Calcining Kilns

SPAUNTON BANK TOP SE 79 SW 7/114 Calcining Kilns - II Calcining kilns. c1856, and later. For the Rosedale Mining Company. Roughly squared stone faced with rusticated stone; interior lined with red and cream bricks. Bank of 4 kilns, extended by a further 4 kilns. Openings to the earlier kilns are narrow, round-headed arches of rusticated voussoirs on rusticated piers. To right, 4 further kilns have wider, semicircular arches similarly constructed of rusticated stone. To the rear of the earlier bank of kilns the back wall survives, of rubble with flat coping stones on top. The kilns have largely collapsed but sections of lining bricks are visible behind the stone arches. No metal parts survive. The kilns were constructed in association with the ironstone mine established in 1856 on the west side of Rosedale near Hollins Farm. They were built close to the Bank Top terminus of the North Eastern Railway's Rosedale Branchline, completed in 1861, from Ingleby on the Picton to Kildale line in Cleveland. Ore was transported in rope-hauled wagons along a tramway from the mine to the railway terminus where it was tipped into the kilns from above. It was then roasted to drive off water and corbonic acid, thus reducing its weight for onward transportation to County Durham and Teeside. With 2 temporary closures in 1874 and 1879, the mine continued in operation until 1885. In 1864 the company's title was changed to the Rosedale and Ferryhill Iron Company Ltd, and after the second closure a new company, The West Rosedale Mine Company, was formed. R H Hayes and J G Rutter, Rosedale Mines and Railway, Scarborough Archaeological and Historical Society, Research Report No 9.

Listing NGR: SE7208994876