Stuart Marriott November 2009
The semi-precious material called ‘jet’ is found in the Lower Jurassic rocks of north-east Yorkshire, particularly in the formation called the Whitby Mudstone. It is a kind of fossilised wood, black, and hard enough to be worked into decorative forms and given a high polish. In Roman times jet was dug out and taken to York to be turned into small ornaments and jewellery. The poet Caedmon mentioned it. The hey-day of the jet industry resulted from a great misfortune, the death of Victoria’s consort Albert: the Queen imposed a cult of mourning on the royal household and court, and so defined a fashion for the rest of society. The town of Whitby became famous for its jet-turning workshops, hence the common term ‘Whitby Jet’.
Traces of old jet-workings are still plainly visible around the North York Moors, along the escarpment of the Cleveland Hills and the northern end of the Hambletons. A public house by the A19 to Teesside stands at the place called Jeater Houses.
There was even jet-mining not too far from Husthwaite. About half a kilometre west of Low Kilburn village is a hill formed by a local exposure of the Whitby Mudstone. The ground is scarred with waste-heaps and overgrown with scrub. The British Geological Survey records ‘Mauve-brown fissile mudstone with sparse jet fragments in tips’. Local tradition states that jet was indeed extracted here. John Butler of Carlton Husthwaite has made enquiries about when the mining was done and how long it lasted, but no-one seems to have any proper information.
And another question arises: was jet searched for or dug elsewhere in our district? The most notable outcrop of the Whitby Mudstone forms the upper part of the Husthwaite Beacon hill, all along the steep north-west facing slope. The exposure runs from Husthwaite past the Beacon, where the land is rough and scrubby; through Beacon Banks Woods; and as far as High Leys. Was it R H Tawney who said historians should get their boots on? Well, here is an opportunity.