Limb Valley Bole Hill disturbed ground 4

Limb Valley Bole Hill lead smelting site

Disturbed, hummocky ground high up on the northern edge of the Bole Hill Plantation in the Limb Valley. Almost certainly the remains of lead smelting boles, dating back possibly to the 17th or 18th centuries.

There are many 'Bole Hills' in Sheffield and along the west-facing sandstone and gritstone escarpments of the Eastern Edges. Their elevated locations were ideal for wind-blown furnaces ('boles') for smelting lead ore which was brought in by pack-horses from the Peak District mines further to the west.