Foster Horner and the Redmire Horners may be related to a John Horner, of Kilburn, east of York, near Thirsk, who leased the Merryfield Lead mines, on Greenhow Hill, between Appletreewick and Pateley Bridge, in the manor of Bewerley [30] .

     A John Horner is recorded as a voter in 1741 in Kilburn. John Horner of Kilburn was born in 1755, the son of George Horner a Blacksmith in Kilburn in the eighteenth century [31] . This John Horner had Interests in Stocking House, Kilburn, but resided in Helmsley in 1792 [32] . He married Eleanor and they had two children baptised in Kilburn, William Solomon, and Fewster Robert Horner [33] . Their daughter Eleanor was buried at Bell House in Kilburn in 1812 aged eighteen, which indicates that John Horner may have resided elsewhere at her birth in 1794 [34] . It is possible that Fewster Robert Horner was the Foster Horner that later moved to Skipton [35] .

John Horner was the eldest son of George Horner, Blacksmith, of Kilburn. This George Horner married three times [36] . John Horner had two brothers and two sisters of whom only one brother George and one sister Anne survived to adulthood [37] .  George Horner, of Kilburn was the son of Robert and Ann Horner of Low Kilburn [38] . His only sister Dorothy died before reaching adulthood [39] . It is possible that George Horner also had a brother named William Horner who was a cordwainer. This William Horner married Beatrix Malthouse of Wakefield, but they do not seem to have borne any surviving children [40] . If John Horner of Kilburn is Foster Horners father, it would suggest that there is definitely a connection between these Horners of Kilburn and the Horners of Redmire.

Craven Cross Mines

    In 1792 a John Horner of Kilburn took out a lease on some lands. John Horner of Kilburn made an agreement with a John Wood of Craven Cross Mines in 1793, each acquiring shares in each other’s mines. John Wood’s father William Wood had leased Craven Cross Mines in 1790 for 21 years from John Yorke, and the renewal of the lease by John in 1793 indicates that mining interests often remained in families [42] . Miners often shared the risks inherent in the mining industry by acquiring shares in more than one mine. John Horner and his partner would have bargained with the bar master, appointed by the owner of the mine rights, Sir John Yorke, over the price of the lease and then employed local men to actually work the mines [43] .

In 1800, Horner, Wood and Thomas Pullen a timber merchant of Pateley Bridge, made a new partnership and took over all of the Stoney Grooves Mine, in Greenhow [44] . These mines were highly profitable and produced fair returns, but in 1829 there was a depression in the lead industry with the price of lead falling from about twenty-two pounds a ton to less than twelve pounds in 1832. In 1827 the partnership between John Horner of Kilburn, deceased, and William Hedden of Baldersby, deceased, under the name of Leadhills Mining Company was dissolved [45] . John Horner's executors were Thomas Horner of Darlington, Henry Hirst of Northallerton, John Horner, clerk, George Horner and Thomas Horner.

After a brief resumption of pre-1820s prices, in 1833 the price again fell to between nineteen and twenty pounds a ton by 1837. Wages for lead miners had been reduced from fourteen shillings to seven shillings a week to compensate for the lack of profits. By 1837, both the Stoney Grooves and Merryfield mines had collapsed in many parts and in April 1843 the lessors, White and Sir John Yorke, took back all the ground in Merryfield and put in their own manager to work the mines.

Foster Horner

Foster Horner and his family had therefore been wise to take advantage of the boom in the early nineteenth century to move to Skipton where there were other occupations if the bottom fell through the lead market. It is interesting that Foster Horner relinquished the leases for the Grassington mines in the late 1830s and early 1840s when the Lead industry was reaching rock bottom. He obviously took a decision to diversify. Christopher Horner moved into Skipton at around the same time, perhaps having worked in the lead mining industry in Pateley Bridge or even at Greenhow or Grassington on his way from Redmire to Skipton.

        Christopher Horner may have been related to John Horner of Kilburn who may have been his great-uncle, but. this is unproven [46] . However there may be a family connection as the mines on Grassington Moor and Appletreewick Moor were close to Greenhow Hill. Many lead miners from the Redmire and Pateley Bridge areas also had interests in mines in Appletreewick and above Grassington and it may have been these family connections that enabled Foster Horner to move to Skipton and set up business.

The Grassington miners moved their lead to the canal wharves in Skipton and Gargrave on the opening of the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Mastiles Lane, the ancient route used by the wool trade from Fountains Abbey ran from Grassington to Pateley Bridge across Greenhow Moor [47] . The lead mines of Kettlewell and Appletreewick were worked by Grassington miners, and many miners in Appletreewick would have worked on the mines at Greenhow Moor. Both these areas were adjacent and Sir John Yorke of Gouthwaite in Nidderdale owned the manor of Appletreewick as well as the mining rights on Greenhow Moor [48] .

It is highly probable that there was some family connection between the Horners of Redmire and the Craven area that brought Foster Horner to Skipton. He may have moved from Redmire to Grassington and then to Skipton. Christopher Horner probably followed later after the collapse of the lead mining industry in Redmire.