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Countrystride #85: COPPERMINES VALLEY - Landscape legacy of audacious ambition

Countrystride #85: COPPERMINES VALLEY - Landscape legacy of audacious ambition

FromCountrystride


Countrystride #85: COPPERMINES VALLEY - Landscape legacy of audacious ambition

FromCountrystride

ratings:
Length:
62 minutes
Released:
Jul 29, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

...in which we journey into the mining past of iconic Coppermines Valley above Coniston with industrial historian Mark Hatton. Rewinding time to the 16th century, we seek out the earliest signs of copper extraction on the lonely slopes below Hole Rake, before climbing to the wheelpits and addits of The Company of Mines Royal - monuments to the German miners who abandoned Keswick when their Newlands seams were exhausted. As we climb ever-higher into Red Dell, we learn about the audacious scale of 18th century infrastructure - the breathtaking leats, the mighty waterwheels and the miles of tunnels; we consider the dangers of the shaft-potted landscape and its unforgiving technology; we picture the hard lives of the men, women and children who once worked these remarkable slopes... and we ask, 'Did the IRA really try to assassinate John Major using a bomb below Levers Water?".
Released:
Jul 29, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

A celebration of the landscapes, culture, heritage and people of Cumbria and the Lake District.