It is situated on the north side of the River Wear, opposite Ireshopeburn and is linked to the main Weardale valley road by Coronation Bridge.
From 1818, mining in the area was controlled by W B Lead Co, a mining company established by the Blacketts, a prominent Newcastle family which had leased mining rights in Weardale from the Bishop of Durham.
The Weardale Granite pluton is the largest and the only one that has been proved (sampled), after the Rookhope Borehole confirmed Martin Bott's hypothesis that a large negative gravity anomaly under Weardale represented a low-density igneous intrusion.
Thornton was a speculator in lead mines, and he was certainly working some in Weardale under lease from the Bishop of Durham in 1401.
In descending proportional order these were from the Workington, Harrington, West Cumberland, Wigan, Weardale and Forest of Dean areas.