Honister Slate Mine
Encyclopedia
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
mines and quarries located at the top of the Honister Pass
Honister Pass
The Honister Pass, also known as Honister Hause, is a mountain pass in the English Lake District. It is located on the B5289 road, linking Seatoller, in the valley of Borrowdale, to Gatesgarth at the southern end of Buttermere...
in the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The earliest reference to quarrying at this location is from 1728.
History
In 1870 very substantial underground workings existed under Honister CragFleetwith Pike
Fleetwith Pike is a fell in the English Lake District in the county of Cumbria which reaches a height of 648 metres . The fell is a well-known feature of the area as it casts an imposing presence over Buttermere and the Honister Pass on the B5289 motor road between Borrowdale and...
, with lesser workings on the opposite side of the valley at Yew Crags. There were also smaller-scale underground workings on Dubbs Moor, together with a small opencast quarry — opencast quarrying had been carried on at Honister since the late 17th century. Slate from the Honister workings was at one time dragged on sleds down steep paths that traversed the cliffs to the top of Honister Pass
Honister Pass
The Honister Pass, also known as Honister Hause, is a mountain pass in the English Lake District. It is located on the B5289 road, linking Seatoller, in the valley of Borrowdale, to Gatesgarth at the southern end of Buttermere...
(The Hause), but packhorse teams had been used to remove finished product
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
from the opencasts for a great many years prior to 1830. In 1879 new owners installed self-acting inclines to serve both the Honister and Yew Crags mines; these were remarkable and costly feats of engineering but they enabled far more efficient production. The incline serving the Dubbs Quarry was cleverly designed to lift product up the side of the valley from the quarry, and then lower it down the other valley side to The Hause. The company leased and operated other quarries in Borrowdale
Borrowdale
Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England.Borrowdale lies within the historic county boundaries of Cumberland, and is sometimes referred to as Cumberland Borrowdale in order to distinguish it from another Borrowdale in the...
. In the mid-1920s, brilliantly engineered aerial ropeways served the Honister and Yew Crags Mines, though the external Yew Crags incline continued to be used until the late 1960s. Connection to the Hause/slate works from both incline and short aerial ropeway was by petrol-driven loco on a railway bridging the Seatoller-Buttermere road. This bridge was removed for scrap in the early 1970s.
By 1891 production had reached 3,000 tons a year and more than 100 men were employed. Dubbs mine was 'smaller metal' (metal being the terminology for slate), in that smaller pieces of slate (thus smaller slates) were obtainable due to geological changes; this did give rise to some instability. Dubbs Quarry ceased production around 1932, largely due to the difficulties and slowness of transporting finished product.
The First World War saw the mines revert to care and maintenance for a while due to labour shortages, but it did not take long to get production recommenced after the cessation of hostilities. By 1926, following a change of management and a new Resident Director, Robin Hoare
Robin Hoare
Lieutenant Commander Keith Robin Hoare DSO & Bar, DSC, AM was a British recipient of the Albert Medal, formerly the highest decoration for gallantry awarded to civilians or to military personnel for actions "not in the face of the enemy" in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth...
, the slate works at the Hause had been electrified (powered by two large Ruston 4-cylinder diesel generators), together with considerable modifications undertaken throughout the quarries, and the mine's fortunes began to improve with significantly increased production. At this time the 'new' Kimberley Mine was started from the Road End Level, with a substantial 600 feet (183 m) long 14 by 14 ft (4.3 by 4.3 m) internal electrically powered incline. During the mid 1890s it had been proposed to drive a level through to the Dubbs Quarries, and indeed a start was made and some 100 metres of level driven, but the project was shelved in favour of further developing the more significant workings under Honister Crag. Despite an enforced closure from 1943 to 1945 during the Second World War production continued through the 1950s and 1960s although Yew Crag mine closed in 1966 due to difficult roof conditions.
After poor management for fifteen years or so, in 1981 the Buttermere & Westmorland Green Slate Co.Ltd. and all its quarries was acquired by Mr B.R. Moore and his father, Mr R.D.Moore, and a very significant and valuable programme of improvement and capital investment was undertaken. This included the installation of rail-borne Eimco Rockershovels, battery locomotives, improved rolling stock and increased specialist underground mechanisation and systems (valuably assisted with the extremely capable technical input of the General Manager, Mr Jim Peart, of Weardale mining fame - previously manager of the Burtree Pasture, Rookhope, and Stanhope Burn lead and fluorspar mines - together). This was the first use of such equipment in any underground Lake District quarry (the quarries had operated surface diesel locos from about 1930 to the late 1950s). The Moore family involvement proved the ultimate saving of the Quarries, since otherwise the quarries would have totally ceased to exist in 1980. In 1985 the Company and its quarries were sold to Alfred McAlpine
Alfred McAlpine
Alfred McAlpine plc was a British construction firm headquartered in London. It was a major road builder, and constructed over 10% of Britain's motorways, including the M6 Toll...
plc, who owned Penrhyn Quarry
Penrhyn Quarry
The Penrhyn Slate Quarry is a slate quarry located near Bethesda in north Wales. At the end of the nineteenth century it was the world's largest slate quarry; the main pit is nearly long and deep, and it was worked by nearly 3,000 quarrymen. It has since been superseded in size by slate quarries...
in Bethesda
Bethesda, Wales
Bethesda is a town lying on the River Ogwen and the A5 road on the edge of Snowdonia, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, colloquially called Pesda by the locals.- History :...
, North Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The latter Company, as a result of earlier planning permission, proceeded to open a new opencast (on the Dubbs side of Honister Crag), on the Honister Vein some 200 metres from the Hopper Opencast (Kimberley Vein) - the Hopper Opencast being filled with waste from the new excavation. McAlpines operated the quarries for some four years until ceasing operations, but they were held on a care and maintenance basis until handed over to the present operators.