NOW known for a peaceful and tranquil landscape, the North York Moors were once the home of a flourishing ironstone industry.

Mines and their railways on the Moors made a huge contribution to the Industrial Revolution, of which only ruins are now left.

But now a major four-year project aims to preserve their legacy and that of the landscape connected with one of the Moors’ most important historical periods.

The £3.8m project, This Exploited Land of Iron, will cover a 77sq mile area of the National Park with the help of a £2.8m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

It will kick off with a three-week art exhibition and Ironfest, a one-day festival on March 18 at the Moors National Park Centre, Danby.

The project will record, protect and conserve the remaining landmarks and features that hark back to Victorian times 150 years ago.

It will also nurture the natural habitats and species that have since found a niche in the landscape, enabling them to flourish for years to come; and establish new ways to display and tell the ironstone story to help visitors visualise and learn more about the area’s fascinating history.

About 14 per cent of the National Park will be included in the project in a sweeping arc from Goathland in the east, following Stephenson’s original rail route north to Grosmont, before turning west along the Esk Valley to Kildale, and over the Moors south eastwards to Rosedale.

Key aspects include creating virtual 3D models to record important remains such as the kilns at Rosedale and the blast furnaces at Grosmont and improving safety features to enable first-time above ground public access to sites such as Warren Moor mine, the only Victorian ironstone mine chimney left standing in the UK.

There will also be conservation support to help protect and improve the natural habitats that have reclaimed many of the spaces left by industry, a new permanent exhibition space at Danby and news waymarked trails through the “Land of Iron.”

Programme manager Tom Mutton said: “The Victorians blazed a trail in the North York Moors with the discovery and subsequent mining of ironstone.

“With many archaeological remains of this historical period continuing to melt back into the landscape as nature reclaims them, recording this legacy will be as important as the work to slow down the degradation process and preserve the biodiversity which the area supports.

“With the support of volunteers and awarding small grants to local community groups we aim to make the ironstone heritage more sustainable by 2021, in better shape and better understood by people.”

For more information visit northyorkmoors/landofiron