HIND families can be found in the Northern counties and many other parts of England, though the main concentration seems to be around the East Midlands in Derbyshire & Nottingham.

Leadmine

Our Hind ancestors  lived in the area of Alston Moor in Cumberland, in the town of Alston (the highest market town in England) and the village of Nenthead (the highest village in England) and the surrounding area. This was a Lead Mining area, and for well over 100 years up to the 1850s our ancestors were Lead Miners, Lead Ore Smelters and such like.                              

There was a migration of lead mining families from Derbyshire to the lead mining areas on the North Pennines in the mid 1600s, although we can’t be certain, it is possible that our Hinds were part of this migration.  

On one of my trips to the area I visited the old Nenthead Smeltworks  which is now a museum & heritage centre, it was a very interesting experience. 

In the 1700s there were no more than 2 Hind families in the immediate Alston area and through their descendents the numbers increased through the 19th century eventually migrating to other areas in search if work. Our earliest known Hinds are John Hind &  Mary Batey, both born about 1750 and married in Alston on 11th June 1774.   They had 13 children between 1775 & 1795. Their grandson Robert born in 1827 was married in 1851 to Isabella Erwin also from Nenthead. Soon after their marriage they relocated to Sunniside in Co Durham where Robert worked in the coal mines. Robert is my great great grandfather.