Coledale (Cumbria)
valley in the Lake District, England
Coledale is a valley in the northwestern region of the Lake District in Cumbria, England.
Geography
Coledale is a narrow U-shaped valley running approximately north-east towards the Derwent Valley floodplain and the village of Braithwaite at the northeastern end. The valley river Coledale Beck feeds into Newlands Beck and is fed by small streams from the valley sides and head, including Birkthwaite Beck, and Pudding Force.
At the head of the valley a large rock formation is found named Force Crag, which forms a waterfall 'Low Force' as Pudding Beck passes over it.
The valley is ringed by peaks popular with tourists (Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head, Coledale Hause, Crag Hill (formerly Eel Crag), Sail, Sail Pass, and Outerside) forming a horseshoe ridge walk known as Coledale horseshoe or 'Coledale round'.
Force Crag Mine
Coledale's most notable feature is Force Crag Mine; the buildings, spoil heap and associated structures of which are practically the only sign of human influence in the upper valley.
Mineral workings may date back to 1578 in the valley Significant workings did not begin until the 1800s with lead and silver being mined until 1865, ending with a drop in the price of lead rendering it uneconomic. Later Barytes was mined, with 5300 tons of ore being produced up to 1879 when again market forces led to production ending. The mine was worked on and off with various changes in operation, and under different owners, with lead, barium and zinc ores being extracted. In 1990 a collapse in the mine led to it being closed, and ownership passed to the National Trust.
The public source identifies “Coledale (Cumbria)” as valley in the Lake District, England. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Coledale, Cumbria and valley.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Coledale (Cumbria)”, the useful work is to connect “valley in the Lake District, England” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5142734. Authority coordinates are 54.650, -3.233. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1578, 1865, 1879 and 1990.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Coledale (Cumbria)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.