Jim has asked for more information about his pictures of Boulby Alum Works. These works operated from about 1670 until 1870 to produce alum crystals from the abundant shale.


Boulby Alum Works flywheel.

About 6 feet diameter and found on the floor inside one of the rooms in the workshop range. Being cast-iron and extremely heavy it was reburied onsite. A year or two later it was searched for but not found, the conclusion being that someone had found it and bowled it over the cliff edge. Pieces not even found on foreshore below.
The use of the flywheel is unknown but possibly may have been part of a hand-operated pump and usually operated by women.


B. A. W. Blacksmith's Shop quench pot.

This workshop was the end room in a range with a forge at both ends of the room. This is a view of the western forge; next to the pot is a store for tools then the remains of the fire itself.


B.A.W. Mrs McP holding geologist's hammer.

Looking east along workshops range from western forge. Mrs McP is beside eastern forge standing on site of bellows, and next to fire. Note tool store and site of quench pot. First room beyond had been wood-lined with broken thin glass on floor. Probably used to assess specific gravity of alum liquor.
Next room was a coal store and furthest room was an office with fireplace.


Photograph:

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B.A.W. Group of people around blacksmith's shop.

May have been a NMRS visit. Could be Roger Pickles in the green shirt.


B.A.W. General view.

In the foreground is the workshops range and between there and the cliff edge was the range of steeping pits for soaking the calcined shale. My father Keith Chapman (to right wearing light blue) is standing with the group at the flywheel. In right background is myself (the good-looking one) with my brother Nigel wearing the white shirt.


B.A.W. General view.

Looking down on the site with workshops at left edge. The cliff edge features were where the liquor supply from the steeping pits was conveyed into 3 circular tanks for concentrating before being passed along a wooden trough about a mile to the boiling house.


Any questions?

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Great detail, thanks for all that. You don't have an idea of a date as well do you? As I may have said in an earlier post that the only mention of a dig relates to the 1960's but they all seem quite intent shifting dirt and I think the photos date from the 1970's.

The Boulby dig started about 1965 and my guess is the picture was taken either about 1968 or 1971.

If I find a more precise date I'll let you know.

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That's fine, I'm just a bit surprised it's as early as that as my parents didn't get involved with NCRMS (as it was in it's real incarnation:)) until probably 1969/70 after my brother and I co-erced them into Lower Long Churn during a holiday in Selside in 1968.

By the by would you mind if I added your excellent knowledge onto the descriptions for the Boulby and Kilton photos?, I can live with no if you'd rather not.

Please do. I always try to provide as much information as I can on any pictures. When I started taking pictures in the 1950s as a kid I got into the habit of writing details on the back of prints especially the date. Later with colour transparencies I started an index system which I still do with digital images. It's time consuming and can be tedious but well worth the effort.

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Thanks very much, I'll do them tomorrow.

I did tend to put terse notes on when I was young, things like - Wolf -Flamingo Park, then rather drifted.

We ended up with loads of photo albums from my father-in-law's family, many of them from late 19th -early 20th, not an annotation on any, I have no idea what to do with them.