Report - Siverband Lead and Barytes Mine (Cumbria, 2023 - 2024)

[urbanchemist]

Another mine on the western escarpment of the North Pennines, the next one along from Dufton, Scoredale and Long Fell.
Like others it started as a lead mine before switching to barytes when demand for this grew, eventually producing > 200,000 tonnes.

Although information can be found on most of the older workings there are no underground pictures, so as usual I had to look at everything, over a few trips.

Here’s the setup - the mine levels (tunnels, red dots) are scattered around Great Dunn Fell, which has a white civil aviation golfball on the top.
The coloured bands are different types of rock, sedimentary except for the purple one which is an igneous layer (the Whin Sill).

Like the mines further south the main mineralised faults run across at an angle, following the general direction of Dunfell Hush and the more recent opencast workings below the golf ball.


Starting with the surface remains.


Knock Mill. At the bottom of the valley on the right is a lead smelting mill (black dot).
I didn’t realise this was there at first, only noticing something that looked like a water-powered mill when looking down from the other side of the valley.
It’s apparently quite old (ca. 250 years) and didn’t have a long flue and chimney so would have poisoned everything in the vicinity.

The square structure in the foreground may have been an office or accommodation.

The mill is mostly rubble but is thought to have had two hearths, one at either end, with a water-powered bellows in the middle.

Part of the wheel pit.

Slag.

Aerial ropeway. This is the yellow line on the map, and was used to lower crude barytes down to mountain for processing at Millburn Grange, a couple of miles away, which also took material from Scordale and Long Fell.
Another ropeway then carried purified barytes further to the railway station at Long Marton.
The section going down the mountain is listed, apparently being ‘the best surviving example of an aerial ropeway used in a metal-mining context in England’.

Walking up from the bottom.

An intermediate station.

Several more fallen pylons, then one which must have been used to dump processing waste.

Lumps of barytes are scattered around everywhere.

Main site. The ropeway was dismantled in the 1960s, and a processing mill built up the hill near the mine, with product now transported down by lorry.
Later workings were opencast and when everything closed in 2005 the mill was dismantled and the area landscaped, so there isn’t much left.
The most interesting thing is a wooden Harz-type jig used to purify the ground barytes (this type of jig is also used for lead ore).

It works by pulsing water up and down through a bed of ground material, effectively fluidising it with the heavier stuff (barytes) settling to the bottom.

Pump and sieve sides.

Outlets.

Photo of a more recent steel version in use at the Silverband mill before it was demolished.
There are some of these jigs at the Killhope Lead Mining Museum not far away, which is well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

A pumphouse near a reservoir with a modern (Worthington-Simpson) pump - a lot of water was needed for processing.

The only building remaining, empty apart from what may be a small hammer mill or similar for grinding up ore samples and a table with something gloopy on it.

View down from above the main site - landscaping has obliterated one of the higher tunnel entrances in this region.

continued

 

[urbanchemist]

Now for the few underground bits that were open.


Eller Beck Level. I can find no record of this hole so I’ve just made up the name - it was probably an attempt to find ore in the limestone layer above.
It’s wet and steamy and goes some distance, with partial collapses along the way.

This rubble is below what looks like a natural void in the limestone.

I stopped at this point - it seems to go on but the roof was looking a bit unstable.

Back out.

Middle Tongue Level. The waste heap looks like a coal mine, and indeed there is a small coal seam in this one.
The dates on the rock nearby are from shortly before the lead workings at Silverband stopped in 1879.

Left is coal and shale which I didn’t pursue further.

Straight on goes through a flooded bit with some deepish sections to a shelf of ochre - plenty of iron ore in these hills as well.
Further on the water heads towards the roof so I had to stop.

Gilberts/New Silverband Level. This is further up the same stream, and goes in through sandstone and shale walls with some upward excavations, finally reach a dead end fork.

Looking up.

Not a good picture but there’s still some galena in the walls.

I also found a nice ‘heavy spar’ (barytes) sample in the mud, shown here after a rinse.

continued

 

[urbanchemist]

Finally the underground bits that didn’t go anywhere - might as well record them since I don’t suppose anyone else will.

Two levels are shown on Knock Ore Gill.
The higher one has a waste tip but no entrance.

The lower one is just to the right of the bend in a long narrow hush which stretches up to the main site.

The entrance is partially blocked but there was enough space to see it doesn’t go anywhere.

Around the other side of the hill there were a number of tunnels above Gilbert’s Level in an area of old hushes, spoil heaps and landslips.
Here’s a blocked one…

…and a gated one which is soon blocked.

Further up Middle Tongue Beck is the ruined mine shop of Lord’s Level which no longer seems to be open.

The only tunnel left after the opencast operations up near the mill is Low Level, which is also collapsed.

It might be accessible down a shaft immediately above - this level apparently used to intersect a cave system.

Round the back of the hill are three more sets of workings on the same set of parallel veins.
Dunfell Low Level is near the end of the Dunfell Hush, with the collapsed entrance portal clearly visible as a line of iron hoops.

There is a potential way in further up but it would require some excavation.

The next one round the hill is Loppysike Level but I didn’t get far with this one either.
It goes further than the picture below suggests but also sounded echoey which is usually a bad sign.

Round again is Swathbeck Level which only went about 10 yards.

So not much to find up on top except inclusions of weathered galena from the patches of waste where nothing grows.

View NE over the boggy wasteland where the River Tees rises.

Since I was there a picture of the golfball to finish.

Silverband is rather easy to get to - there’s a bridleway which goes right to the top and the Pennine Way also loops past the golfball.
However if doing this in the colder months check the weather first as the hill is often shrouded in cloud with a freezing wind.

 

[NastyNeasden]

Very thorough report UrbanChemist and some great photos. I have been visiting the site recently as well, gathering info prior to running a meet sometime this year for CATMHS. The shaft above the Dunfell Low Level does not give any access beyond the visible fall inbye from the portal. Sadly, I think the whole level, which was the main entrance in the 20th C was obliterated by the open cast works which may also have taken out the No.1 crosscut, Henrake vein, Slope vein, and nos 6,7,8 veins also. I have the plans for the Silverband Caverns but superimposing them against Dunham's Volume 1 Orefield plans and the current satellite images, it would appear the opencast workings have destroyed the lot. Did you locate and visit the old workings opposite the long narrow hush into Knock Ore Gill? These are shown on some old maps but it looks like the Radar Station road may have been widened recently over the top of those entrances. I cannot find any trace of the level, although there is evidence of collapsed shafts and spoil around.

 

[urbanchemist]

Very thorough report UrbanChemist and some great photos. I have been visiting the site recently as well, gathering info prior to running a meet sometime this year for CATMHS. The shaft above the Dunfell Low Level does not give any access beyond the visible fall inbye from the portal. Sadly, I think the whole level, which was the main entrance in the 20th C was obliterated by the open cast works which may also have taken out the No.1 crosscut, Henrake vein, Slope vein, and nos 6,7,8 veins also. I have the plans for the Silverband Caverns but superimposing them against Dunham's Volume 1 Orefield plans and the current satellite images, it would appear the opencast workings have destroyed the lot. Did you locate and visit the old workings opposite the long narrow hush into Knock Ore Gill? These are shown on some old maps but it looks like the Radar Station road may have been widened recently over the top of those entrances. I cannot find any trace of the level, although there is evidence of collapsed shafts and spoil around.

Pity that shaft doesn’t go anywhere.

I looked for a level on Knock Ore Gill at 54.6684, -2.4510 - it’s one where the road has probably taken out the entrance, the first picture in the list of failures.

I didn’t look for anything directly opposite the northern hush, just the trial level part way up.

 

[jezzyboo]

Another great report and some lovely pics again

 

[Calamity Jane]

Fab mixed report. I like the map showing where things are. All photos just fab. And your reporting is always a good read. 👍

 

[HughieD]

Absolutely superb. Fascinating stuff over ground and underground. Particularly liked the aerial ropeway stuff.

 

[NastyNeasden]

Pity that shaft doesn’t go anywhere.

I looked for a level on Knock Ore Gill at 54.6684, -2.4510 - it’s one where the road has probably taken out the entrance, the first picture in the list of failures.

I didn’t look for anything directly opposite the northern hush, just the trial level part way up.

These are the plans for the Silverband Caverns as surveyed in 1953. If you look at the second smaller scale plan, it shows where Dun Fell summit is. By comparing with the satellite image - which clearly shows the final extent of the opencast, I'm inclined to think the bulk of of the mine along with the caverns have gone forever. BTW an interesting factoid - the aerial ropeway was dismantled and sold to Cairngorm Mountain ski club at Aviemore after Laporte closed the underground works. Presumably it then ran for many years until the funicular was built. The trial adit I referred to above was actually the one one higher up Knock Ore Gill - not opposite the hush, my mistake.