The lead veins of the Weardale landscape that weave beneath the hills, were once some of the richest in the country. The humps and bumps in this extreme landscape are evidence of the extent and significance the industry once had within previously small clusters of farmer miner communities.

Weardale had a relatively stable population until industrial entrepreneurs W.B. Lead from Newcastle established a stronghold and began investing in the substantial extraction of lead in the dale in the C17^th. The boom really began in the mid C18^th with an increase in the use of lead and a rather nice increase in price. Neighbouring communities in Teesdale, Cumbria and Tynedale took the opportunity to migrate across the hills for a better life.

The C19^th saw an increase in opportunities to emigrate much further afield as pay and work started to diminish. Families followed each other across the seas and established new communities in America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These families became pioneers in new largely unexplored worlds using the skills learnt in the harsh Weardale landscape to make new lives. Their links with the dale continued through family letters and photographs.