Description and History of Site:-

January 1972 members of the Northern Cavern and Mine Research Society (now the Northern Mine Research Society) were examining the remains of the 45 foot (13.7m) diameter waterwheel powered pumping rod system to Bolton Gill Shaft when it was noticed that a line of stone column bases ran in the opposite direction. Further exploration found pulleys running on the floor of a covered trench and a field wall with openings purposely built into it, pulleys recovered there showed a wire rope diameter of 2 inches (50mm). Column bases were followed until 500 yards (457m) from the waterwheel pit, discovered there was a massive base for what later became clear was a tensioning device for a power rope system. The area contained small coal pits and an entrance to an old coal level. Larger concrete bases were found there with a slight change of direction, it is believed this was the location of the Headworks which would hold the power transfer drum and was near the halfway point of the aerial rope systems 1.194km (0.75miles) total length where it terminated at Hole Bottom. In all 21 column bases were discovered, some still retaining their one inch (25.4mm) diameter bolts, the bases set at irregular intervals, although a spacing of half a Chain (33 feet or 10.0m) appears to have been aimed at, allowing for the rough terrain, the longest gap being 105 feet (32m). The aerial rope had been suspended on 22 inch (55.8cm) cast-iron pulleys mounted atop cast-iron stanchions, with the returning rope running inside stone capped trenches with bottom support pulleys, where ground contours demanded it.
The rope drive drum was powered by the 45 foot waterwheel which it is believed to have served both the power rope and the pumping rods to Bolton Gill Shaft and might explain why two relatively large reservoirs were built at Hebden Gill and Mossy Moor to supply the wheel.
The aerial ropeway terminated at Hole Bottom where there was a coal staithe and built opposite was a small lead smelt mill.
It is believed that the ropeway was built for design purposes and to prove the prototypes concept which followed the design given in the patent closely but not exactly. It carried coal commercially from a number of small pits with which Robinson may have been associated in his trade as a Coal Merchant. It's possible a small quantity of coal was used in the smelt mill but lead production was mostly ended by the 1870s in the area. It's thought the ropeway continued operation until about 1880 and then standing idle until scrapped in 1887.In the late 1950s an elderly Hebden man told a story of how an aerial ropeway ran down the side of Hebden Beck, similar to the bucket flights seen at some collieries. Dismissed as a fantasy by people at the time, research however discovered that on 28th July 1856, a Settle Coal Merchant Henry Robinson lodged a patent for a ''Provisional Specification of Improvements in Arrangements and Mechanism for the Conveyance or Transport of Loads or Weights''. Robinson's patent was for a single endless rope suspended on pulleys designed to both carry and move the load. The loads were hung from metal rods spliced onto the rope which passed around drums at both ends of the system, one of which is powered. The patent was sealed in 1857, unfortunately it hasn't been possible to firmly link Robinson to the Hebden Moor Mining Company. The circumstantial evidence is strong though and the inventor only lived 15 miles away. It is believed that Robinson built his ropeway in Hebden as his prototype.
Of the aerial ropeway nothing but the stanchion bases remain. However, it is thought that the stanchions carrying the aerial ropeway were of cast-iron and it is possible that four of these are still in use today incorporated into a small suspension bridge over the River Wharfe at Hebden. This idea stems from a report by Miss S.D.Brooks of Grassington which states that “the Swing Bridge at Hebden was built by the village Blacksmith (William Bell of Netherside) in 1885 from scrap metal obtained from the Hebden Moor Mines for the sum of £87, raised by the villagers themselves'', this bridge lasting until 1930 when the County rebuilt it in the form known today. Most mining scrap would be totally unsuitable for building even a simple bridge but the main ropeway cast-iron columns and the wire rope would be ideal for a small suspension bridge. To support this theory the main bridge stanchions bases would fit the bolt centres on Care Scar where the ropeway ran and it is likely that the prototype ropeways stanchions remain incorporated into the still extant suspension bridge.

Further Reading and References:-

British Mining Number 1, Memoirs 1975, NMRS, A Prototype Aerial Ropeway at Hebden, J.M.Dickinson pp11-16
British Mining Number 49, The Wharfedale Mines, NMRS 1994 M.C.Gill pp109-113

Help us improve this entry

The compilers welcome corrections or additional information on all sites.
Any information provided will be verified before appearing on the web site.

Email comments

Key Words :- coal pit aerial ropeway

Viewing the Site :- On the Public Footpath running alongside Hebden Beck from Hole Bottom to Grassington Moor.

Address :- Hebden, Grassington, North Yorkshire
Grid Ref :- SE0276165215
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.082845 , Long -1.959289
Local Authority :- Craven District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Earthworks only
Site Dates :- c1857 - c1880
Contributor :- Andrew Garford - 21 May 2021

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Andrew Garford