As the weather forecast for today was good I decided to take a walk from the cottage up unto the high moorland. I wanted to explore an area which the map suggested is full of the remains of the old lead-mining industry. There is not a great deal to see on first acquaintance, but the imagination soon brings to life the numerous pits, spoil heaps, channels and the remains of buildings. At one point I did spy an entrance to a tunnel made from neatly finished stone. Evidently at one time this had been a busy industrial site. These days economic activity is confined to sheep farming and grouse shooting.
This part of Yorkshire was, in the past, a major centre for lead mining, which antedates the growth of the textile industry for which the county was better known. Now sheep outnumber people …. and probably ghosts outnumber both.
On the way down, as I stopped for lunch, I got into conversation with a young caver, getting her equipment into order. She was quite knowleadgeable about local history, and we agreed that it was probable that musket balls made from the lead from the area had played a part in the defeat of Napoleon. It seems that the old lead miners had been very superstitious, and the natural caves in the area had been regarded with profound suspicion. It is not uncommon to see “witch marks” at their entrances.