“A really interesting insight into Weardale’s Past”, I. Young, Oxford.

Weardale has been mined for lead ore since the time of William the Conqueror but it was the eighteenth century which witnessed a sudden rise in population as new technology enabled deeper mines to be sunk.

Miners’ pay was poor and they needed to supplement their income by farming small-holdings on the hillside. Fathers and sons worked at the mine while mothers and daughters tended to the animals. Hay-time was a communal activity, when miners stayed off work and children had long school holidays.

See our fine collection of late 19th century mining, quarrying and farming photographs, a unique mine model, farming artefacts and a survey of farming carried out by MAFF in 1942 as part of the war effort.
   
For more about our lead-mining past a visit to ‘Killhope Lead-mining Museum’ is a real must.