Description and History of Site:-
The longest lived lead smelting mill in the Yorkshire Dales, having worked over 218 years, situated ¼ mile north east of Kettlewell village on the west bank of Cam Gill Beck, erected by the Trust Lords of Kettlewell around 1669 as the Manor Lead Mill. The mill served the many mines on Cam Pastures, Hay Tongue and Hawkswick Moor.

The original mill, prior to the re-modelling work carried out in 1868, was 44 feet (13.4m) long, 22 feet (6.7m) wide and 16 feet (4.8m) high to the roof ridge, had a single ore hearth against the partition wall, near the centre of the mill, and probably moved against the back wall when the short flue was built c1831. Water was carried in a wooden launder on trestles, brought from a small dam situated on the east side of the beck above the mill driving a waterwheel to power the furnace bellows.

In 1862, as part of the mills re-modelling, a Turf House was added to the older part of the mill, at right angles to it in which fuel and ore were stored.
On 5th October 1831 the Trust Lords of the Manor brought urgent matters before the Court Leet regarding the constant complaints of the inefficiency of the mill which had been in a dilapidated state for many years, also the injury to cattle in surrounding pastures from the lead fumes being emitted. It was agreed by the Trust Lords that the mill had always been in that location and would remain so, however a flue and chimney would be erected to carry the harmful fumes safely away. It is suggested (M.C.Gill, NMRS British Mining Memoirs No 48) that it was then that a short flue was built and terminated in a chimney near the enclosure wall 22 yards (20m) to the rear of the mill.

No work was carried out for several years to improve the mill efficiency leading to one of the Trust Lords, William Briscoe, writing a letter in July 1859 to the Trust Lords solicitor in Settle making his feelings known about the lack of progress. He reported that an Agent of one of the mines that used the mill was considering requesting permission to erect their own mill due to the 'lack of proper machinery' at Kettlewell Mill and its inefficiency at extracting the quantity of lead expected from the ore. Local residents were still complaining about the fumes being emitted and harm to their cattle.
One issue that had stalled progress with an efficient flue since the initial meeting in 1831 was a local landowner, Mr A Wright, refusing to let the flue through his land. It was suggested in the latest letter that the flue could be re-routed over alternative land and should be discussed at a forthcoming meeting.The resulting meetings on 13th and 18th June 1860 lead to a recommendation to completely remodel the mill and furnaces and the following necessary alterations;
1). To put down a new mill floor and reusing the old stone flags outside to form a covering over the stream now in use for dressing purposes, to prevent future flooding of the mill.
2). To erect a new building to the north end of the present mill to house a turf store, warehouse and office, leaving sufficient room to erect a roasting hearth which they recommended be installed.
3). Pull out the existing slag hearth and replace with a more efficient one.
4). To extend the present flue from where it terminated to a Level mouth called Cam Level, use this level to carry the fume along to Old Gin Shaft and use this shaft to carry the fume up to a new chimney at the top of the shaft, 10 yards (9.1m) high. This new run of flue would cause the lead in the fume to condense on the flue wall and stop harmful emissions from the chimney. A total run of 1480 yards (1353m) at an expected cost of £400 to £500.

The first of the improvements carried out was the erecting of the Turf House in 1862 followed by improvements to the flue in 1868 which wasn't built to the recommended plan in the end but ran for 740 yards (680m) to a chimney alongside Top Mere Road. The furnaces were also upgraded in 1868 when Thomas and Richard Brown of Low Row in Swaledale installed a new roasting furnace and slag hearth. (The Brown brothers were responsible for the installation and maintenance of the furnaces at the Blakethwaite, Beldihill, Old Gang and Surrender mills in Swaledale).
Whilst the internal walls were being altered to take into account the alterations to the furnaces, the existing roof was replaced along with the mills drains and internal pipe-work, all work was to be completed on or before 1st May 1868. Any overrun of the completion date would be penalised at a rate of 5 shillings per day. Brown brothers were to guarantee their work for twelve months from completion with cash being advanced at the rate of 50%, if needed, and 10% of the whole amount (not recorded) to be reserved for twelve months after completion of the whole works.

The mill finally stopped work in 1887, with the closure of the lead industry in the locality due to cheaper lead being imported into the country from Spain.
The chimney, built by Mr Airey of Preston Under Scar, blew down in a gale in February 1893.

The mill was in a good state of preservation prior to its destruction in 1942 by the military, whilst a new type of explosive was being tested.

Further Reading and References:-
The Lead Smelting Mills of the Yorkshire Dales and Northern Pennines, Robert. T. Clough 1980 pp 81-89.
https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/smelt-mills/smelting/kettlewell/
Lead Mining in the Mid-Pennines, Arthur Raistrick, Bradford Barton 1973, pp133-4
https://www.nmrs.org.uk/assets/pdf/BM48/BM48-132-151-smelting.pdf

Help us improve this entry

The compilers welcome corrections or additional information on all sites.
Any information provided will be verified before appearing on the web site.

Email comments

Key Words :- lead smelt mill

Address :- Cam Gill Road, Kettlewell, Skipton, North Yorkshire
Grid Ref :- SD 97466 72761
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.150665 , Long -2.040293
Local Authority :- North Yorkshire Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Earthworks only
Site Dates :- c1669 - 1942
Contributor :- Andrew Garford - 24 April 2020

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Andrew Garford