BRITAIN BENEATH · GUIDE · 8 OCTOBER 2026
Beldi Hill: The Lead Mine That Used Water—and Closed After Flooding
Water powered Beldi Hill’s ore crusher and helped wash the rock. Flooding inside the mine brought work to an end by the early 1880s.
Based on published records and visitor information. We have not visited these places.
AI-generated illustration
An imagined mine site shows water used to prepare ore. It is not a view or exact reconstruction of Beldi Hill or West Stonesdale.
AI-generated for Britain Beneath · 2026-09-27. Resized and converted to WebP for faster loading; no cropping.
Work after the rock came out
Beldi Hill’s workers used water to crush and wash ore—rock containing lead. But water entering the mine stopped them reaching the material those works depended on. Historic England records that flooding led to abandonment by the early 1880s.
At Beldi Hill Low Level, south of Keld, the processing works occupied four levels beside the River Swale. A crusher broke up the rock, and washing areas helped separate lead-bearing material from waste before it went to a furnace.
The slope let material pass from one stage to the next. Channels guided water through the surface works. Underground, keeping water away from the ore was a harder problem—one miners elsewhere in the Dales tried to solve with pumps.
- Historic England — Beldi Hill Low Level lead mine and ore works ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-22
Water helped—and flooded—the mine
A stream called Oldfield Gutter supplied the works. The record describes a waterwheel beside crushing rollers. Stone tanks and washing areas lay farther down. A channel carried spare water towards the river.
Historic England says the mine was probably dug in 1843. It appears on a map from 1857. Flooding had caused its abandonment by the early 1880s.
- Historic England — Beldi Hill Low Level lead mine and ore works ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-22
Trying to pump the water out
At West Stonesdale, miners used a water-powered engine to drive pumps that drained a shaft on one side of a stream. A horizontal mine passage lay on the other side. Water supplied the power for machinery intended to remove it from the mine.
Historic England calls it the only known engine of that type in this part of the Dales. A waterwheel, crusher and washing floors served other jobs.
The shaft mine opened around 1850. Miners hoped to reach a rich vein, or band of ore, in older mine passages flooded with water. They obtained valuable ore from a different vein, but the mine closed in 1860. The record does not establish that they reached the vein they had first hoped to work.
- Historic England — West Stonesdale lead mine and ore works ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-22
A horse-powered coal lift
At Brow Pit above Holmfield, a horse walked around a circular track to turn the coal-lifting machinery. A stone-lined tramway carried the coal downhill towards Howcans Pottery.
The tramway linked the mine with the pottery that used its coal. First, workers had to lift the coal out of the shaft. Then they had to move it downhill to the customer.
Historic England records the shaft as a deep hollow. We have not confirmed public access to any of these three sites. Stay away from shafts and mine entrances. A record does not prove a safe approach or give the right to enter. You can follow the engineering through the accounts without going underground.
- Historic England — Brow Pit coal mine and tramway ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-22
- Historic England — Beldi Hill Low Level lead mine and ore works ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-22
- Historic England — West Stonesdale lead mine and ore works ↗ · reviewed 2026-09-22
Sources and further reading
Written from the linked official records, checked on 22 September 2026. We have not visited these places. Check that the people running a place say it is open before planning entry. Map points are not visitor entrances. Check current visitor details before travelling. The 3 place records below give more information.
- Brow Pit mine shaft, gin circle, spoil heap and tramway, 270m south west of Catherine Slack Farm — 1017568
- West Stonesdale lead mine and ore works — 1015407
- Beldi Hill Low Level lead mine and ore works — 1015408
You can follow the links to read the original sources. Sources and permissions.