Carsington Pastures

Carsington Pastures is about 365 acres of open grazing land which rises steeply above the village to a height of over 1,000 ft above sea level. On the summit there is a large stone landmark, marked on the Ordnance Survey as the King's Chair, but known locally as the Lady Chair.

The ground is scarred with remains of lead mines, the main source of wealth for the village for several hundred years and worked first by the Romans, who also brought the pretty blue and yellow pansy, known as heartsease, with them. A Roman pig of lead was found on the Owslow farm some years ago.

Several of the old cottages in the village would have been originally the coes which were built round a mine shaft and at least one of them still has the mine shaft below the kitchen floor. A thick seam of lead was exposed during grave digging operations by the sexton in the 1930s, but could not be worked as the lead mining laws did not allow the mining of lead in churchyards, orchards or gardens.