What Were Danby Crackers?

The North York Moors may look like a rural, pastoral idyll today; but the Moors are scarred with the remants of numerous exploitative industries going back thousands of years.

Some man-made scars are obvious because of their sheer size; the remnants of the Victorian iron-mining industry in Rosedale for example.

But other alterations to the landscape are more subtle.

The population of the Moors has farmed, forested, and exploited a wide range of mineral wealth from below the ground; activities which have all contributed to the landform of the Moorland today.

Locals have mined Alum, Iron, Jet (the black mineral famous for Whitby jewelry), building stone, and even coal.

Although of very poor quality, local Coal was intensively mined on the high Moors from Medieval times into the seventeen-hundreds.

Coal Mines on Rudland Rigg near Rosedale Abbey.

Transport difficulties made it simply too difficult to get coal into the region before modern roads and the coming of the railways.

So local people were forced to turn to a narrow seam of coal that runs below the higher moors above Danby and Rosedale; and between Brandsdale and Farndale.

The coal was of such low grade, however, that it became commonly known as "Danby Crackers" due to its tendency to splutter and explode in the hearth.

A good place to see the remnants of the Moorland coal-mining industry are the hundreds of mounds which litter Rudland Rigg to the North of Gillamoor.

The mounds are the spoil heaps from hundreds of bell-pits which were dug to reach the coals at a depth of 20-50 feet below the Moor.

The bell-pits are arranged in lines and the galleries below ground would have joined together during mine-working.

This arrangement was thought to have aided ventilation below ground where the air was fouled by coal vapour and poison gas.

Interestingly, the remnants of the coal mines only exist today because of the poor quality of the local coal.

Had the coal been of better quality; or occured in great quantity; it is likely that the Victorians would have turned to more intensive mining methods which would have destroyed all traces of the earlier Medieval industry on the Moors.

See the Mine Workings

The best location to see the remains of the historic Medieval coal mines on the North York Moors is on Rudland Rigg; between Farndale and Bransdale.

To access Rudland Rigg from Rosedale Abbey, drive to the village of Gillamoor (Postcode = YO62 7HU).

Turn right as you leave the village onto Highfield Lane.

At the "Y" junction, keep straight on which becomes Westside Road.

This road leaves the green fields and runs out onto the brown Moorland as you start to gain height.

After about half-kilometer of Moorland, the metalled road turns to the left; and a moorland track runs straight on in front.

There is a blue sign marked "Not Suitable for Motor Vehicles".

You can park the car here and set off on foot or bicycle along the well-formed track.

The mine workings will begin to appear on both sides of the track after you've walked for about a mile.

They run alongside the track for at last a mile or so.

But take care! The enclosures blocking the actual mine shaft have been in place for 150-250 years; and the state of capping today is unknown.  The pits are deep and dangerous.  So avoid descending into the bottom of any bell-pit.

Keen walkers or cyclists can continue along the track up Rudland Rigg until it reaches Bloworth Crossing on the old Rosedale to Ingleby railway. 

Turn right at the crossing and the abandoned cinder track - part of the Coast to Coast Walk - will bring you all the way back to Rosedale.