Hidden off the beaten track or, at least, just off a public footpath which winds its way through the heart of the north side of Wensleydale, are all that remains of Keld Heads lead smelt mill and nucleated mine complex, situated around 800m east of Preston-Under-Scar. Once the richest lead mine in all of Yorkshire, Keld Head was constructed in the early- to mid-19th century to replace that at nearby Preston Mill, though the site has been worked since the 12th (the oldest recorded in Wensleydale), and, by the 13th century, it was a prosperous operation that even provided lead for the roof of nearby Jervaulx Abbey.
As the mill and mine progressed and extended throughout the 19th century, the additional equipment and technological processes it brought allowed for the smelting of an abundance of ore, and saw Keld Heads considered the most advanced mine in the country. It has even been suggested that silver, a natural occurrence of lead ore, was occasionally refined here.
While the mine is now a complex of ruinous structures, much can still be visited. In fact, there are two separate, well-preserved areas: the mine and associated buildings at the foot of the scar, then the smelt mill 300m to the north, with associated features extending further up the hillside but both lying close together and once worked as a single unit.
The mine remains include the rectangular, stone-built engine house, rubble-built chimney, a further building and the wheelpit. Within the engine house can also be found the engine bed—or what’s left of it. This once supported the engine used for pumping and winding in the mine.
Unfortunately, extensive flooding of the lower levels in c.1888 led, ultimately, to the mine and mill’s closure as the damage drove costs through the roof and thus the complex became too inefficient to continue in use.
Books by Dr Emma Wells
