the Northern Mine Research Society

5. Harrogate and the Forest of Knaresborough. W. Grainge. Published by Rigg Publications, Leeds 1988. First published 1871.