More information : For details see county SMR (1).
SS 74433649. Remains of iron working at Hangley Cleave.
Hangley Cleave (3) or Hangley Cleeve (4) was one of the places where older workings were evident (4) and by 1854, by means of trenches, holes and cuts into hillsides, the existence of deposits of ore in this area was proved to Frederic Knight's satisfaction. The surface indications of a vein running roughly east/west were of a very favourable character. Operations, began by the Dowlais Iron Company of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, about March 1856, were by 'patching' or open work along the vein which on the surface was about 4.5m wide (5). Westward it proved to be nearly 2m thick, but eastward it quickly faded out. To drain the vein a drift was begun (about 115m to the north at SS 74443661) but when it struck the vein at a depth of 12m it had narrowed to under 2m. A shaft was sunk at this point (SS 74433649) and 1200 tons of rich brown hematite was raised at a cost of £700 before the vein petered out. Operations were abandoned in August 1857.
The remains of the workings are still clearly evident about 460m above OD on a gentle rough grass-covered north-facing slope to the north of the road between Two Barrows and Kinsford Gate. The remains, all grass-covered and all with associated spoil heaps, consist of the open worked east/west vein, the north/south adit and drift, together with another adit or drift some 200m due east of the main shaft (about SS 74613646). The actual adit entrances and shaft have been blocked or caved in so it is not clear where their exact entrances were. Fragments of old tram rails are laid on the surface near to the shaft. It is not clear which are the earlier workings referred to.
No survey action has been taken as most of the site is depicted, annotated Iron Mine (Disused), on the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map of 1890 (3), but it does require a large scale survey at a future date. (2-5)
Surveyed at 1:1000 scale, February 1999. (6-8)
The remains of the iron workings at Hangley Cleave, consisting of openworks and associated spoil heaps, are clearly visible on several aerial photographs of the area. A complex drainage system can also be seen surrounding the working area (see NMR UID 1484216), however there is no indication of tramlines as described above. It is possible that the linear drainage system has been misinterpreted as tramlines. (9). |