Hollins Ironstone Mine

An exploration of the east side of Rosedale—Northdale Rigg and Heygate Bank—yields splendid views across the dale, the hillside punctuated by two notable scars from the ironstone mining era. This is the site of Hollins Mine, where ironstone mining began in Rosedale in the modern period. The two drifts, known as Garbutt’s on the left and Kitching’s on the right, mark this landscape.

In the early 19th century, one would have seen not gullies but ridges formed by high-quality magnetic ironstone, culminating in a prominent cliff. Local tradition held that thunderstorms frequently struck this cliff, and there were tales of treasure or the devil buried within the hillside. The ironstone was extracted through drift mining, not open cast quarrying, which led to the surface collapsing into the gullies visible today.

The mining venture commenced in 1856 under a granted lease. The cliff face had been used for road stone, and within the first few years, three to four thousand tons of ore were transported by horse-drawn wagons to Pickering. From there, it journeyed by rail via Malton and Pilmoor to various ironworks, including those at Consett.

By 1861, the North Eastern Railway had completed the Rosedale Branch, and an incline tramway had been constructed from the Hollins Mines up to the standard-gauge terminus at Bank Top. Here, large kilns roasted the ore to drive off water and carbonic acid gas, a process called calcination, which reduced the weight of the ironstone and thus saved on carriage costs and royalties. Although this process required coal, initially sourced from local moorland pits, it was later brought up the Ingleby Incline from County Durham.

The ironstone was excavated by a process unique in Cleveland. Like the typical 10-foot thick seams, the stone here was extracted by the ‘bord and pillar’ method. Tunnels, or ‘bords’, were driven forward and then at right angles, supported by timber. Upon reaching the edge of the royalty, miners would retreat, extracting the pillars in a practice known as ‘robbing’, which involved temporary supports. Once these supports were removed, the roof collapse was inevitable.

But when mining a lower level, the unstable collapsed roof presented a challenge. Miners got around this by laying a timber floor, which would become the ceiling for the next level down. This method required a tremendous amount of timber, a necessary cost to access the valuable iron ore.

This rapid development within five years was a remarkable Victorian achievement, albeit one that disregarded environmental considerations.

Principle Source:

HAYES, R. H. & J. G. RUTTER. ROSEDALE MINES and RAILWAY. 1996. SCARBOROUGH ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. RESEARCH REPORT No. 9.