More information : A twentieth century Ironstone mine is visible as earthworks on air photographs, centred at NZ 760 179. The earthworks cover an area of approximately 9.2 ha. The features described have been destroyed on the latest 1994 Ordnance Survey vertical photography. (1)
A Sirocco fan house that is situated north of the Whitby Redcar and Middlesbrough Railway is the only remains of Grinkle Park Ironstone mine. The mine was opened c1875, was modernized in 1921 and had a drift located on the southern side of the railway and a mine shaft with a Sirocco fan house on the northern side. Legislation demanded that each mine have more than one method of entry so the drift became the working shaft (downcast), while the other (the upcast) was used to pull in large quantities of air to be pumped through the workings for the men, animals and to clear away the smoke from the explosives. After the 1890s electricity was introduced to mines and as a result steam driven fan houses where changed to electricity that could often move twice the volume of air while costing less to construct and operate. This Sirocco fan house is a single story brick built structure with double inlet airways and an engine bed. Very little of the drift and the other mine features remain, especially on the southern side of the railway where the drift has mostly been destroyed by the opening of the later Boulby Mine. The mine continued production until 1934 and is located south of Boulby in Mines Wood. (2-4)
The Durham Mining Museum website includes a profile of the mine with its changing ownership and output details. (5)
The Sirocco Fan House is also visible as a structure on air photographs and centred at NZ 7570 1796. The full extent of the feature could not however be mapped owing to tree cover to the north-west. The Fan House is extant on the latest 2009 vertical photography. (6)
The following has been provided by Simon Chapman - The first output from Grinkle Mine began in 1875 and was conveyed over a narrow gauge railway by locomotive and rope haulage to Port Mulgrave from where it was shipped to the Jarrow Ironworks of Messrs Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company. From 1900 ironstone was also transported underground through the workings of the adjoining Loftus Mine to the Skinningrove Ironworks but this ended in 1914. With the start of the Great War and the threat to coastal shipping an incline was made to join the mine to the nearby railway between Staithes and Loftus and this became the main route for output Port Mulgrave declining in use as a consequence. Grinkle Mine closed temporarily in 1921 so the opportunity was taken to modernize the plant with the introduction of electricity. The mine reopened in 1927 then closed abruptly after a few weeks because of a flood. It reopened again in 1929 but closed in 1930 and was abandoned in 1934. The site was cleared and then remained untouched until the 1970s when much spoil was tipped on it during the development of the nearby Boulby potash mine. The incline of 1916 is now a track leading to the buried site in the middle of which stands a small concrete hopper through which waste shale was loaded into an aerial ropeway for tipping on the coast. At the east end of the site the narrow gauge railway route towards Port Mulgrave remains running over a culvert and into a tunnel into the next valley. The end of the large culvert conveying Easington Beck beneath the site is also visible. At the west end the tipping was stopped in time to save the foundations of the boiler plant, air compressor house and haulage plant. The original rail level can be followed to the drift entrance but the workings are only accessible for about a hundred yards to roof falls and flooding. North of the railway to the potash mine the fanhouse for the double-inlet Sirocco fan still remains on its shaft 126 feet deep. The decaying fan is still in place and the arrangements for reversing the airflow within it can still be traced. (7)
Recorded by NRIM. (8) |