Craven Lime Works

 

Starting Point - Settle Station, Finishing Point - Craven Lime Works, Distance - 2.1 Miles

A couple of miles from Settle Station is an interesting industrial heritage site that is open for anyone to explore, the Craven Lime Works.

Going back before the industrial revolution, lime was produced locally across the Yorkshire Dales in small kilns that can still be seen dotted across the region. As well as lime being used in mortar to construct buildings it was used to fertilise fields, being alkali it counteracted acidity in the soil. With the building of the Settle and Carlisle railway in the 1870s a large plant was established north of Settle producing lime on an industrial scale, established in 1873 as the railway line was still under construction. With the opening of the railway the kilns could receive supplies of coal and dispatch lime to other parts of the country where it could also be used in other industrial processes such as steel making.

The site remained in use until 1931 and was revived briefly from 1937 to 1939. In 1951 the chimney at the heart of the Hoffmann Kiln was demolished, though quite a lot of the site still remains.

More about the site can be read on the Visit Settle Page

Below - Arial view of the site from Britain From Above showing the then disused site in 1949, shortly prior to demolition of the chimney.

Google Map

1894 Map

1909 Map showing the same area but with the addition of the Spencer Kilns.

The site is entered from a turn off from Stainforth Road that passes under the Settle to Carlisle line. Some of the buildings around the entrance have been demolished since my visit, it would seem this is to make way for an interpretation centre and improved parking so hopefully the key buildings I mention will not be affected. The site includes remains of three types of kiln; the Spencer Kilns, Hoffman Kilns and Triple Draw Kilns. There are also wagonways and a couple of inclined planes, one of which has remains of a winding house. There are paths around the site and all the sights are provided with information boards. 

One of the first buildings encountered is the Weigh House as this would have been close to the entrance / exit of the site.

To the south of the Weigh House is the remains of one of the inclined plains used on the site. This would have been used to haul wagons of coal up to the top of the kilns where it would be loaded in to the kilns. The gradients were too steep for railway locomotives so the wagons were hauled up by ropes or chains from a winding house at the top of the incline.

Below - A look up the inclined plain, the remains of the base of the Spencer Kilns can be seen on the right, these would have been two huge vertical concrete cylinder shaped structures and were one of the later developments of the site.

Below - Sections of rail found whilst walking up the inclined plane.

Below - A look down the inclined plane.

Below - Returning to the entrance, some of the buildings associated with the complex. The building on the left looks to have been an engine shed.

Below - One of the highlights of the complex is the Hoffman Kiln, this is a similar shape to a Roman Circus as used in chariot racing. There would always be parts of the kiln being fired with the process rotating around the circuit of the kiln. 

Below - A view along the side of the Hoffman Kiln. Railway lines alongside the kiln would have been used to load the lime in to wagons.

Below - A view inside the Hoffman Kiln.

Below - Inside the curved end of the kiln.

Next to the north end of the Hoffman Kiln is the remains of a stretch of tramway, this was used to move materials around the site by horse drawn wagons.

Below - Tunnel on the tramway to the north of the Hoffman Kiln.

Below - The former horse drawn tramway leading up to the above tunnel.

Below  - Next to the above tramway is the foot of another inclined plane, at the top of this incline there is the remains of the winding house. The two walls would have supported a winding drum to haul the wagons up the incline.

A path leads from the incline to the Triple Draw Kilns. These belonged to another company, the North Ribblesdale Limestone & Lime Works, a much smaller operation than the Craven Lime Co whose kilns we have seen so far. These were very much like the kilns I mentioned that can still be seen scattered across the Dales from the local small scale production of lime that went back centuries. The coal and limestone were fed in to the top of the kiln and burned, the lime would be extracted from the bottom and loaded in to carts, or presumably in this instance railway wagons since this was alongside the railway. The difference here is that instead of one kiln there are three so that there would always be one or two kilns burning while a third was prepared for its next load. These kilns were quite short lived, only lasting around ten years, they are already shown as disused on the earlier map above.

Below - Remains of the Triple Draw Kilns.

An archaeological investigation was done at the site prior to the recent development near the entrance, a report can be read here.