Honister Slate Mine

Left the hotel and headed over to Honister Slate Mine for the 12.30 tour. Managed to take a few photos on the way but the light wasn't up to much.

The slate mine is a fantastic place to visit. The first records show that mining was happening in the early 1700's and continue till the 1980's until the mine finally shut, as it couldn't compete with the cheaper slate form Spain.

It was then bought by Mike Weir who reopened the mine in the early 1990's. Sadly he died in a helicopter accident in 2011. The mine is still open today in his memory and is still a family owned business. Its main product was roofing slate. Some of its customers being St Pauls cathedral and Buckingham Palace.

The slate from Honister is said to be one of the best in the world due to its hardness. It is said to last up to 300 years. Today its still sells roofing slate but the majority of its business is in garden features and slate chips for the garden.

This is a photo of the slate seam showing the holes bored in it to plant the explosives to break the slate away from the rest of the mountain

From there it was to the Ginger Bread Shop in Grasmere before coming home.