Harehope Burn Lead Mine

What a thrill it is to stumble upon the unexpected. A bit of history, a scenic spot, or perhaps a fleeting moment with nature.

Weardale is unfamiliar to me, and my expectations were suitably low for the hills south of Wolsingham. So imagine my joy when we found the remains of Harehope Burn Lead Mine, tucked away in a pleasant little gill, complete with a gently trickling burn and a buzzard making its presence known overhead.

The main photograph shows what is left of the so-called Mine Shop, where the miners lived during the week. Here, they cooked whatever food they had brought from home, lit their cramped quarters with tallow candles, and shared beds with several others. Luxury was clearly not the order of the day.

The toilet, or ‘netty’, was inconveniently close—a separate hut but inside nothing more than an oversized bucket. Their ‘business’ was covered with ash or dry earth, and when full, would have been spread over the fields as fertiliser. No doubt the air was fragrant, and privacy was a distant dream.

Many miners were also farmers, so they only endured this existence during the working week. Their wives and younger children remained at home, tending the land.

The Harehope Gill Lead Mine dates back to 1769, when the London Lead Company first leased the site, though lead mining in Britain had already been going strong since Roman times. The industry peaked in Weardale during the 19th century, fuelled by an increased demand for lead piping to supply running water. The remains at Harehope likely date from the early part of that century¹Historic England List Entry Number: 1231694. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1231694²Historic England Research Records Hob Uid: 963910. https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=963910&resourceID=19191.

Nearby is the mine entrance, known as a level, dug horizontally to intersect the vertical lead vein beneath the hillside. The gradient was deliberately sloped to allow water to drain. The entrance was probably a horse level, meaning ponies could be used to assist with the work.

Higher up the hill is the base of the large overshot water-wheel. This powered machinery to break up the ‘bouse’ (the rock extracted from the mine), allowing the galena (lead ore) to be separated. The water came from a reservoir even further up the hill. The placement of the wheel, above the mine entrance, appears questionable, but no doubt the Georgian mine owners had their reasons.

Once the galena had been extracted, it was taken to a smelt mill, where the lead was smelted from the ore. The waste rock, known as ‘deads’, was heaped onto spoil dumps by the side of Bollihope Burn. These were later reworked between 1918 and 1920 for fluorspar—because apparently, there is always something left to scrape from the bottom of the barrel.

• 1
  Historic England List Entry Number: 1231694. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1231694
• 2
  Historic England Research Records Hob Uid: 963910. https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=963910&resourceID=19191