The mine really took off in the 1860s, when the Pease family extended the Stockton and Darlington Railway to Skinningrove and (Joseph) Pease and partners took over ownership of the Loftus Mine. Most of the village was developed by the Company. They built houses for their workmen, a village school, the Cottage Hospital & the Miners’ Institute. The Skinningrove Ironworks opened in 1873 and steel making began there in 1911.
The Loftus Mine is now the site of the Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum where you can find out more about this fascinating story and venture down the mine itself.
Image courtesy of Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum