Hungry Chert Quarries

Hungry Chert QuarriesThe Yorkshire Dales is well known for its historic links with the lead mining industry particularly during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, but other metals like silver, zinc and copper have been extracted in smaller quantities. Aggregates like limestone and sandstone are still being quarried. Chert was quarried in Swaledale and the adjacent Arkengarthdale from c. 1901 to c. 1950 when the market for chert suddenly collapsed. Up to 1922 the

The Yorkshire Dales is well known for its historic links with the lead mining industry particularly during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, but other metals like silver, zinc and copper have been extracted in smaller quantities. Aggregates like limestone and sandstone are still being quarried. Chert was quarried in Swaledale and the adjacent Arkengarthdale from c.1901 to c.1950 when the market for chert suddenly collapsed.

Up to 1922 the principal chert quarrying was at Fremington Edge quarry situated above Reeth in Swaledale, but in 1922 a second chert quarry started in Arkengarthdale on Mouldside.

Whilst walking Mouldside for many years and having read the available accounts, there appeared to be some aspects that did not quite fit or had not been described. Unfortunately we can no longer ask the men who must have toiled long and arduous hours here, but I hope this short report (more a pictorial record) will add an extra layer to what we know, or at least stimulate further discussion.