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Black Lead Mines
Report of a visit to the black lead mines above
Seathwaite, by GS, George Smith, published in the
Gentleman's Magazine, London, February 1751.
THE Gentleman's Magazine: For FEBRUARY 1751.
Mr URBAN,
THE public attention has been drawn to the black lead mines,
in Cumberland, call'd the Wad, by the account of their
having been plundered, which has lately appear'd in the
papers: but as yet they have not been described, and though
it is not known that there is any other mine of the same
kind in the world, yet, I believe, they have never been
visited with a view to natural history, except by myself,
and some gentlemen who went with me. I, therefore, send you
the following narrative of our journey and discoveries,
which, I hope, will be acceptable to your readers. Yours,
&c. G.S.
I Had long intended a journey to the Wad, and had often been
prevented from effecting it by unfavourable weather, and
other accidents; but in the beginning of Aug. 1749, I set
out from Wigton, in company with two or three friends, and
had appointed others to meet us from Cockermouth, who waited
only for my message to set out; for as this expedition had
been long projected, they had determined to bear me
company.- From Wigton, in about 3 hours, we arrived at
Orthwaite, a small village under mount Skiddow: (See
Vol.XVIII. p.292). A sudden storm of rain obliged us to take
shelter in a little alehouse at this place, and an
uninterrupted series of bad weather kept us prisoners near a
week; however as the neighbouring clergymen charitably
visited us every day, we did not much suffer by our
confinement. Here the gentlemen from Cockermouth joined us
on the first fair morning; and the afternoon being clear we
agreed to meet the next morning at the Royal Oak in Keswic,
a market town, on the south side of Skiddow. This mountain,
which I had visited the year before, and of which I have
already given you some account (See V.XVIII. p.4) is a
fissile absorbing slate: This slate is flaked off with a
kind of wedge, peculiarly adapted to the work, in quarries
near the top of the mountain, and is conveyed down to the
plain by laborers, in a machine so contrived as to be
carried upon the shoulder, the man walking upright: In these
machines each man carries as much as would load a Cumberland
cart, but having by long use learnt to improve the advantage
afforded by the declivity of the mountain, they descend with
little labour, and less hazard.
Skiddow is undoubtedly one of the highest mountains in
Britain, the declivity from the white-water dash, at the
foot, to the summit, measures near 5000 yards, but the
perpendicular height cannot be much more then one fourth of
that measure. The neighbouring mountains are all very high,
and the greater part terminate in craggy precipices, that
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