Mining on the Brendon Hills facts for kids
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The Brendon Hills are a range of hills in western Somerset, England. These hills connect smoothly with the eastern part of Exmoor and are part of the Exmoor National Park. For many years, people dug up iron ore and other minerals here for industries. The main company doing this was the Brendon Hills Iron Ore Company in the second half of the 1800s.
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What are the Brendon Hills made of?
The Brendon Hills are mostly made from a type of rock called Morte Slates. These are very old rocks from the Devonian period, which means they formed hundreds of millions of years ago. Over time, these rocks have been pushed and folded by Earth's movements. This is why you can find valuable minerals like ironstone here, which is used to make steel.
A Look Back: Mining History
People have been mining for iron ore in the Brendon Hills for a very long time. Even back in Roman times, they would dig small pits called bell pits where the iron ore was close to the surface.
Mining in the 1800s
In the mid-1800s, a big steel company called Ebbw Vale Iron Works became interested in the iron ore here. Even though people knew about the ore for centuries, it wasn't dug up on a large scale until the Brendon Hills Iron Ore Company started in 1853. At first, they mined a type of iron ore called goethite/hematite, and later, siderite.
The mines were high up, over 1,000 feet (300 m) (about 300 meters), and far from good roads. So, they needed a way to get the heavy ore to South Wales. The West Somerset Mineral Railway was built for this. It had a special section, a 0.75 miles (1.21 km) (about 1.2 km) long incline that used gravity to move wagons down a steep slope (1 in 4 gradient). This railway took the ore to Watchet Harbour. From there, it was loaded onto ships and sent to Ebbw Vale to be melted down.
Mining in the Brendon Hills provided jobs for many people. Between 1873 and 1882, about 245 people worked in the mines. Houses were also built for the miners.
Even though the mines sometimes produced a lot of ore, they never made a profit in the 1800s. The whole project lost a lot of money. Between 1852 and 1883, they sent over 750,000 tons of ore to Ebbw Vale. But it cost the company £1.25 to produce and deliver each ton, and they only got 75p for it. This led to huge losses. The mining industry also had its ups and downs, and a big decline in the early 1880s caused the mines to close. In 1907, another company tried to restart mining, but it didn't last long.
Today, you can still see some of the old mining structures. These include the Ironstone mine ventilation flue in Chargot Wood and the remains of the Carnarvon New Pit.
Exploring the Individual Mines
Many mines operated in the Brendon Hills between 1837 and 1909. Here are some of the most interesting ones:
Bearland Wood Mine: Smart Airflow
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Work began at this iron mine in 1854. At first, they didn't find much ore. But in 1864, the Mines Captain, Morgan Morgans, started a new tunnel that was very successful. It produced 12,000 tons of brown Haematite ore! This ore was moved by a horse-powered whim (a winding machine) to another pit. Later, Bearland Wood mine was connected underground to Langham Hill pit.
Bearland Wood mine had a clever way to get fresh air into the mine. Instead of using steam pumps, Morgans built a ventilation flue. This was like a giant chimney above the mine's shaft with a coal furnace at the bottom. The furnace sucked air out of the mine, which pulled fresh air in from the entrance. Wooden ducts guided the air to where the miners were working. This old method was actually brought back at other mines around the same time because steam pumps weren't working well. The ventilation flue at Bearland Wood is now a protected Ancient Monument.
Burrow Farm Mine: The Moving Engine House
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This iron mine was connected to the West Somerset Mineral Railway. It closed around 1868. What's special about Burrow Farm is that the stone shell of its engine house is still standing today. This engine house was actually moved piece by piece from another mine, Langham Hill mine! It's the only engine house from the ore field that you can still see.
Carnarvon New Pit: Important Ruins
This iron mine was also served by a siding from the West Somerset Mineral Railway. It opened in 1866 and at first produced a lot of good ore. However, it closed in 1882. The ruins of its buildings are now protected as an ancient monument. Carnarvon and Raleigh's Cross mines were often very wet, so they had complex systems to drain water and prevent floods.
Colton Mine: Creative Transport
There's evidence of very old mining at Colton. In the early 1880s, just as the Brendon Hills mining was about to stop, Colton mine's output actually increased.
When the Somerset Mineral Syndicate Ltd tried to restart mining in 1907, they reopened Colton mine. To get the ore to the West Somerset Mineral Railway, they built a new narrow-gauge tramway. This included a 600 yards (550 m) (about 550 meter) incline to get the ore up the hill, and then a two-mile (about 3.2 km) track, including a wooden bridge. The ore was then tipped into larger wagons at Brendon Hill and sent to Watchet harbour.
The ore from Colton mine was difficult to sell because it made furnaces sticky. The company even tried to turn it into briquettes to make it better, but they ran out of money in 1909, and all mining stopped. Today, only very faint traces of the mine and railway can be seen.
Kennesome Hill Mine: The "Flying Machine"
A Roman coin was found in old workings at Kennesome Hill, showing how ancient the mining here is. In Victorian times, a lot of development happened at Kennesome Hill. They even used an aerial ropeway (which locals called the "Flying Machine") to carry the ore across a deep valley to a siding near Langham Hill pit. There, it was loaded onto West Somerset Mineral Railway wagons. Later, ore was moved by a horse-drawn tramway.
This mine had a permanent steam engine for pumping water and lifting ore. Unlike most other engine houses in the area, this one wasn't torn down for its stone and stood until the 1970s. However, it was in bad shape, so the Forestry Commission blew it up in 1978. Only the granite base of the pumping engine remains today as a reminder.
Langham Hill Pit: Foundations Preserved
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This iron mine was connected to the West Somerset Mineral Railway. Work started in 1866 and it closed in 1883. The mine had a large stone engine house with a steam engine. In 1878–79, this machinery and its engine house were taken apart, moved to Burrow Farm mine, and rebuilt there. This left only the bare foundations at Langham Hill.
When the mines closed, the Ebbw Vale Company faced big losses. To make things right with the local landowner, they covered the Langham Hill engine house foundations with waste from the mine. This actually helped to "preserve" the foundations. When the Exmoor National Park Authority dug them up in the 1990s, they found them in good condition. You can visit them today!
Raleigh's Cross Mine: A Major Hub
Before it grew bigger in the 1850s, this iron mine was called the "Tone mine." It was one of the most important mines in the Brendon Hills. The West Somerset Mineral Railway was built partly because of the large amounts of ore found at Raleigh's Cross and Gupworthy. The railway was fully working to Raleigh's Cross by March 1861.
Raleigh's Cross mine was very large, both above and below ground. It needed a lot of machinery to drain water and lift ore to the surface. It was the only mine in the area that needed a separate engine for each job. The engine that lifted the ore was on the first floor of the main building. It pulled wagons of ore out of the ground and onto a platform, where the ore could be tipped directly into railway wagons below. This building also had a heated room for miners to dry their clothes and a reading room. Raleigh's Cross became a central point for the mining community.
In the years leading up to 1867, Raleigh's Cross and Carnarvon New mines produced over 100,000 tons of ore. At Raleigh's Cross in 1856, two miners were injured, and one died, when they accidentally set off an explosive charge. This mine and its neighbours were very wet, so they needed many systems to manage water and prevent floods.
The mine closed suddenly in 1879 but reopened later that year. It finally closed for good in 1882, followed by the complete closure of all mining in the area in 1883. The railway branch to the site was removed, and the engines were sent away. The mine buildings were later blown up to provide material for the railway and for a jetty at Watchet. Today, only faint traces of the mine remain.
Timwood Tunnel: The Last Try
Timwood tunnel was the very last mining project in the Brendon Hills. It was started by the Somerset Mineral Syndicate Ltd in 1907. This company wanted to work the mines and use the WSMR to carry the ore to Watchet harbour. They also took over Blackland and Colton mines.
The Syndicate hoped Timwood would be their best asset. It was the only mine at the bottom of the Brendon Hills. The idea was to dig horizontally into the hillside, or even slightly uphill, to reach ore veins that had been mined from above at Carew and Raleigh's Cross. This would save money and effort because they wouldn't have to pump as much water or lift ore all the way to the surface. However, it meant digging much further to find the ore.
The mine used small wagons underground. The entrance was so close to the West Somerset Mineral Railway that wagons could be pushed by hand directly onto the main railway line, avoiding extra handling. But the Syndicate ran out of money in 1909, with many costs and almost no income. The company closed down in 1910. The Timwood tunnel was 1,600 feet (490 m) (about 488 meters) long but still hadn't reached the main ore.
The buildings at Timwood were small and temporary, not made of stone or brick like other mines. A steam engine was used to power drills for explosives. There was also a small building for a blacksmith and another for miners to rest and dry their clothes. Today, there is no visible evidence of the mine above ground.
