INDUSTRIAL workings which form part the unique landscape of the Yorkshire Dales have been saved for posterity.

Experts and volunteers have completed restoration work at the fascinating complex of lead mine workings at Yarnbury, on Grassington Moor.

The work is among a number of other projects set up by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to save such historic sights from falling into ruin.

It has come about thanks to funding from English Heritage as part of its Yorkshire Dales Industrial Monument Management Scheme.

It enabled the park authority experts and local landowners and volunteers to work together to reduce the number of scheduled monuments that are on the national Heritage at Risk register.

As a result, the number of monuments at risk has fallen from nine to five, which represents just 2.5 per cent of the scheduled monuments, compared to the national average of 15 per cent.

The work at Grassington has focused on the cupola smelt mill and flue, a ruined lead smelting mill and a network of more than 1.7km of ground level flues that took poisonous gases away from the smelters working in the mill to a 20-metre high chimney.

The complex forms part of the larger Grassington Moor scheduled monument, which covers some 203 hectares.

The most recent work involved Dales Volunteers – led by Wharfedale Area Ranger Phil Richards – providing a protective soil cover and a special soil blanket over vulnerable sections of flue to prevent further collapse.

One of the other successes is the Bolton Parks mine on the Castle Bolton Estate in Wensleydale which contains a well-preserved dressing floor where ore rich material was processed to retrieve a pure ore for smelting into metal.

The authority’s Dales Volunteers carried out a package of restoration work including rebuilding the dry stone boundary wall to assist in keeping rabbits off the site.

Robert White, the national park authority’s senior historic environment officer, said: “Thanks to the funding from English Heritage we have been able to work with other organisations to reduce the number of monuments at risk from nine down to five.

“The lead industry of the Yorkshire Dales was a major factor in creating the Dales landscape. While the industrial monuments may not have been thought of as part of the natural beauty of the national park when it was designated 60 years ago, they are now recognised as forming an important part of our cultural heritage.

“Indeed, they are now part of the special qualities of the national park and a tourism asset in their own right – something to marvel at and wonder how people made a living 150 years ago.”

Tammy Whitaker, planning and conservation director for English Heritage in Yorkshire, said: "This work shows that the Yorkshire Dales National Park is not just significant for its stunning landscape, field barns and dry stone walls, but also for its historic industrial heritage and in particular its former lead mines.

"We are very pleased to be working with the national park authority on these sites, which reveal the fortitude and life stories of the people who worked in them. We look forward to continuing to work together towards future successes."

Julie Martin, the authority’s member champion for cultural heritage, said: “All historic structures suffer from natural erosion and decay. We have been working with English Heritage and others to try to slow down that decay on some of our most important industrial monuments, so that they remain part of the landscape, a symbol of the generations of Dales folk who worked in the industry, and an attraction to visitors.”

There is a long history of lead mining on Grassington Moor, going back to the 15th century when the monks from Fountain's Abbey worked a smelt mill there.

But the industry really took off in the 18th and 19th centuries when large numbers of people were employed in the mines, smelt mills and dressing floors at Yarnbury and on Grassington Moor.

The Duke of Devonshire, who owned the mineral rights, pumped in cash to improve facilities and the spin off to this investment saw industrial growth in the surrounding area, including Skipton and the then small village of Embsay.

Embsay had several cotton mills, one of which became a large tannery in the early 20th century, and is now a housing complex.

Even far away industrial towns like Bradford benefited, harnessing the high rainfall and building reservoirs, such as one on Barden Moor in the late 19th century.

By the time the railway arrived at Threshfield in 1909 the lead industry had finished and nearly all the cotton mills were in terminal decline.

But there was a silver lining. The new railways brought economic benefits by providing transport for commuters and tourists.

l This week's Dales walk takes in Yarnbury. For full details, turn to page 36.