Land of lead and silver

The Land of Lead and Silver project aims to unearth some of the the hidden stories of lead and silver mining in the North Pennines. The project is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England, with additional funding from other funders. The project will run from January 2024 until December 2027.

In a year-long development phase, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England, the team worked with people and groups who live in, or have a connection with, the North Pennines to get their input into the activity plan for this large-scale heritage project.

From the mid-1700s to the early 1900s, the North Pennines was dominated by lead mining. The landscape today has visible remnants from this once-thriving industry, from the levels driven miles underground to exploit the lead veins, to the mine complexes, dressing floors, and smelt mills which scattered the surface.

Lead mining shaped the villages and settlements of the North Pennines, but it also played a part in creating the rights of way that criss-crosses the valleys and winds up into the high moors. Today’s rights of way network that people use to explore the landscape is based largely on a system of footpaths and tracks that emerged to connect miners from isolated farms and hamlets with their places of work.

Where silver was present in the lead it could be separated by using the Pattinson process, a technique developed by Hugh Lee Pattinson, an influential figure in the  North Pennines lead and silver industry, and a local of Alston Moor.

The North Pennines National Landscape team, partners, and volunteers will take a new and exciting look at the industrial heritage that shaped the landscape and its people, and to find out what makes this place the ‘Land of Lead and Silver’. It will include extensive opportunities for people to get involved as volunteers and will have a vibrant community arts and engagement programme.

There will be works to consolidate eight mining sites across the North Pennines National Landscape and UNESCO Global Geopark, to preserve them for generations to come. These sites and structures are regionally and nationally important and the team will work to make sure these are no longer at risk. Additional works will make other sites easier to access, and there will be improved information and interpretation about significant lead mining sites across the National Landscape.