Summary

Hartsop Hall lead mine is situated in the highly aesthetic setting of woodland southwest of Brotherswater. It is probably dated to the late 16th century being finally closed in the late 19th century.

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Description

The level cuts into the rock for a distance of roughly 10m during which time the level remains unenclosed. Although the adit is waterlogged it is possible to tell that the level branches, with what appears to be a trial level continuing on into the hillside while the main level turns to the right and follows the line of the vein into the hillside.

It is clear that this level was sunk onto an area of exposed ore, with the miners then chasing the vein into the hillside. The two collapsed shafts recorded as ntsmr 27173 and 27171 are both aligned with the course of the vein and appear to have been driven vertically down to catch the vein.

History of the Mine.

The mine is very old, certainly 17th century and possibly earlier, and has been worked only infrequently. It was abandoned in 1942. The Hartsop Hall Vein runs NE-SW and heads to the west at about 1 fathom in 3. It was generally about 3 ft wide and contained argentiferous galena (35ozs silver per ton of lead metal) in a matrix of quartz and smashed country-rock with a good deal of baryte. In depth, small amounts of blende and copper ore were found but nothing worth working. From the plan it will be seen that the ore distribution was patchy. About half a mile SW of the mine, near Hogget Gill, are the remains of a very old smelter.

A number of leases were discovered that refer to agreements between Sir John Lowther of Whitehaven and various parties for the right to work the lead mines at Hartsop. These presumably relate to other mines within the lordship, although work is likely to have concentrated at Hartsop Hall. The leases cover the period between 1684 and 1696 during which time mining is likely to have taken using a series of bell pits and open cast workings before the development of blasting powder. It is possible that lead smelter at Hogget Gill was set up shortly before the end of the seventeenth century as the Hartsop vein began to yield ore.

The next record is for 1802 when Thomas Dodd, resplendent under the title of 'The Governor and Company for Smelting Down with Pit Coal and Sea Coal of St Martin's Lane, London, took a lease. He was evidently disappointed for on 4th June 1804 all work was stopped and the mine abandoned. A document dated March 1867 gives the owners as Messrs Kennedy, Whiteside, Head, Jameson and Coy, this indicates that they had been working the mine since November 1866. By November 1867 the low adit (No 4) had been driven forward 40 fathoms, but in other respects all was not well. The miners were complaining of bad wages and the sloppy manner in which the mine was being run. In addition, operations were severely hindered by a lack of water for driving the crushing and dressing machinery. The company considered erecting a steam engine to provide the necessary power but were deterred from doing so by the high cost of coal.

The greater part of 1868 seems to have passed by uneventfully and the few surviving accounts show a monthly production of about 20 tons of ore, but in November the company came into dispute with the surface agricultural tenant, a Mr Backhouse. He claimed that fine particulate matter, a product of dressing operations, was being dumped into the mine stream which passed through his property and was killing fish and injuring livestock. The dispute grew steadily more bitter and the ever present threat of a court order closing the mine discouraged the company from investing in a deeper adit and other items of expenditure which it felt were needed. Mining continued in a half hearted fashion but by November 1870 the dispute had worsened to such a degree that all work ceased. In 1871 the mine was abandoned.

In 1931, it was re-opened by a syndicate consisting of W.T. Shaw, T. Shaw and J. Myles, but shortly afterwards the low price of lead forced the mine's closure. The same body re- opened it in 1934 but lack of capital precluded work of any consequence. However, in April 1941, J.H.Clay of Caldbeck Mine Ltd joined the syndicate and Hartsop Mines Limited was formed. Work continued for a short while, while, with rather more vigour, but wartime conditions created problems and the mine was closed in 1942. The company had intended that the mine be restarted, but on the death of the Earl of Lonsdale the land went to the National Trust and the constraints imposed on further working were so severe as to render profitable operation out of the question. In 1954 the company went into voluntary liquidation (Adams, J. 1988).

Original mining operations began in the late 16th or early 17th century. Following a period of closure, the mines were re-opened and energetically developed in the 19th century. A water leat over a mile in length was constructed to bring water from Dovedale beck to turn a waterwheel driving the crushing and washing machinery. A Smithy, Joiner's Shop and office were built a little way below the Mill. When the mine closed about 1860 the buildings were pulled down and the stones used to build a new barn at Hartsop Hall, and also the new part of Brotherswater Hotel. The waterwheel is said to have gone to Ambleside where it was re-erected beside Stock Beck to propel wood working machinery. In August 1888 the Greenside Mining Company re-opened the old workings, but following reports the mine remained inactive until a further re-opening in 1931 by a syndicate of the Shaw family.

This level is known as number 3 level and displayed signs of holes for gunpowder blasting, but an original much older level may have been subsequently widened.

The mine closed in 1942 following the outbreak of war. "With the death of Earl of Lonsdale this part of his estate was taken for death duties and passed to the National Trust; the conditions which they wished to impose as to the scale of working the mine not practical so the Company had to give up, all the plant was cleared and the site left as it was in 1931… beaten in the end by circumstance which had been remotely considered when assessing the risks of the venture." (Shaw, W.T. 1983).

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