A Mine called Nigel - Background Barrow (Roanhead)

Eleven million tons of iron ore were extracted from a pit called Nigel, Roanhead, near Barrow, between the 1850s and 1942 when it closed

Roanhead, near Barrow was the site of a major haematite mine, the workings of which are now flooded.  The mines were operated from 1852 by the Kennedy family, and the biggest of their pits was called Nigel,  Another was called Rita. 

Photo shows sample of Kidney Ore, or haematite, from the Florence Mine.  See Threlkeld Mining Museum

Photo and text by Bill Shannon