The History of Cleveland's Ironstone Industry

The discovery of the Cleveland ironstone seam took place in Skinningrove in 1847 when Samuel Frederick Okey was examining ironstone on the beach, and the local land owner, Anthony Lax Maynard approached him to tell him about the same colour stone which he had noticed further up the valley. Okey decided to have a look and on the east side of the valley a considerably valuable seam of ironstone was discovered. Since Okey had too many other business commitments to mine the seam himself, he looked to other interested parties and, on the 23rd September 1847 an agreement was written up for James Burlinson to take lease of the mine. However, a year later this lease was sold on to more practical men and mining commenced at Skinningrove on the 7th August 1848. The following year the mine was taken over by a strong and leading ironstone company called Bolckow and Vaughan. However, it changed hands again in October 1850.

Picture: A miner drilling

In 1850 a major discovery took place in Eston when John Vaughan discovered ironstone on the Eston hills. Unknown to him, he had just stumbled across what was going to be the main seam of ironstone in East Cleveland. Eston was the largest drift mine in the area and, as the ironstone mining industry developed, the area saw a surge in demand for ironstone as ironmasters built their blast furnaces and ironworks. In total there were eighty four mines in the area which stretched from the coast to as far inland as Rosedale. The developments in the ironstone industry also led to the building of many railway lines which ran from Saltburn to the mining villages and these railways soon became passenger lines as well as freight lines.

The Formation of Ironstone Mining Communities

It is often said that without the development of ironstone mining many of the small villages we see today in East Cleveland would not have been formed. The housing in these small communities was normally provided by the mine owners who also built schools, hospitals, chapels and occasionally Working Men's Clubs. The houses were often built in terraces and were usually two up, two down with an allotment to the rear of the house. The closeness of the houses created a special bond between the families who would all make their living out of the pits. A number of terraced houses can still be seen in many of the villages today.

Picture: Skinningrove Silver Band

Away from the mines all miners had hobbies and pastimes which helped to create bonds between them. These hobbies included keeping racing pigeons, whippet racing, football, quoits, darts and dominoes. Many mines also had their own Silver Band. Religion also played a major part in the mining communities and chapel was regularly attended by every mining family. Religion was also a major commitment with the mine owners and their faith was shown in some of their superstitions such as never whistling down the mine because it summoned the devil.

The mining communities were special kinds of places where it was safe to leave the door unlocked for your friends just to pop in and say hello. Everybody knew everybody and it made the community a safe place to live in. Even though mining was a hard life the miners sense of community spirit was always positive because of the harsh reality that you needed to work hard to keep your house and feed your children. The community spirit was always shown when the death of a miner occurred as the whole community would mourn together. Unfortunately this community spirit died with the mines as they were closed as a result of foreign imports of better quality ironstone. However, the community spirit was seen recently when all of Skinningrove's residents came together after a serious flood ruined many homes. This should remind us of the magical spirit of yesteryear.