Mining in the Lake District - Background

Iron, copper, lead, zinc, cobalt, antimony, silver, tungsten, manganese and barium have all been mined in the Lake District.

The unique geology of Cumbria has resulted in a wider range of commercially-exploitable minerals than any comparable area of the UK.  To the north are the oldest rocks, known as the Skiddaw Group, mudstones and siltstones of the Ordovician period, in which are found most of the copper and lead ores. The Central Fells are mainly made up of the Borrowdale Volcanics, which include the Caldbeck Fells and also the Coniston area, both also sources of copper: while the southern Lake District comprises sandstones and other rocks of the Windermere Group, laid down in the Silurian period, and not generally a source of metal ores. Surrounding all of these are the limestones of the Carboniferous period, notable for their rich iron ores, especially haematite.  The Carboniferous rocks also include the Coal Measures of West Cumbria.

Of the ten metal ores mined in the region, probably iron was the most significant, leading the way, together with West Cumbrian coal, in driving Cumbria’s Industrial Revolution. However, iron had first been mined extensively under the monks of Furness Abbey, who developed ‘Bloomeries’ throughout the Furness Peninsular.  These were small-scale furnaces which produced wrought iron, using charcoal.  In the process, Low Furness was largely denuded of trees, felled to make the charcoal.  But iron-making goes back earlier still, at least to pre-Conquest days, the evidence being a place called Orgrave, on the outskirts of Dalton, named in the Domesday Book, which means ‘ore-pit’ in Old English, suggesting that the mine was there long before the monks.  Iron mining continued in Cumbria until 2007, when the last working mine in Cumbria, Florence, near Egremont, finally closed.

Next in importance comes lead, which was mined by the Romans at or near Alston, overseen by their fort at Whitley Castle (Epiacum).  Lead mining is known to have been more-or-less continuous from Norman times through to the 19th century.  The ore is called galena, and is often found in association with copper ore – but it also contains small quantities of silver, which led to a Mint being established at Carlisle in 1122 - although supplies seem to have run out in the 13th century.  Another mineral found in association with lead is zinc: indeed, at Nenthead, zinc production took over from lead in the late 19th century, and continued until 1920.  Zinc was also produced at Force Crag Mine, in Coledale, near Keswick (see photo), taking over from lead mining in 1867, together with barytes (barium sulphate), and continuing in production until 1991. Barytes was used as a white pigment for paint – the metal barium was not extracted as such.

Copper was the third of the main metals, and was the main target of the Company of Mines Royal, established in 1568, with William Cecil, Lord Burghley, as one of its shareholders.  It employed Bavarian miners to extract and smelt copper, mined initially in the Skiddaw Slates of the Newlands Valley, and smelted at Keswick.  The Company went on to open copper mines in the Caldbeck Fells, and subsequently at Coniston.  Mining continued sporadically in Cumbria, only ending at Coniston in the 1890s. Incidentally, the Company of Mines Royal had hoped to find gold, but that is one of the few metals missing from Cumbria.

A late-comer to Cumbria’s mining history was tungsten.  A hard, dense, metal, it was mainly used in the armaments industry.  In Britain, it is mainly found in Devon and Cornwall, but a deposit at Carrock, above Mungrisdale, was mined from 1854, intermittently until 1981, with peak production probably during the First World War.

Manganese oxide was found in the Wolframite ore which was also the source of the tungsten, but manganese was never really exploited commercially, apart from briefly in the 1870s at Bigrigg, near Egremont.  Manganese had various industrial uses, as well as being a source of black pigment.

A cobalt mine, the only one in Cumbria, was opened in 1845 by the Keswick Mining Company, between Scar and Sail Crags, near Causey Pike, in an area where copper and lead had previously been mined, as well as, briefly in 1822, some previous cobalt mining.   Chemists’ reports had said that there was abundant cobalt to be had:  however, the venture was not commercially successful, and the mine was soon abandoned, closing in 1850.  Cobalt at the time was mainly used as a blue pigment, although these days it is also used in batteries.

Finally, metal number ten, antimony, which was used in medicines and cosmetics, as well as in metallurgy, was often found in association with lead and other ores. A number of mines around the Caldbeck Fells are known to have produced small amounts of antimony ore in the 1840s, but workings were always limited.

Of course, we must not forget that other, non-metallic, minerals were also mined in Cumbria -notably graphite (black lead/plumbago), at Seathwaite, from the 16th century until the 19th century:  and gypsum (used to make plaster-board), at three sites, Cotehill, south of Carlisle; St Bees Head, and Kirkby Thore.  The latter site, operated by British Gypsum, continues to mine and process gypsum to this day – and is thus the last remaining survivor of Cumbria’s long mining history.

Text by Bill Shannon

Photo of Force Grag mine by Bill Shannon

References:

The best introduction to the geology of Cumbria is Ian Francis et al, The Lake District: Landscape and Geology, Crowood Press (2022)

A 20-page booklet on Mines in Cumbria can be downloaded here https://www.cbdc.org.uk/CumbriaLGS/Leaflets/3_046.pdf

Information about the minor minerals in the county can be found here https://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/a-z-of-industries/barytes/minor-minerals/

For other CCHT ‘Interesting Facts’ on various aspects of mining history, see

https://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/mine-called-nigel-background-barrow-roanhead

https://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/seathwaite-plumbago-mine-background-above-derwent

https://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/company-mines-royal-background-above-derwent

https://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/royal-mint-background-carlisle

For a full list of all interesting facts, click here https://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/full-list-interesting-facts