|
An
exciting new project investigating what it means to be Cumbrian.
Listen
to the programme online >>
There’s
gold in them there hills!
That old wild west promise of there’s gold in them there hills
might not have been strictly accurate for Cumbria but the mineral
wealth buried under the surface of the earth has certainly earned
more than a bob or two for the county.
 |
| Slate
at Coniston |
In
fact some would argue that modern day Cumbria has been shaped entirely
by what lies, not on top of, but beneath the ground.
Villages
like Threlkeld and Coniston only exist because some early pioneer
discovered something worth mining; lead, zinc, copper…and the
rest is history.
Iron
ore was processed to make steel rails which needed transporting
all around the world. So we have mining, steel-making and ship-building,
three huge Cumbrian industries which led to the growth of towns
like Workington, Whitehaven and Barrow.
 |
| Copper
mines in a valley |
Mining
was a terrifically important source of wealth for Cumbria.
Around the turn of the century about a quarter of the working population
was employed in mines and quarries. That’s one out of every
four blokes you see walking down the street.
Quite a thought. And the history of mining in Cumbria, like everywhere
else, has two sides. OK, it provided jobs, it built the foundations
of whole towns and communities …. but it was dangerous, dirty
work. It might have put the bread on many a family’s table
it also meant working in dark, dismal conditions, tough work for
tough men and women.
The youngest child recorded mining underground in Cumbria was four.
Unthinkable now. And Cumbria didn’t escape it’s fair share
of catastrophic mining disasters.
Ian
Tyler is passionate about the county’s mining history and really
makes it come to life if you go to see him at the Threlkeld Quarry
and Mining Museum.
 |
| Ian
Tyler in front of Blencathra |
Ian
Tyler describes some of Cumbria’s
valuable rocks and minerals and what they were used for.
You
can see fragments of Cumbrian hills all around the world. There’s
a street in South America paved entirely with Threlkeld cobbles!
There’re corporate headquarters in Canada and Japan with floors
made from Westmorland green slate, and there’s a town in the
U.S. built from St Bees sandstone.
 |
| Donald
Kelly and Mike Dickinson at the Burlington Elterwater Quarry
|
And
it’s not just part of our history. Fine grade iron ore is still
mined at Egremont, there’s gypsum at Kirkby Thor, and there
are granite, limestone and slate quarries all over the place.
The
Westmorland green slate from the Burlington quarry at Elterwater
has provided work for generations of local families, and there’s
still ore to be quarried after 300 years of work on the same site.
That’s a lot of slate!
More
>> Rock built
|
