Miners’ Lives

Start: Boating Centre on Coniston Water
Distance: 1.25 miles/ 2km
Time: 1 hour
Accessibility: Miles without Stiles grade  – for many

1 Boating Centre

Coniston Water was the shipping route for copper ore until
steam trains replaced sail in 1859.

2 Railway Platform

This station was built in 1859 to speed copper ore from Coniston’s flourishing mines. If you stood on the platform during its heyday, you would be beside a large steam locomotive. With its boiler fired up with coal, it is ready to haul wagons of ore to Barrow Port or Ulverston Station. The line also brought visitors to Coniston, and helped turn the
valley into a tourist destination.

3 Dixon Ground and the Sun

The buildings behind the Sun show how Coniston looked in the 1700s before the village grew with the Victorian mining
boom. Dixon Ground was one of 17 farms in 1645. The current farmhouse was built in 1762. By 1851 three farming families and 12 households of miners lived here. The Sun was rebuilt in the late 1800s to cater for tourists.
Please respect the privacy of the residents.

4 Black Bull

The four-hundred-year-old Black Bull has been a coaching inn, manorial court and miners’ haunt.

5 Miners and Managers

Look for the tall, grey gravestone of James Stephens and family between the church and road. James was a miner from
Cornwall, his wife Elizabeth was from Staffordshire. All his sons were Coniston copper miners too. They lived in Forge
Cottages, next on our trail.

6 Forge Cottages

Mining families lived in these cottages from at least 1756.
During the mid-1800s, 134 people lived here in cramped conditions, including 54 working in copper mining and 71
children. This massive housing problem forced the mine company to build more cottages in the village.
Please respect the privacy of the residents.

7 Mechanics Institute and The Ruskin Museum

Next to the Ruskin Museum is the Mechanics Institute, opened in 1878 with an assembly room, library and
reading room for the benefit of Coniston’s workers. John Ruskin presented the Institute with a large mineral collection
when it opened. The museum began as the Institute’s 1901 extension. Be sure to go inside to see copper miners’ tools.
You’ll also find out more about the copper mines, including how copper ore and the rocks formed

A fragile environment

Mines are dangerous places with hidden shafts and drops, and should never be entered. Take care on the
fells and please keep to the paths. Though it has survived hundreds of years, the site can be easily damaged. The site is legally protected as a Scheduled Monument and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Lake District is recognised as a World Heritage Site with outstanding universal value.
Local industries like copper mining have contributed to its unique character. Please help preserve the Lake District’s heritage by leaving the site exactly as you find it.

Need to know

These are walking trails. There is no access for vehicles. You’ll need walking boots, outdoor clothing and waterproofs. The trail maps are not a substitute for an Ordnance Survey
map, so it is recommended you take ‘OS Explorer Map OL 6, English Lakes, South West’ on to the fells.

Getting there

Coniston is served by regular buses on service 505 from Ambleside and Hawkshead. There are also buses linking from Ulverston. For more details and latest times visit Traveline