Cumberland Iron

Summary: Prior to 1854, Hodbarrow farm (near what is now Millom) had outcroppings of surface iron ore and had been the site of some small workings which had all failed. In 1854 John Barratt and Nathaniel Caine formed a partnership to try their luck. They were "induced by the natural advantages presented for shipping at a small cost". Caine dealt with administrative and business matters, Barratt brought capital and practical knowledge and experience of mining.

Quotation p19: (John) Barratt was a Cornishman from Gwennap with a lifetime's experience of metalliferous mining behind him. His father, James, had for many years managed Wheal Friendship, a copper mine at Marytavy on Dartmoor, under John Taylor a mine manager who later became well known. Barratt himself had been mide captain at Friendship before moving during the 1820's, to the Duke of Devonshire's lead mines at Grassington ... There Barratt became resident agent ... In 1854 he was living at "Holywath", the house which he had built for himself at Coniston and which still occupies an enviable position on the wooded slopes of a valley below the mines ... the affluence of the Barratts was deemed worth of remark ... according to a story that was still current in the eighties, John Barratt had made the journey from Devon to Yorkshire in a suit of clothes lent to him by James Mason, the mineral agent at Grassington who was to become his father-in-law.