The principal English lead mines are in Derbyshire; but there are also mines at Allandale and other parts of western Northumberland, at Alston Moor and other parts of Cumberland, in the western parts of Durham, in Swaledale and Arkendale and other parts of Yorkshire, in Salop, in Cornwall, in the Mendip Hills in Somersetshire, and in the Isle of Man.
His views were not, however, adopted at once by all, for we find Charles Alston stating arguments against them in his Dissertation on the Sexes of Plants.
Alston's observations were founded on what occurred in certain unisexual plants, such as Mercurialis, Spinach, Hemp, Hop and Bryony.
They had one child, a daughter, Theodosia, born in 1783, who became widely known for her beauty and accomplishments, married Joseph Alston of South Carolina in 1801, and was lost at sea in 1813.
The mines of argentiferous lead, belonging to Greenwich Hospital, London, were formerly of great value, and it was in order that royalties on the Alston lead mines and on those elsewhere in the county might be jointly collected that the parish was first included within the borders of Cumberland, in the 18th century.