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Honister Slate Quarry, Borrowdale
Honister Slate Quarry
Honister Slate Mine
Honister Crag Quarry
site name:-   Honister Crag
civil parish:-   Borrowdale (formerly Cumberland)
civil parish:-   Buttermere (formerly Cumberland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   slate quarry
locality type:-   quarry
locality type:-   mine
locality type:-   museum
locality type:-   workplace
coordinates:-   NY22481354
1Km square:-   NY2213
10Km square:-   NY21

photograph
BJZ23.jpg (taken 7.11.2005)  
photograph
BJZ22.jpg (taken 7.11.2005)  
evidence:-   descriptive text:- Otley 1823 (5th edn 1834) 
item:-  slate; roof slate
source data:-   Guide book, A Concise Description of the English Lakes, the mountains in their vicinity, and the roads by which they may be visited, with remarks on the mineralogy and geology of the district, by Jonathan Otley, published by the author, Keswick, Cumberland now Cumbria, by J Richardson, London, and by Arthur Foster, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, 1823; published 1823-49, latterly as the Descriptive Guide to the English Lakes.
image OT01P125, button  goto source
"... Honister Crag in majestic grandeur is presented to the view;"
image OT01P126, button  goto source
Page 126:-  "between which and Yew Crag, the road now sharply descends. Both these rocks are famed for producing roofing slate of the best quality; ..."
evidence:-   descriptive text:- Ford 1839 (3rd edn 1843) 
source data:-   Guide book, A Description of Scenery in the Lake District, by Rev William Ford, published by Charles Thurnam, Carlisle, by W Edwards, 12 Ave Maria Lane, Charles Tilt, Fleet Street, William Smith, 113 Fleet Street, London, by Currie and Bowman, Newcastle, by Bancks and Co, Manchester, by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, and by Sinclair, Dumfries, 1839.
image FD01P088, button  goto source
Page 88:-  "... Honistar Crag, rises sheer out of the valley to the height of one thousand six hundred feet, on which are extensive blue-slate quarries. ..."
evidence:-   old text:- Martineau 1855
item:-  Border Wars
source data:-   Guide book, A Complete Guide to the English Lakes, by Harriet Martineau, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, and by Whittaker and Co, London, 1855; published 1855-76.
image MNU1P133, button  goto source
Page 133:-  "... Honister Crag frowns above; and as the traveller, already at a considerable height, looks up at the quarrymen in the slate quarries near the summit, it almost takes his breath away to see them hanging like summer spiders quivering H from the eaves of a house."
"These quarrymen are a hardy race, capable of feats of strength which are now rarely heard of elsewhere. No heavily-armed knight, who ever came here to meet the Scot (and there were such encounters on this spot in the ancient border wars) carried a greater weight, or"
image MNU1P134, button  goto source
Page 134:-  "did more wonders in a day than these fine fellows. The best slate of Honister Crag is found near the top: and there, many hundred feet aloft, may be seen (by good eyes) the slate-built hovels of some of the quarrymen, while others ascend and descend many times between morning and night. Now the men come leaping down with their trucks at a speed which appears appalling to strangers. Formerly, the slate was brought down on hurdles, on men's backs: and the practice is still continued in some remote quarries, where the expense of conveyance by carts would be too great, or the roads do not admit of it. Nearly forty years ago there was a man named Joseph Clark at Honister, who made seventeen journeys, (including seventeen miles of climbing up and scrambling down,) in one day, bringing down 10,880 pounds of slate. In ascending he carried the hurdle, weighing eighty pounds; and in descending, he brought each time 640 pounds of slate. At another time he carried, in three successive journeys, 1,280 pounds each time. His greatest day's work was bringing 11,771 pounds; in how many journeys it is not remembered: but in fewer than seventeen. He lived at Stonethwaite, three miles from his place of work. His toils did not appear to injure him: and he declared that he suffered only from thirst. It was believed in his day that there was scarcely another man in the kingdom capable of sustaining such labour for a course of years."
"In some places where the slate is closely compacted, and presents endways and perpendicular surface, the quarryman sets about his work as if he were going"
image MNU1P135, button  goto source
Page 135:-  "after eagle's eggs. His comrades let him down by a rope from the precipice; and he tries for a footing on some ledge, where he may drive in wedges. The difficulty of this, where much of his strength must be employed in keeping his footing, may be conceived: and a great length of time must be occupied in loosening masses large enough to bear the fall without being dashed into useless pieces. But, generally speaking, the methods are improved, and the quarries made accessible by tracks admitting of the passage of strong carts. Still, the detaching of the slate, and the loading and conducting the carts, are laborious work enough to require and train a very athletic order of men. ..."
evidence:-   old text:- Postlethwaite 1877 (3rd edn 1913) 
placename:-  Honister Quarries
item:-  slate; tramroad; inclined plane
source data:-   Book, Mines and Mining in the English Lake District, by John Postlethwaite, Keswick, published by W H Moss and Sons, Whitehaven, Cumberland now Cumbria, 1877; published 1877-1913.
image PST3p135, button  goto source
page 135:-  "..."
"It has not been definitely ascertained when the Honister Quarries were first worked, but an old document was found some time ago in Cockermouth Castle, which contains the information that in 1753 Charles Norman became tenant or lessee, as successor to Thomas Grindall, proving that they were in full operation 160 years ago. After Thomas Grindall's occupancy, the quarries were leased by Messrs. Clark and Robert Jopson, and afterwards successively by Anthony Wright, Samuel Wright and Anthony Coward. Tho (sic) last-named lessee ceased working about 1870, and there was an interval of about eight years before the present proprietors commenced operations. Prior to the advent of this Company, the whole of the slate obtained was brought down the face of the rock and screes on small sledges, or barrows, as they were called by the workmen, and for this work great strength and dexterity were required, and it was always attended with some danger. The return journey had to be made by a circuitous route, the quarryman carrying the barrow on his shoulders. On commencing operations the present proprietors at once set to work to obviate this laborious and dangerous work, and constructed improved roads, and self-acting tramways for that purpose; and quite recently they have completed an internal connection between all the upper levels and one driven into the heart of the crag only a few feet above the top of Honister Pass, and now all the produce of the Quarry is brought out at that place. A self-acting tramway was also constructed to the top of Yew Crag."
evidence:-   old map:- Postlethwaite 1877 (3rd edn 1913) 
placename:-  Honister Quarry
source data:-   Map, uncoloured engraving, Map of the Lake District Mining Field, Westmorland, Cumberland, Lancashire, scale about 5 miles to 1 inch, by John Postlethwaite, published by W H Moss and Sons, 13 Lowther Street, Whitehaven, Cumberland, 1877 edn 1913.
image
PST2NY21.jpg
"Honister"
quarry symbol 
item:-  JandMN : 162.2
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Postlethwaite 1877
placename:-  Honister Quarry
source data:-   Print, halftone photograph, Honister Quarry and Pass, Buttermere and Borrowdale, Cumberland, published by W H Moss and Sons, 13 Lowther Street, Whitehaven, Cumberland, 1877 edn 1913.
image  click to enlarge
PST333.jpg
Tipped in opposite p.132 of Mines and Mining in the English Lake District, by John Postlethwaite. 
printed, bottom  "HONISTER QUARRY AND PASS."
item:-  JandMN : 162.35
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Postlethwaite 1877
placename:-  Honister Quarry
source data:-   Print, halftone photograph, Honister and Yew Crag Quarries, Borrowdale, Cumberland, published by W H Moss and Sons, 13 Lowther Street, Whitehaven, Cumberland, 1877 edn 1913.
image  click to enlarge
PST334.jpg
Tipped in opposite p.132 of Mines and Mining in the English Lake District, by John Postlethwaite. 
printed, bottom  "HONISTER AND YEW CRAG QUARRIES."
item:-  JandMN : 162.36
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old text:- Postlethwaite 1877 (3rd edn 1913) 
placename:-  Honister Quarries
item:-  slate; tramroad; inclined plane
source data:-   Book, Mines and Mining in the English Lake District, by John Postlethwaite, Keswick, published by W H Moss and Sons, Whitehaven, Cumberland now Cumbria, 1877; published 1877-1913.
image PST3p135, button  goto source
page 135:-  "..."
"It has not been definitely ascertained when the Honister Quarries were first worked, but an old document was found some time ago in Cockermouth Castle, which contains the information that in 1753 Charles Norman became tenant or lessee, as successor to Thomas Grindall, proving that they were in full operation 160 years ago. After Thomas Grindall's occupancy, the quarries were leased by Messrs. Clark and Robert Jopson, and afterwards successively by Anthony Wright, Samuel Wright and Anthony Coward. Tho (sic) last-named lessee ceased working about 1870, and there was an interval of about eight years before the present proprietors commenced operations. Prior to the advent of this Company, the whole of the slate obtained was brought down the face of the rock and screes on small sledges, or barrows, as they were called by the workmen, and for this work great strength and dexterity were required, and it was always attended with some danger. The return journey had to be made by a circuitous route, the quarryman carrying the barrow on his shoulders. On commencing operations the present proprietors at once set to work to obviate this laborious and dangerous work, and constructed improved roads, and self-acting tramways for that purpose; and quite recently they have completed an internal connection between all the upper levels and one driven into the heart of the crag only a few feet above the top of Honister Pass, and now all the produce of the Quarry is brought out at that place. A self-acting tramway was also constructed to the top of Yew Crag."
evidence:-   old map:- Postlethwaite 1877 (3rd edn 1913) 
placename:-  Honister Quarry
source data:-   Map, uncoloured engraving, Map of the Lake District Mining Field, Westmorland, Cumberland, Lancashire, scale about 5 miles to 1 inch, by John Postlethwaite, published by W H Moss and Sons, 13 Lowther Street, Whitehaven, Cumberland, 1877 edn 1913.
image
PST2NY21.jpg
"Honister"
quarry symbol 
item:-  JandMN : 162.2
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Postlethwaite 1877
placename:-  Honister Quarry
source data:-   Print, halftone photograph, Honister Quarry and Pass, Buttermere and Borrowdale, Cumberland, published by W H Moss and Sons, 13 Lowther Street, Whitehaven, Cumberland, 1877 edn 1913.
image  click to enlarge
PST333.jpg
Tipped in opposite p.132 of Mines and Mining in the English Lake District, by John Postlethwaite. 
printed, bottom  "HONISTER QUARRY AND PASS."
item:-  JandMN : 162.35
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Postlethwaite 1877
placename:-  Honister Quarry
source data:-   Print, halftone photograph, Honister and Yew Crag Quarries, Borrowdale, Cumberland, published by W H Moss and Sons, 13 Lowther Street, Whitehaven, Cumberland, 1877 edn 1913.
image  click to enlarge
PST334.jpg
Tipped in opposite p.132 of Mines and Mining in the English Lake District, by John Postlethwaite. 
printed, bottom  "HONISTER AND YEW CRAG QUARRIES."
item:-  JandMN : 162.36
Image © see bottom of page

JandMN : 399
photograph
BXO40.jpg  Rock, souvenir roof slate, metamorphosed from tuff? from Honister Slate Quarry, Borrowdale, Cumberland, NY22481354, 7 November 2005.
On a visitor tour you might get the chance to split a slate from a block, and come away with a souvenir like this.
Ordovician; Borrowdale Volcanic Group.
(taken 7.11.2005)  

JandMN : 398
photograph
BXO39.jpg  Rock, hand specimen of slate metamorphosed from tuff? from Honister Slate Quarry, Borrowdale, Cumberland, NY22481354, 7 November 2005.
Ordovician; Borrowdale Volcanic Group.
(taken 7.11.2005)  

photograph
BJZ19.jpg (taken 7.11.2005)  
photograph
BJZ20.jpg (taken 7.11.2005)  
photograph
BJZ21.jpg (taken 7.11.2005)  
photograph
 Click to enlarge
BUM77.jpg (taken 3.5.2011)  
photograph
BXS92.jpg  Charging lamp batteries.
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXS93.jpg  Lamp batteries.
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXS94.jpg  Inclined plane.
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXS95.jpg  Jacks.
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXS96.jpg  Miners' hut (reconstructed).
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXS97.jpg  Miners' hut (reconstructed).
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXS98.jpg  Tunnels.
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXS99.jpg  Pneumatic drill
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXT01.jpg  Tramroad point.
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXT02.jpg  Rock.
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXT03.jpg  Slates.
(taken 7.12.2012)  
photograph
BXT04.jpg  Slates.
(taken 7.12.2012)  
MN photo:-  
 The quarry does a regular trade in house numbers and name signs. The engraving is done on a machine:-

photograph
BXS85.jpg  Engraving machine; the operator is choosing number guides from the cases of fonts.
(taken 7.12.2012)  courtesy Honister Slate Mine
photograph
BXS86.jpg  Setting the number guides.
(taken 7.12.2012)  courtesy Honister Slate Mine
photograph
BXS87.jpg  Setting the number guides, locking in place.
(taken 7.12.2012)  courtesy Honister Slate Mine
photograph
BXS88.jpg  The operator tracks a follower in the guide, along each line and up each serif, the engraving head cuts the slate.
(taken 7.12.2012)  courtesy Honister Slate Mine
photograph
BXS89.jpg  The follower in the guide.
(taken 7.12.2012)  courtesy Honister Slate Mine
photograph
BXS90.jpg  The engraving head.
(taken 7.12.2012)  courtesy Honister Slate Mine
photograph
BXS91.jpg  The machine.
(taken 7.12.2012)  courtesy Honister Slate Mine
hearsay:-  
 Begun 1643.
notes:-  
 Harriet Martineau, 1854:-
"Nearly forty years ago there was a man named Joseph Clark at Honister, who made seventeen journeys (including seventeen miles of climbing up, and scrambling down) in one day, bringing down 10,880 lbs. of slate. In ascending he carried the hurdle, weighting 80 lbs., and in descending he brought each time 640 lbs. of slate. At another time he carried, in three successive journeys, 1,280 lbs. each time. His greatest day's work was bringing 11,771 lbs, in how many journeys it is not remembered, but in fewer than seventeen."

Baron 1925

Glover, David: 2014: Quarries of Lakeland: Bookcase (Carlisle, Cumbria)
place:-   Braithwaite and Buttermere Railway
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