Hard Level Gill dressing floor

Description

Hard Level Gill dressing floor MYD36606 (c) YDNPA, 2023

Remains of a mechanised lead ore dressing floor associated with the adjacent Old Gang smelt mill. The area was developed from 1785 when Hard Level was begun as a new approach into several mines in the area. It lies on a flat area of ground between Mill Gill to the south, the road to the north and a spoil tip to the west which has partly encroached onto it. A series of seven small bouse teams located in the north west corner of the dressing floor, are almost submerged by the encroaching tip and a number of subdividing walls have collapsed. The bouse teams, where ore was stored before processing, are located on a raised platform a metre above the dressing floor. They are of drystone construction and act as a revetment to the road. There were grinding and crushing machines on the dressing floor in the 19th century as well as subsidiary buildings and a water management system.