Realities and histories: 'In search of a hidden landscape'

Keywords:

human histories, geology, mineralization, landscape, convergence

Available in:

JVAP 5.1 - about JVAP

Funded by:

NAFAE - about NAFAE

Pulished:

July 2006

Article abstract

The intersection of geological and human histories in a northern Pennine landscape, covering the metalliferous mining areas of County Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland (formerly the counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland) known as the Northern Pennine ore field. On 11 December 1998 Bob and Joe Forster worked the final shift on the 260 East Level at Frazer's Hush fluorspar mine in the Vale of Rookhope, County Durham. In July 1999 the long history of hard-rock mining in the Northern Pennines ended with the closure of the Firestone Dib (decline) at Groverake Mine a half-mile east of Frazer's Hush. In an area now designated a landscape of outstanding natural beauty and granted European geo-park status in 2003 the residue of this industrial heritage is all that remains of an extraordinary convergence of geological and human histories. The specific focus of this article relates to the extensive history of metalliferous mining that has taken place in the region possibly since the Romano-British period, having a documented history from the twelfth century and which actively ceased on the last day of July 1999.

Written by: David Walker Barker

Other articles in: JVAP Volume 5 Issue 1