Time
Slide 8
This is the remains of a chimney at Langley which was used to remove fumes. Every so often boys were sent along it to collect the lead and silver which collected inside it.
Notes
At best this ring fence could only improve matters marginally and in the mid nineteenth century long horizontal flues, usually over a mile long, were constructed at smelt mills. These flues carried the poisonous fumes out onto the moors, where it was thought they did less harm. Over time the inside of the flues became coated with waste lead, silver, zinc and other valuable elements. Periodically these flue deposits were scraped down and recovered. It must have been an extremely dangerous job. Langley’s chimneys were commenced in 1801 and cost £871, but the profit on recovered lead and silver was worth £227 in the first year of their use. The last section of the flue system and the chimney were completed by 1882. The smelt mills finally closed in 1887 and much of the works were demolished by 1896.