Living only a few miles from Guisborough, being born in a mining village and having a significant number of male ancestors who worked in the ironstone mines in the area, it was only a matter of time before I found myself poking around in some old ironstone workings. Most of the village mines in East Cleveland are based around deep shafts but there are still a number that operated on a drift basis - Hutton is one of these and can still be accessed if you're determined (and are prepared to breathe in during the initial stages) - it's well worth the effort, as I hope my photos show.
Some history
There's very little in terms of literature out there regarding ironstone workings in Guisborough, even though the area is criss-crossed and pockmarked by sinkholes, drifts, culverts, shafts, powder houses and the like.
The majority of mines in this area were worked by JW Pease & Co, chasing the 3' main seam and a smaller 1'-4" seam that permeated the shale and stone that makes up the geology of this area. Hutton Mines is apparently a generic catchall name for a group of smaller mines that were set up in the area, although the one we're talking about here is very close to Hutton Village itself.
First recorded output of these mines was in 1853 and the mines were only worked for fourteen years, recording their last output in 1867 - therefore these mines have been abandoned for 150 years and it shows!
Hutton Mine was served by a branch of the Middlesbrough/Guisborough railway and ran up an incline to the drift entrance. The stone was calcined (as in so many other local ironstone mines, particularly Rosedale) before loading into trucks and being lowered down the incline. Very little trace of this remains nowadays.
The mines were worked in typical bord/pillar fashion, leaving some truly spectacular cavernous spaces deep inside the mine where the pillars were removed, leaving the roof to the whims of Mother Nature.
The state of the mine
Once inside, you drop down a steep little incline and are met with water immediately - you then join the main drift through a small rock cutting. From this point on, you're largely walking through spacious (head-height or better) tunnels and caverns. There has been a significant amount of roof fall in many of the spaces, with water ingress well evident in many places. Some of the original timbers/props are in place and there is at least one old tramway rail still evident (I managed to come out without a shot of that though - doh!). It's obvious where some of the older workings were deliberately collapsed once they were worked out. Equally, you can see areas where the sleepers were salvaged for use as either support or for tracks elsewhere in the mine. These workings cover a huge area and I hope the photos do them justice.
Enough yak, on with the photos
I make no apologies for the number of photos here - it was a truly spectacular exploration and I intend going back in a week or two to grab some more! I didn't get many of some of the spectacular roof-falls and cave-ins, or a decent one of the actual entrance incline so keep your eyes peeled for a follow-up report at some point:
There you have it - thanks for reading!
Some history
There's very little in terms of literature out there regarding ironstone workings in Guisborough, even though the area is criss-crossed and pockmarked by sinkholes, drifts, culverts, shafts, powder houses and the like.
The majority of mines in this area were worked by JW Pease & Co, chasing the 3' main seam and a smaller 1'-4" seam that permeated the shale and stone that makes up the geology of this area. Hutton Mines is apparently a generic catchall name for a group of smaller mines that were set up in the area, although the one we're talking about here is very close to Hutton Village itself.
First recorded output of these mines was in 1853 and the mines were only worked for fourteen years, recording their last output in 1867 - therefore these mines have been abandoned for 150 years and it shows!
Hutton Mine was served by a branch of the Middlesbrough/Guisborough railway and ran up an incline to the drift entrance. The stone was calcined (as in so many other local ironstone mines, particularly Rosedale) before loading into trucks and being lowered down the incline. Very little trace of this remains nowadays.
The mines were worked in typical bord/pillar fashion, leaving some truly spectacular cavernous spaces deep inside the mine where the pillars were removed, leaving the roof to the whims of Mother Nature.
The state of the mine
Once inside, you drop down a steep little incline and are met with water immediately - you then join the main drift through a small rock cutting. From this point on, you're largely walking through spacious (head-height or better) tunnels and caverns. There has been a significant amount of roof fall in many of the spaces, with water ingress well evident in many places. Some of the original timbers/props are in place and there is at least one old tramway rail still evident (I managed to come out without a shot of that though - doh!). It's obvious where some of the older workings were deliberately collapsed once they were worked out. Equally, you can see areas where the sleepers were salvaged for use as either support or for tracks elsewhere in the mine. These workings cover a huge area and I hope the photos do them justice.
Enough yak, on with the photos
I make no apologies for the number of photos here - it was a truly spectacular exploration and I intend going back in a week or two to grab some more! I didn't get many of some of the spectacular roof-falls and cave-ins, or a decent one of the actual entrance incline so keep your eyes peeled for a follow-up report at some point:
There you have it - thanks for reading!
Top work 
Cheers Kaplan - I've been poking around in the old jet mines up in the woods too and will probably stick a report up on them at some point - could do with a return visit to them to grab a couple more shots though.
