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View of line from Harris Side 2007 |
Kelton Fell Mines 1925 |
The Rowrah and Kelton Fell (Mineral) Railway
From an article by David Powell in the CIHS Bulletin, April 2008, with the author's kind permission
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View of line from Harris Side 2007 |
Kelton Fell Mines 1925 |
Development
of railways in West Cumbria
The explosion
of railways in West Cumberland during the latter half of the 19th
century was very much due to the mineral wealth found in west Cumberland at that
time. There was coal stretching
from Whitehaven along the coast to Maryport and inland to Aspatria and Wigton.
Then there was iron ore in the Egremont, Cleator Moor and Frizington area. (The rich haematite iron ore
that was being mined in this area was in great demand for the Bessemer processes
because it was particularly low in phosphorus and sulphur.) We also had limestone lying with the iron
ore.
With the proximity of these raw materials the scene was set for an iron making industry. But the ore was not mined in any substantial quantity until the mid 18th century and then very little was used locally. The bulk of the ore was shipped out through Whitehaven to Scotland, South Wales and other parts of the country. At this time all the transportation was done by pack horse and horse and cart. The early furnace at Maryport was lucky in that it was close to the sea and received most of its ore from the Barrow area by ship. But it was short of river water for blowing and cooling purposes some times, but that’s another story! With the coming of the steam engine it also allowed the old water driven furnaces to move away from the rivers that drove the blowers and other machines.
So what caused the change? As I have just mentioned - the steam engine. It was the introduction of the steam engine which allowed the development of the railways. By 1844 there was a railway connecting Carlisle to Whitehaven via the coast and extended to Broughton – in – Furness by 1850. But there was no link into the iron ore field from this line and it was obvious by now that a line was required.
This requirement was filled in 1855 by the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway which left the existing Whitehaven and Barrow line about one mile south of Corkickle station at Mirehouse. This line opened up the Cumberland ore field to the coastal line and better output of ore shipments from Whitehaven. We can assume that the local entrepreneurs became aware of the possibilities. With all the raw materials available for the smelting of iron taking the ore to a point nearer the ports for smelting would be attractive. At this time the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway only went as far as Moor Row and Frizington but was extended to Rowrah and then on to Wrights Green (Lamplugh) in 1862 and then reaching Marron Junction on the Cockermouth Workington line by 1866.
By now the railways were well established and they were moving vast amounts of raw materials in and out of Cumberland - the iron ore and limestone to the furnaces, coal to the ports and coke from Durham.
We now have the overall picture of how the railways built up to serve the iron ore and coal mines
The
Kelton Fell mines
There had been some prospecting for iron ore in the Kelton
area east of Rowrah and as early as 1853 a Thomas Carmichael had workings there
as well as S & J Lindow by 1854. By 1869, it was eventually proved. There were three shafts sunk, one at Knockmurton and two at Kelton Fell.
The mines at this time were owned by William Baird and Co. the well known
Scottish Iron Master with a vast industrial empire in Scotland. Unfortunately these mines were working at a disadvantage as the nearest
rail head was at Rowrah or Wrights Green (Lamplugh) some four or five miles away
respectively. The only way to transport the ore was by horse and cart down hill
to Rowrah or Lamplugh and during the winter months the roads were impassable. The ore had to be stock piled at the mines.
R.E.
Hewer mentions in his mining book “The Kelton & Knockmurton Iron
Mines”. “The amount of money drawn from the rates to pay for the upkeep of
the roads at Kelton in 1873 amounted to £180 – 15s – 0d, but repairs cost
£318 – 17s – 3d such was the state of the road. This was all blamed on the carters for over loading the carts, spilling
the ore and blocking the gutters.The
owners of the mines were aware of the situation and Bairds give £40 towards the
upkeep of the road.” It was
suggested that Bairds should do more to help in the upkeep of the roads. It appears that they were the only company that helped towards the upkeep
of the roads. We must remember that
while the ore was coming down hill all the supplies had to go
It was not only Baird that wanted the railway built. The majority of the Kelton Township supported the railway and petitioned parliament to have it built. Kelton is one of the four townships of in the Lamplugh parish - the others being Lamplugh, Murton and Winder. Eventually Baird and company decided to promote a Railway of their own from a junction with the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont railway at Rowrah passing just north of Kirkland and terminating close to the Knockmurton mine in the valley of Leaps Beck between Murton Fell and Kelton Fell and at an elevation of 850 feet above sea level.
This was a busy time in this area because there was iron “in them there hills.” People were digging for ore up in the Ennerdale valley and also higher up the fells above Knockmurton at Floutern Tarn.
The
choice of route The proposal that I like is the standard gauge from
Cockermouth up the Lorton valley passing Scale Hill Hotel, along the Mosedale
Beck valley to the foot of Gale Fell.We
could have caught the train to have lunch at the Kirkstile Inn!
Another route
was a bogie way commencing at Knockmurton mine and rising over High Pen crossing
the upper section of Comb gill to Floutern Tarn and from there an incline would
be required to the base of Gale Fell. The
line was to be 2 foot gauge and double tracked. The incline was to be partially self acting but a stationary
engine would be required above Floutern Tarn on the side of Gavel Fell. Without the proof that the deposits were economical £22,000 was too much
of a gamble. Bairds were
reluctant to build their own railway as the tariff on the WC&E was so high
and when the latter was approached they refused saying it would not provide
sufficient return on the capital investment to extend a branch up to Kelton.With the refusal of the WC&E to build the line Bairds had no option
but to build the line themselves.Bairds
were no strangers to building railways; they had laid many miles of track in and
about Scotland. The Rowrah and Kelton Fell (Mineral)
Railway Company obtained its Act of Incorporation on July 16th 1874,
with a share capital of £30,000.The
offices were situated in Queen Street Whitehaven, and the first directors were-
William
Wallace was the first chairman but died in
1876 and was succeeded by Andrew Kirkwood McCosh (who had replaced Martin Boundy
in the first year of the company’s existence). James
Baird was the managing partner the Lonsdale
Haematite Iron Company at Bransty Whitehaven. He was also later on (in 1887) a
prime mover in the formation of the West Cumberland Ironmasters Association. Alexander
Brogden, MP Robert
A Robinson, of Cockermouth was Chief Agent for
Lord Lonsdale and was an original promoter for the Cleator and Workington
junction Railway. Alexander
Whitelaw, Great-Grandfather of William
Whitelaw MP and one time manager at the Gartsherrie Ironworks and from 1860 a
partner in William Baird and Company. Martin
Boundy, Iron ore mine owner thought to be from
Cornwall Building the line Inevitably during the building of the
line there would be complaints and the one that’s documented is the loss of
water to Rowrah Station and the answer was to have the contractor divert the
beck to re-supply the station. Before and during Bairds building this line there was a lot of unrest between the iron masters and
the WC&ER When in 1873 the
WC&ER increased freight charges which were promptly copied by the North
Western and Furness Companies was the finale straw for the iron masters. In 1874
the ironmasters propounded to run an independent line from Cleator Moor to
Workington and on to Maryport. Now
Baird’s must have seen the significance of this new line. As the WC&E. was
the line they would have make a junction with at Rowrah and after the refusal from the WC&E to build a branch up to Kelton
Fell I doubt that the relationship
was very close. Baird’s had been
in correspondence with the new C&WJR about a branch line from Distington to
meet the R&KF with an end on junction at Rowrah. This
branch was opened in May 1882 and this is Baird’s line. Bairds honoured the agreement with the WC&E until the new branch was
completed and the end on junction was achieved by an over bridge over the
WC&E west of Rowrah station with branches off to serve the Rowrah Hall and
Rowrah Head Quarries. By this time
the WC&E had lost its independence having been taken over by the L&NWR
in 1878 and eventually jointly by the Furness railway in 1879. The old junction with the WC&E was reduced to a back shunt. Bairds agreed to supply the locos and rolling stock for the line
except for private wagons supplied by the owners. A loco was purchased from Neilson and Company Glasgow to work the line.
It was a 0-4-0 Saddle Tank loco and named Kelton Fell. This engine operated from the small shed at Sheriffs gate.
This loco ended its working life working for the NCB at Gartshore.
It was presented to the Scottish Railway Preservation Society in 1968 and
can be seen at the Bo’ness Railway Falkirk. The railway has been built and the mines
and limestone quarries have their access to the railway network. But, as with all industries, the iron industry of west
Cumberland of that time had its highs and lows. The C&WJ were now working their line
with their own locos to Rowrah and after 1889 also worked the limestone traffic
on the R&KF. Following the line At Sheriffs Gate the
line passes under the road but it’s now filled in and nothing much is left.
Just after this bridge we have a turnout that goes to Salterhall
limestone quarry and Salterhall iron ore mines owned by the Salter and Eskett
Park Mining Company and this junction is known as Rowrah Junction. Most of the output from the quarry and the mines was consumed by the
Cleator Moor ironworks. This off
shoot as it was called was built at the same time as the line was built. The off shoot that went in to Stockhowhall Quarry was built 6 years
later. This Quarry was owned by
James Bain and Company who also owned the Harrington Ironworks and Collieries.
The C&WJ built a Signal box here complete with lattice work girder
signals. The line
continues on and just before Stockhow it passes over a cattle pass and then
through the wood and curves round to the north east. It then passes over another
cattle pass and climbs towards the village of Kirkland. Just before it crosses
over the road bridge there was a one track siding with a coal and goods depot.
The only remains left of this bridge is the one side abutment. The other
abutment has been removed completely with a good part of an embankment for a
local council storage area. Just to
the back of this storage area there is a complete cattle pass. The line now curves round the north of the village and over
the road bridge. There is nothing left to see except the high embankment to the
next road bridge that goes over the farm road to Teathes. This is complete. To
the north of this high embankment is the site of the Barbara mine. Not
far after this point we start with the first cutting that takes the line under
the road east of the village. (This bridge has been filled in). The line continues in an easterly direction and virtually
parallel with the road and comes out of the cutting after about 400 meters. It has one more cattle bridge and some shallow cuttings before it reaches
the Kelton Fell mine. Just before
the mine it has another under pass and a road bridge over that has been removed
completely and only thing left is a dip in the road. We still have
one more bridge over the Leaps road that takes the line on to Knockmurton mine.
On this last bridge there was the start of a turnout and a run round loop
to allow shunting into Kelton mine. Just
along from this last bridge there is the last cattle pass. This one is complete but has been robbed and is starting to deteriorate. Decline
and closure The
Salter mine had closed in 1903 by the Wyndham Mining Company due to water
problems. The mine was reopened
again in 1905 but it was only short lived and closed in 1910.
The good times were
coming to an end. The limestone
traffic was now the main stay of the R&KF but in 1908 The Harrington Iron
and Coal company (Successors to James Bain and Company) closed the Stockhow
quarry but the Salter hall quarry stayed open.The main blow came when in 1913 after almost continuous working for 45
years the Kelton Fell mine closed down. The
Knockmurton mine was by now also having problems and the outputs had dropped.
They were searching for more ore but having serious problems with water and
machinery breakdowns. The mine was
abandoned in 1914.That is to say
that Baird and Company terminated the lease. The lease for Knockmurton was taken up in 1920 but the mine was abandoned
in 1923. There were
two mines in the Kirkland area - one called the Barbara mine and the other
called Bankstead mine but their contribution to the traffic on the line was
negligible. The Barbara mine was abandoned on the 31st March 1926 During
the World War one there was some traffic coming from the mines area but it was
mostly the movement of waste from the mines for the war effort and was completed
by 1916. With
the closure of their mines Baird and Company withdrew all their rolling stock
which I would say was in about the same condition as the line. They were also trying to get rid of the line and complete
abandonment was contemplated. (Because of the war effort they would not be
allowed to abandon it) Beyond the
Rowrah Junction the line was in a very bad condition and derailments were a
daily occurrence. There was the
occasional coal wagon and van with farm feeding stuff to Kirkland. These trips were usually allotted to Moresby Coal Company’s saddle
tanks that were based at Oatlands Colliery. The iron ore traffic from the Barbara and Bankstead pits (there was not
much of it!) were allocated to the WC&E saddle tanks. After the war the Company was allowed to dispose of the line and the
Whitehaven Haematite Iron Steel Company of Cleator Moor and the Slalter Quarry
Company purchased the line in 1920 for £750 and an undisclosed sum for the
track. The owners spent £600 on
refurbishment but this was only spent on the line from the quarry to Rowrah.In 1923 under the regrouping it became part of the LMS. The goods depot
was closed when the line changed hands. We
must remember that by now motorised road transport was starting to arrive and
the roads were a lot better. The
last death blow was in 1927 when the last two remaining furnaces at Cleator Moor
were blown out. The furnaces had
only been on blast for a year after the disastrous coal strike. This had the knock on effect that the Salter quarry closed
down and the company went into liquidation. This then was the last of the traffic on the last half mile of line from
Rowrah Junction (Sheriff’s Gate) to the Kelton Fell junction at Rowrah. I
would doubt that there would be any traffic on this line after this date but for
the odd rake of wagons shunted out of the way. So that was the end of the working life of the Rowrah and Kelton Fell
Railway. In 1933 the line was sold by the Whitehaven Haematite Iron and Steel
Co. (Prior to its liquidation) to a Mr J W Kitchin of Moor Row. The track was lifted and sold for scrap in 1934.
The Rowrah
and Kelton Fell Railway Never carried passengers but still had an impact on the
people in the area. The local
mine owners built houses for their workers and Baird’s were no exception.
There were 30 of these houses built in Kirkland. There are only two of the five terraces remaining today.
The influx of people to the area is shown in the 1841
census and in the directory of Cumberland published in 1847 Kirkland is
described as a hamlet. In the 1851 census there were 40 separate households with
170 inhabitants. Twenty six of the
households depended on farming for their means of subsistence. By 1881 there
were 472 people living in the township living in 60 dwellings. As you can see the hamlet has been transformed into a cosmopolitan
village with people from all over the country including Scotland, Ireland,
Wales, Isle of Man, Cornwall, Devon, Cumberland and even one Russia. The village
contained: a dressmaker, Tailor,
Boot and shoe maker, Blacksmith,
Joinery building and Cartwright business; Alexander
Twiname’s building Contracting and Grocery business; Pub (The
Wheatsheaf), A Board School and a Methodist Chapel. There we have
it. This small railway only three and half miles long transformed the area
around it, as did all the railways in West Cumberland. Acknowledgements I
would like to thank all the following people in helping me with this project:- David
Taylor, Mervyn
Dodd, Jenny
and staff at the Whitehaven and Carlisle Records Office.
Information
was gathered from the following books articles web sites.
The route
that the line was eventually built was not the first that was surveyed.See R.E. HEWERS
book for a good description of them.Beyond the Knockmurton mine there was a level at Red Gill
known as Iron Sett or Floutern Tarn which was owned by Faithful Cookson and Co.
from 1870 to 71,then the Whitehaven
iron company from 1872 to 1877.The
agent was WH Hoskin.In 1871 a
local surveyor named John Hoskins had surveyed the intended R&KF with an
extension through to Red Gill using a three foot gauge. In 1872 another proposal to Red Gill was with a ¼ mile tunnel. Others
proposed the use of stationary steam engines to haul the ore up from the mine to
the transport.
In 1874 Baird’s were desperate for a
rail link to the rail system. They
had a contract with Messrs Bain & company at Harrington that had to be
fulfilled and the ore was stock piled at the mine. The contract to build the
line was given to a local contractor, Messrs. Harrison Hodgson of Workington,
who agreed to build the line for £25,000.The points and crossings were supplied by W. Barningham & Company
Pendleton Ironworks, Manchester, chairs from Hannay and Clark of Barrow. The construction of the embankments, cuttings and bridges
commenced and for only a short length of line, some of these are impressive.
There was an expensive delay during the construction when 400 tons of
defective rails (at a cost of £9 a ton) from Barrow Haematite Steel Company
were laid. Later on 105 ton
of rails were supplied for additional track. The line was ready for opening on 11th November 1876 but the
opening was delayed by a legal dispute with the WC&ER.The line eventually opened in January 1877.
Cattle Pass under the line
Cutting over Stockhow Quarry
The line leaves Rowrah at point west of
Rowrah station that became known as the Kelton Fell Junction and heads south
east over some wet ground just after it leaves the main line and curves away to
Sheriff’s Gate. It passes over a bridge that allowed access in to Rowrah Head
Quarry and further on there is a cattle pass and a culvert for a stream. In this same area you can see an embankment and other ground
workings and walls connected with the railway and the quarries. This area has had a lot of reclamation work done with the new cycle way
from Whitehaven. The cycle way
actually picks up the track bed just before you reach Sheriffs Gate.
By 1899 the
mines at Kelton Fell and Knockmurton had started to decline and also the other
mines up in that area. If we look at the map 1899 and 1925 we can see that some
of the lines have gone and that the Salter mine had closed. Also the Stockhow limestone quarry had closed and the line was not used.
“The
Iron & Steel Industry of West Cumberland” by
JY Lancaster & D.R. Wattleworth.
“The
Kelton & Knockmurton Iron Mines” by R.E. Hewer.
“Kelton
Iron” the making of Kirkland by Geoff Brown & Donald Hayton.
“Rowrah
& Kelton Fell Railway” From the Whitehaven News parts 1 & 2 Oct. 1973
by Glasson.
The
Rowrah and Kelton Fell annual reports from years 1916/17/18, 1920, 1923, 1925,
supplied by J.Y. Lancaster.
