Total Ore output from 1869 to 1914 - 1,299,723 tons
Of all the Scottish Iron Masters the most prominent was the Glasgow firm of William Baird and Company at Glengarnock Ironworks. The company had for some time been seeking ore deposits in the Knockburton and Kelton Fell area of West Cumberland a bleak region high up the fells above Rowrah. Ore was eventually found and three shafts were sunk with one at Knockmurton and two at the foot of Kelton Fell in 1869.
The average annual output from the mines remained constant at 46,000 tons up to the turn of the century. The late 1890's heralded the decline in the iron ore deposits at Knockmurton and Kelton Fell as they began to show signs of exaustion. A short lived reprive came with the sinking of a new shaft in 1899 at Kelton Fell but this was not as huge a success as was anticipated.
Conditions in the Salter Iron Ore Mines were not very hopeful either, and these were closed owing to excessive water troubles on 19th December 1903 by the Wyndham Mining Company. The closure lasted two years when the Townhead Mining Company of Egremont took over the Salter Mines along with Salter Hall Quarry. The first pit began to draw ore from the mines in December 1905 but the revival was short lived with the mines closing again in 1910. Limestone remained a staple traffic and the key to the Rowrah & Kelton Fell railways survival, but even this source of income was not infallible as was proved in 1909 when the Stockhow Hall Quarry was closed.
Fortunately the Salter Quarries were still in full production but the end was near as when in 1914 the Knockmurton Mines shut down after an uninterrupted working life of 45 years and the neighbouring mines at Kelton Fell had now also been exausted which resulted in the Rowrah & Kelton Fell Railway being virtually abandoned east of Kirkland.
A fair tonnage of Limestone ensured the survival of the line from Rowrah and Salter Hall quarries for several years. As the depression set in with Cumberaland particularly hard hit it was not long before the Salter Hall Quarry ceased production in 1927 which signalled the end of the railway.
An excellent book on the Kelton and Knockburton mines is The Kelton & Knockmurton Iron Mines 1852-1923 by R.E.Hewer
An excellent book on the Kelton and Knockburton mines is The Kelton & Knockmurton Iron Mines 1852-1923 by R.E.Hewer