'A disgrace to the Order'
In the 1220s the General Chapter denounced the bickering between
Fountains and Byland regarding leadmines in Nidderdale as a
disgrace to the Order. Concord was reached in 1226 when it was
agreed that two mines in Coldstones, which lay south of Ashford
Gill Beck, should be worked by both abbeys for seven years and
the costs divided; thereafter, Byland was to withdraw. A third
mine in Coldstones was to be worked in this way until it was
exhausted.
The monks and lay-brothers of both abbeys were bound to abide
by the terms of the agreement, for failure to do so would result
in the offender having to apologise in person to the other community
and enduring a fast of bread and water every Friday for a year.
[Jennings, Yorkshire Monasteries, pp. 81, 84.]
Fountains' main non-agricultural industry was
lead-mining.(4) Lead was an extremely
important resource that was necessary for the manufacture of water-piping
and brewing vats, and for use in roofing and window tracery.(5)
In the late twelfth century, Fountains acquired a number of rights
to mine lead in Nidderdale from Roger de Mowbray and his wife, Alice
de Gant. These included mines at Bewerley and Dacre, where the abbey
had granges, and the right to mine all metals in the forest of Nidderdale.(6)
The hamlet between Dacre and Pateley Bridge, that is today known
as 'Smelthouses' (and was formerly part of Brimham grange), refers
to its medieval past, for the monks of Fountains had lead-smelting
works here; their mill was on the spot today called 'Lead Wath'.(7)
In the late fifteenth century Fountains was mining
lead on Greenhow Hill, near Dacre, where a number of bell-pits can
still be seen. Fountains' expansion in this area, however, brought
the community into conflict with the Augustinian canons of Bolton
Priory and the miners of the Duchy of Lancaster. The dispute centred
on Mungo Gill and disagreement continued until the Dissolution.(8)
Once the lead was mined it was smelted
in furnaces built on hillsides, 'bole hills'. These were low stone
circles which had gaps in the base to allow the wind to enter and
power. Fountains had hillside furnaces at Bale Hill, in Bishopside
[Aldfield], and at Bale Banks, in Coldstones. From the fourteenth
century bellows were used to power the furnaces, which were now
moved by streams and driven by waterwheels. By the fifteenth century
Fountains was using both types of furnace. The mid-fifteenth century
'Memorandum book' records the payment of 3s 4d for a bellows pipe
[sufflatorium].(9)