In the June meeting, I had the great pleasure of introducing our own member, Jane Harrison, to a large gathering of group members. Her substantial, fascinating and fact-filled talk was on the subject of Copper Mining. With emphasis as regards Lower Swaledale as around Richmond and environs, with a special look at the mining activity at Middleton Tyas (MT) somewhat further NE. In this latter case, the early to mid-1700’s was the boom time for the copper mines, although the rich resources of limestone of the area are still being exploited.
Jane split the talk into two sections, with the first centred on geology and mineralogy with plenty of maps and photographs to show us the various copper ores and the location of such ores using both OS maps and the maps available via the National Library of Scotland web site. The second section of her talk homed in on the mines at MT with a few outliers to the North East. Highly illustrated again by more online maps and photographs of the area she had taken. Jane had also brought in a tabletop full of maps and articles for members to browse though.
The copper rush around MT was not long lived, starting from about 1730’s and ending 1780’s, but it was of the highest-grade copper ore ever to be found in the UK and even Europe, at some 65% purity. Also of interest, was the aspect of the land ownership, rather than being under mineral rights from the large estate owners in Teesdale and Swaledale, it was almost down to individuals owning field plots and Jane gave us great insight as to who mined what and where. Sadly, not much remains on the surface now, even the smelters and pump houses are reduced to small piles of bricks and outlines in the ground surface as highlighted by her photographs and the LIDAR map taken from around the village Church of St Michael and All Saints. The latter again from the National Library of Scotland.
I was able to finalise the session by using accessing the Historic England website to highlight the large concentration of Listed Buildings in Middleton Tyas compared to the surrounding villages, the legacy of the tremendous wealth copper brought to the area.
Next meeting will be in July and is based on my continuation of the basic understanding of Physical Geography, looking at what plate tectonics gave us - volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, tsunami, etc.
August will be a recess month, but plenty of reminders will be posted to members.
Report by Phil Johnson