Chimney Bank

A little higher on the moor top to the Rosedale road stands Chimney Bank and ironstone kilns. They are a wonderful sight and have been stood unused for nearly a century

This is a copy of their history;-

“The area around Chimney Bank was the first part of Rosedale to experience the explosion of modern ironstone mining. Work began in 1856 and the initial mining was easy pickings as the ironstone stood out from the hillside as a cliff outcrop. Local legend says that during thunderstorms lightning would often strike the cliff and people talked of the devil or treasure buried in the hill.

Bank Top kilns were built to refine the ironstone through a process called ‘calcining’ – burning the ore with coal to reduce its weight by up to half and remove impurities. This meant much more efficient transport costs in getting to the ore to where it would be smelted into iron – first around Durham and later Teesside.

The project has carried out physical conservation works on the kilns, preserving them in their current state and preventing further deterioration. The work involved pointing and reinforcing the walls and joints, with the top of the kilns protected from weather damage by ‘soft capping’ with turf. New and innovative interpretation places the Bank Top kilns within their historic and natural environment.”

Thank you for all your lovely comments and favs all are appreciated and welcome.

[Beryl Lloyd]

An interesting sight to find these kilns on the hillside, thanks for including their history! fav

[carol white]

An interesting find and capture.Fav😊

[Michelle]

Lovely capture

[Kathy]

Interesting bit of history. The photo is lovely with the slanting light shining through the arched kiln tops and over the top of the mountain.

[Diana]

You do come up with some amazing images and places of interest, such a great capture and interesting info.

[Delwyn Barnett]

A wonderful piece of history. Makes a great photo.

[Judith Johnson]

What a fascinating place to visit. Great mining history

[Mags]

Wow! You are so rich in history and places like this.

[Joan Robillard]

Nice capture

[haskar]

Beautiful capture. Great light and patterns. Great story.

[Babs]

So interesting what a great shot.

[Elisabeth Sæter]

Great shot

[bkb in the city]

Very nice shot

[eDorre]

Beautiful and love the pov. Thanks for the info

[Issi Bannerman]

What a lovely capture.

[Harry J Benson]

Nice pov – Thank you for the history

[mittens (Marilyn)]

Lovely capture and so interesting looking.

[Tim L]

Love industrial archaeology and history and would be happy to see more like this. We had iron mines too and the most fascinating artefact is the ruts in the Roman road made by the carts taking the ore to the port.