Tankersley Bell Pits

Church Lane, Tankersley, Barnsley

Other site, structure or landscape

Assets that cannot fit any of the other categories. This category includes sites of archaeological interest, where the original form and function may not be apparent without the use of archaeological techniques and interpretation.

Asset type

Archaeological Site

Age

The site extends either side of Church Lane and north of the A61. Mining for ironstone in Upper Tankersley dates to the early 19th century.

Rarity

Many areas of shaft mounds have been cleared by agriculture, construction, and open cast mining. Surviving examples, such as those at Tankersley, often survive in woodland planted on the worked ground. The shaft mounds are well preserved and could retain evidence of associated features.

Group Value

The site forms part of a surviving dispersed group of shaft mound sites along the seam of the Tankersley Ironstone between Kimberworth and Tankersley. They represent an important example of local mineral extraction dating from the development of metal working industries in the region.

Historic Interest

Mining for ironstone at Upper Tankersley was carried out for the Milton Ironworks from 1801 to 1836. Account books from Earl Fitzwilliam's Tankersley estate indicate that just over 81 acres were mined, coinciding with the combined acreages of Potter Holes Plantation, Twelve Lands Plantation, Town Close (later Tankersley) Plantation - and two paddocks (Newbiggin and Far Newbiggin) just inside the wall of the old park at Tankersley, to the south. In the three plantations, surviving shale mounds are clear evidence of former ironstone mining; relatively little levelling took place prior to planting, which was under way by 1820.

Archaeological Interest

The site includes a series of well-preserved earthworks, comprising a thick collar of spoil and a wide central depression, evidently sunk in a planned grid pattern. Dating evidence will be preserved within the shaft mounds, and their buried remains and technological features will survive beneath the surface, providing information on pit-top structures such as horse-powered winding gear, and on ventilation and drainage, or other structures associated with mining activity.

Landmark Status

The shaft mounds are visible from the Trans Pennine Trail that passes through the area along Church Street. A number of mounds also form obstacles within the paintballing venue in Tankersley Plantation.

26 Aug 2022

23 Mar 2023