Millom, Mining & Money

FOR CENTURIES THE MILLOM AREA was little more than a few scattered farms and villages with tiny, local iron mines. But everything changed when a huge deposit of high-grade iron ore, called hematite, was discovered on the coast at nearby Hodbarrow in 1855.

The rapid growth of Millom was fuelled by the industrial revolution and new railways. At the turn of the century Millom had evolved into a thriving Victorian iron town with a population of over 10,000 people. In its hey-day, it was the largest industrial site of its kind in the world.

Iron brought prosperity to Millom for over a hundred years. The Hodbarrow mine closed in 1968 quickly followed by Millom Ironworks the following year and Millom’s fortunes collapsed.

Ironically, today the flooded Hodbarrow Mine and the Millom Ironworks site have returned to nature and are local wildlife reserves.

Below Ground - Miners push a bogie loaded with half a tonne
of iron ore away from the working area in Hodbarrow Mine, , around 1951

Fire and Iron - White hot molten iron gushes from one of the six blast furnaces at Millom Ironworks

Separating the Pigs Once the metal has cooled, workers separate the iron ‘pigs’ from the ‘pig-casting strand’

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MILLOM ROCK PARK

Visit our partnerrs’ websites

Photographs: Bill Myers Collection Ben Barden www.benbarden.co.uk
Aggregate Industries www.aggregateindustries.com
Geologist: Eric Johnson BSc, PhD, FGS, CGeol. Formerly British Geological Survey
Copyright © Millom Geodiversity Project 2009
Millom Geodiversity Project is a not for profit, unincorporated association
Email: info@millomrockpark.org.uk
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