This Smithy Beck longhouse survives as a low outline of stones, only two or three courses high, marking the footprint of a medieval dwelling. Built with double walls for strength and insulation, these houses offered year-round shelter in the valley.

One cluster of the Smithy Beck settlement lies close to Clewes Gill, a tributary of Smithy Beck. Its riverside position hints at convenience for water, grazing, and nearby ore workings. Some archaeologists suggest they may have doubled as shielings — seasonal grazing shelters — though the heavy walling points to permanence.

This example is larger and in better condition than those at East Gillerthwaite, suggesting it was abandoned later. Its unusual double-wall form is rare in the Lakes. Excavations here revealed ceramics dating between the 14th and 16th centuries, with later post-medieval pieces, showing the site’s long span of occupation.

Unlike farming hamlets, the Smithy Beck longhouses show no fields, terraces, or lynchets around them. Their isolated setting, combined with nearby evidence of mining along Clewes Gill and a bloomery on Ennerdale’s north shore, strongly suggests they were homes for miners rather than farmers.

The double walls of this ruin gave protection from the cold, showing that families lived here through harsh winters as well as summer months. Though tied to iron mining, they likely grazed animals or kept small plots when not working ore. These rough foundations once enclosed both domestic life and industrial labour.