Rescue mission for North Pennines landmarks

"Over time they would have crumbled and disappeared. We want to protect what remains so that we and future generations can see these legacies in the landscape of what it was like to live those past lives.

"We are extremely proud to be working with the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage to help the building owners save these irreplaceable pieces of heritage."

Muggleswick Grange is one of the most important medieval ruins in the AONB.

It was built during the mid-1200s for the Prior of Durham and originally lay in the grounds of an enclosed park. Muggleswick is of national importance because standing remains of monastic granges - which were farms run by monks - from this time are very unusual.

A 1464 document shows at Muggleswick there was a hall, chapel, grange and a dairy, and a large stock of oxen, cattle, calves, sheep, pigs and lambs. The days of the Border Reivers are evoked by Ninebanks Tower - all that remains above ground of a large medieval house, to which the tower seems to have been added in about 1520.

Shildon Engine House was built around 1805 to accommodate a pumping engine which kept the network of lead mines operating underneath from flooding. Towards the end of its industrial life in the 1840s, an enormous steam engine was installed in a final attempt to keep the mines dry enough to work.

Following decommissioning, the engine house was converted to homes for mining families.

Whitesyke and Bentyfield Mine was a 19th-Century lead mine complex on the Garrigill Burn in the South Tyne Valley above Alston, and once formed part of an extensive complex of more than 100 lead mines operating in the area during the 18th and 19th Centuries.

From left, Whitesyke and Bentyfield, Shildon Engine House and Muggleswick Grange

The venture is part of the North Pennines AONB Partnership's Living North Pennines project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. While the work is going on by North Shields specialist contractors Historic Property Restoration Ltd to clear the sites of vegetation and consolidate unstable sections of stonework, archaeologists are expecting to uncover new insights into the ways the buildings were used and their significance.

Paul Frodsham, historic environment officer with the AONB Partnership, said: "The North Pennines landscape is renowned for its lead mining heritage, and while the remnants of the lead industry are important, the AONB's historic environment consists of much, much more. The 13th-Century remains of Muggleswick Grange, for example, are a really important historical link between the North Pennines and Durham Cathedral.

"Archaeological investigations are being undertaken in association with consolidation work at Shildon, Muggleswick, Ninebanks and Whitesyke, and this will add substantially to our understanding of North Pennines history."

As the consolidation work progresses, there will be opportunities for local people to train in the traditional skill of lime mortar pointing, now used extensively in the conservation of historic buildings.