Langley Smelt Mill Chimney

Having been over with Kanyl to Hexham Hospital again we decided to come back by the "scenic route", - Alston and over Hartside Pass.  As we drove along this chimney appeared out in the middle of nowhere, with no buildings nearby.  Well, we just had to have a look.

It turns out it is the chimney for a lead smelting mill, however, the mill was nowhere near the chimney.  The mill was over a mile away in Langley.  The flue brought the lead-laden fumes well away from habitation and up this 100 foot (30 m) chimney.  One interesting point about this form of lead mining, every so often the furnaces were closed down and the inside of the flue scraped.  Not as you might expect to remove soot but lead from the fumes and possibly more importantly silver.

A similar system was in use at Greenside mines in the Ullswater valley although I don't know that it had a large chimney.