About Us

Established in mid 2017, the Grassington Mines Appreciation Group consists of a group of individuals interested  in the exploration, documentation and preservation of the 18th century lead mines across Grassington Moor.

Born from a mutual interest in mining history, the group's founding members Sam Roberts and John Helm began to research any information relating to the mine locations and layout. At the time, they found little information regarding exploratory work across the moor, however after a great deal of research and support from members of the caving community, they now have a good understanding of previous activities. Dating back to the early 1940's, members of the British Speleological Association led by the renowned Bob Leakey explored a number of shafts across the moor. They took a small number of images and did produce some rough surveys. There has also been a small number of exploratory trips undertaken by the Northern Mines Research Society, the Leeds University Speleological Association in the 1960's and by the British Cave Research Association in 1996, however it is believed that only five shafts were descended in total. No images were captured and hardly any exploration was conducted other than descending the main shafts. 

It was decided that a group should be created to explore, document and preserve as many mines as possible across the moor. This was to be in the form of images, videos, surveys and also written descriptions in order to provide tourists and mine enthusiasts alike, an accurate understanding of the mines before they are lost to history. And so with that, the Gassington Mines Appreciation Group was born.