Pictures of and around the Smelt Mills of the Yorkshire Dales (1997 - 2004). These webpages were built around pictures gathered between 1997 and 2004. John Archbold and I had been regularly on various railway walks, particularly around County Durham, Weardale and Tyneside. I had been fascinated by some lead smelt mill ruins I had seen in the Yorkshire Dales years earlier. I suggested we might do something different and make some journeys to take a look together at the smelt mills. That was in 1997 when web browsing was exclusively PC based and I posted the pictures to a website. In Jan 2021, I made the website truly “phone friendly” at last. That was a well overdue change and I also migrated the website to this domain. Otherwise it’s mostly unchanged. Therefore the narrative and pictures are as of the times the text was added (mostly 1997 to 2004). In 2021, things may look different; conditions, tracks and rights of way may have changed. I have given details of how we found the mills. Some of the smelt mills are near roads and easy to find. Finding other mills is somewhat more challenging. Whatever you find, please avoid having any impact of these historic sites. A reminder. Sorry if it’s (re)stating the obvious. Particularly, if you wish to visit any of those mills sites which are distant from roads, do check current conditions. Wear clothing and footwear suitable for expected conditions including weather. Most places look best in sunshine. Plan your route with an OS map and get verification of the current viability of your route from the friendly Dales’ locals. As with any such walk, let people know where you are going. Have a fully charged cell phone but don’t rely on getting a signal everywhere. Regulations and commom sense as to distances and purposes we are allowed or not allowed to travel due to SARS-Cov-2 variants may stop those from outside the Dales from visiting the area while threats of spreading the viruses remain. However, visiting the Dales is something we can all look forward to doing when we are again free to do so without risking the health of others as well as ourselves. Raison d'être. In creating the original website between 1997 and 2004, I was looking, originally, to point out that there is so much industrial archaeolgy to see in the Dales. Barry Jones very kindly provided a number of pictures and was my guide to a number of smelt mills, going the easier ways, where I had sometimes previously gone a harder way . Barry pointed out that the remains of the smelt mills are often misunderstood by visitors to the Dales who come upon them by chance. A quote from Barry Jones, “...photos of Surrender, One of my favourites is of the Mill and Peat store. This really is set in a beautiful place. You can see now why more people visit Surrender Mill and get interested in lead mining of the Yorkshire Dales. Most of the people I have spoken to on my many, many visits there can not believe this was a smelt mill. They take it to be farm cottages long since abandoned." And back to me, I wanted to preserve an easily accessible little record in pictures, of the Dales' smelt smills, at that point in time. It was clear that inevitably wear, tear and the elements would continue to degrade some of the rare very special industrial archaeology, the most evident surface record of lead mining in the Yorkshire Dales. The environment: from harm to charm. While they were functioning, all of the mills, such as Swinnergill here, may not only have seemed like unpleasant blots on the beautiful Yorkshire Dales’ landscapes, but also could be desperately unhealthy places to work. Today with the fumes long gone, Nature has blended the ruins of lead smelters into the landscape. Old Gang lead smelt mill. Compared with the Swinnergill smelt mill, Old Gang Mill is much more complex. Flues and chimneys. At some sites, long long flues across the moors terminated in vertical chimneys. There are other things you may see and discover. This “air receiver tank” was seen in Gunnerside Gill Valley (near Sir Francis mine) on way to Blakethwaite smelt mill. The tub was also in the Gunnerside Valley, not far from Blakethwaite Mill (in the [right] background). Imagine all those people, men women and children. One's thoughts are stirred to imagine the roar of the furnace fires, the busy lives of miners, ore crushers, smelter workers and carters, all the indusrial workers who worked there. It was a very different scene when this rural area was bustling with industrial activity with one sole end in mind, the profitable production of lead. Historical context. Ah But! To add a little more context to the pages, some very short histories that I found were added. Continued research may shine fresh light on the past in the Dales. In the historical context, about my bits of added history, I had someone come back to me, effectively saying “Ah! But etc. etc.”, so I ask you that if you feel inspired to know the histories, do check any recent publications from the experts. Here, enjoy the pictures which I hope will enhance your enjoyment of the Dales, perhaps even inspiring you to eventually go exploring there yourself and perhaps compare what I saw then with what you see now. We enjoyed visiting the smelt mills’ sites and posting the pictures which are now becoming somewhat historic in themselves.