Honister Green Slate Mine with Jan Wilkinson By Sarah Ridgway
We spoke with Jan Wilkinson co-owner of Honister Green Slate Mine which is the last working slate mine in England. The family bought the derelict mine 22 years ago after a half an hour meeting and today it is one of the Lake Districts top attractions. Slate is a product usually associated with roofs, how versatile is it? It massively versatile, especially slate from the Lake District because it is so pure as it is formed from volcanic ash so there are very few impurities. Slate from the rest of the world is riverbed and is what you call sedimentary so contains different minerals making it weaker and less waterproof. “Honister Green Slate is “the cream of slate throughout the world”. We still make roofing slates, but we have expanded into things like floor tiles, worktops, bathroom tiles, chopping boards and vases. We also make chippings for gardens, benches, house signs, and dinnerware. The dinnerware is 198
stunning because of the colour and when you present food on our slate it does look quite regal. It is also very versatile as you can put hot things straight on to it and can also be put it in the freezer. Have you seen a rise in the popularity of slate? Yes, especially as everything has shifted online with Covid. We have an interactive website, and we get lots of visitors from film crews, children’s programmes and many adverts are filmed here so we have gained more exposure that way. Also, people knowing that we have something that is British made is really good for trade. What are your bestselling products/most popular? That is a hard question because there are at least five. The walling stones are popular as there are lots of properties being built that want to use them. Our slate kitchen worktops are very in vogue now and also look stunning. Headstones too, because people want a little bit of the Lake District especially those that used to walk in the fells.
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We also work closely with a place called Clarendon Wood who are offer eco-friendly burials. We do bespoke stones that sit on the final resting place of the remains and that is definitely a booming side of the business. This time of year, people are out into their gardens and tidying them up, so aggregates sell well alongside gravel and garden benches. How durable is slate? Extremely, we have roofing slates that have been on old cottages in the Lake District for over 400 years and they still in good working order. You can even take them off and put them back on and that comes back to how the slate was formed from volcanic ash, making it incredibly strong and water-resistant. That is why they are used for headstones as you get more longevity and are more durable than sandstone. How important is being ethical and sustainable and how do you incorporate that into the business? It is hugely important, and we are very aware of the importance of being a British made product. We www.lancmag.com
