A small barytes mine on a hill just south of Scoredale in the North Pennines.
I did it after looking at the lead mines in Scoredale, which in later years were also worked for barytes:
www.28dayslater.co.uk
History. Long Fell operated intermittently from 1914 - 1950, the mineral being in demand at the time by the Ministry of Supplies for painting warships.
However the the Ministry of Defence had established the Warcop firing range in 1942 at the base of the hill, and they wanted to close the mine because it was in the line of fire.
A compromise was reached whereby the miners had to remain underground during the day while the army did their target practice.
The barytes outcrops in long steaks across the top of the fell, and from the mine plan it looks like it was extracted by a mixture of open-cut, shafts and tunnels.
The adits entering the escarpment at the bottom were presumably to cart out material more easily.
I wasn’t expecting to find much underground since the army had been shelling that area, but thought it worth a look anyway.
Starting at the firing range at the bottom of the hill, an old tank near the road.
Dead munitions everywhere up at the mine.
Remains of an ore hopper.
As expected, the adits on the escarpment were collapsed and routes down through the rubble didn’t look inviting.
On the top of the hill the open-cut trenches are not continuous - in some sections the surface rock hasn’t been removed.
In others the cut had been roofed over with spoil stacked on top, maybe as protection from the shelling.
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Looks like they may be hauling stuff up a shaft in this old photo.
A bridge over one of the cuts with the barytes vein clearly visible.
The crude barytes was initially transported down to be processed by an aerial ropeway, later superseded by lorries - these may be some bits of the ropeway.
The only structure still standing - possibly the one visible in the background of the old photo above.
There are two waste piles part way along the rightmost (southern) vein.
One originates from a short tunnel leading directly into an open section.
The other comes from another tunnel, which after rearranging some rocks to get in, proved to be longer but still maybe only 50 yards or so.
The end.
A growth of nice plate-like barytes crystals on the way out.
You wouldn’t want to be up above Warcop when there is live firing going on, so this one is only doable on one of the 14 weekends a year in which there is public access.
I did it after looking at the lead mines in Scoredale, which in later years were also worked for barytes:
Report - - Scordale Lead Mines (Cumbria, 2020-2022) | Mines and Quarries
Scordale is on the western edge of the Northern Pennine Orefield which was the main source of lead for the UK, and at one stage the world, in the 1800s. Some parts of the valley have been mined for centuries but work had ceased by about 1900 although some baryte(s) extraction continued into the...
www.28dayslater.co.uk
History. Long Fell operated intermittently from 1914 - 1950, the mineral being in demand at the time by the Ministry of Supplies for painting warships.
However the the Ministry of Defence had established the Warcop firing range in 1942 at the base of the hill, and they wanted to close the mine because it was in the line of fire.
A compromise was reached whereby the miners had to remain underground during the day while the army did their target practice.
The barytes outcrops in long steaks across the top of the fell, and from the mine plan it looks like it was extracted by a mixture of open-cut, shafts and tunnels.
The adits entering the escarpment at the bottom were presumably to cart out material more easily.
I wasn’t expecting to find much underground since the army had been shelling that area, but thought it worth a look anyway.
Starting at the firing range at the bottom of the hill, an old tank near the road.
Dead munitions everywhere up at the mine.
Remains of an ore hopper.
As expected, the adits on the escarpment were collapsed and routes down through the rubble didn’t look inviting.
On the top of the hill the open-cut trenches are not continuous - in some sections the surface rock hasn’t been removed.
In others the cut had been roofed over with spoil stacked on top, maybe as protection from the shelling.
Looks like they may be hauling stuff up a shaft in this old photo.
A bridge over one of the cuts with the barytes vein clearly visible.
The crude barytes was initially transported down to be processed by an aerial ropeway, later superseded by lorries - these may be some bits of the ropeway.
The only structure still standing - possibly the one visible in the background of the old photo above.
There are two waste piles part way along the rightmost (southern) vein.
One originates from a short tunnel leading directly into an open section.
The other comes from another tunnel, which after rearranging some rocks to get in, proved to be longer but still maybe only 50 yards or so.
The end.
A growth of nice plate-like barytes crystals on the way out.
You wouldn’t want to be up above Warcop when there is live firing going on, so this one is only doable on one of the 14 weekends a year in which there is public access.
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