Cobscar Smelt Mill N.B. Narrative and pictures are as of the times when the pictures were originally added (mostly 1997 to 2004). In 2021, things may look different; conditions, tracks and rights of way may have changed. Click on the Home button for more explanation. To get from Swaledale to the Cobscar Smelt Mill, take the road South from Grinton in Swaledale, heading for Castle Bolton. After 2 1/2 miles (4 km.), the road goes left (at a point where a right turn heads towards Apedale). After only another 1/2 mile, the road turns right. Find a place to park up. If it is a clear day, look around in the valley to the South and you will see Castle Bolton. On the inside of the corner (as if you had gone straight on) is a gate. Go though it and follow a road. You will soon see Cobscar's chimney coming into view from behind a hill on your left. Note also, Cobscar Rake on your left. It is clearly defined even now as disturbed ground and stones, about 2 miles long. We understand that Cobscar lead smelter had four hearths. Firstly, the ore was heated in the roasting hearth to scrub out a lot of the sulphur before the smelt. Then, the roasted ore was passed on to the two ore hearths which did the major part of the smelt. The grey slag from these was transferred to the single slag hearth to recover even more lead from the slag. Broken flue and chimney. Cobscar Lead Smelt Mill, up to sometime a little before the middle of the 20th Century, was still in good condition, with most of the machinery still in place. It had the potential to be one of today's best monuments to the Yorkshire Dales lead industry. The area was once used for military training. There is still a military training area nearby. Arthur raistrick reports that, sadly, the smelt mill was destroyed in demolition practice. Today, only Cobscar's square chimney is anywhere near intact. The Cobscar chimney was at one time shared by another flue, that from the Keld Heads smelter, about a kilometre away. The flue from Keld Heads can be seen as a diagonal strip on the moor, near the right of the inset. On the day of our visit, we noticed that the side of the chimney facing the smelter has now got diagonal damage which looks like the result of a lightning strike. Was this damage recent and would it cause the demise of the chimney? A picture taken in 1974 (not shown here) and showing that side of the chimney, was reassuring. The damage was already evident then and the chimney had stood another 24 years since. The Cobscar Rake. What's in a name?. The Cobscar Rake is a long and fascinating surface feature with one end terminating near the Cobscar Smelter. The Cobscar "Rake," in common with other "Rakes" in the area has an appearance as though the land has been raked over with a gigantic rake. We mused as to whether the name "Rake" resulted from this appearance. The Cobscar Rake Vein connected to a group of veins further West, called Walker Wife Vein and Bolton Park Vein, in Bolton Gill and Apedale. Inevitably, ore in outcrops was the first to be exploited. It is likely that in common with other places where veins outcropped as at Old Rake, at Old Gang and at Chaytor Rake, the vein at Cobscar Rake would have been exploited long ago, perhaps as far back as 2000 years ago during the Roman occupation of Britain. In the earliest days, the ore near the outcrops could have been exposed by removing the surface along the seam to expose the ore to the hammers and picks of the prospectors. Pits would have then have been dug to continue the exploitiation of the Cobscar Rake Vein when the outcrops had been harvested. There is a succession of pits along the Cobscar Rake. Some Ah Buts: Some history derived from Arthur Raistrick: The Chaytor family was involved in lead mining in this area in the Eighteenth Century with leases including the Cobscar and Chaytor Rakes. Cobscar Mill may have been built around 1752 for William Chaytor, at the East end of the Cobscar Rake. Arthur Raistrick reported that The Chaytor family appear to have held the leases throughout the life of the Cobscar lead smelter. It probably smelted for the Cobscar Rake itself and Cranehow Bottom Mine, about a kilometre North East of the mill, on the Chaytor Rake. Cobscar lead smelter was probably shut down in or after 1857. Link to the page on the Grinton Smelt Mill >>>