Dufton Fell lead mine · AditNow Community

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derrickhand
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

9 years ago

I've just seen Dufton Fell lead mine in the list, also Julia Bradbury's walking programme recently showed a brief shot of an adit entrance.

Does anyone know anything about this mine?

plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose

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christwigg
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

9 years ago

Huge amount written about it in BM91 - Mines of the West Pennnine and Ian Tylers - Cross Fell and Mines of Cumbrian Pennine.

What in particular did you want to know ?

derrickhand
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

9 years ago

All I've seen so far is three images on this site, from a long time ago, and an adit entrance glimpsed briefly on a tv programme.

So, anything, really..

plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose

Monty Stubble
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

9 years ago

Problem is up there, the mines have been pretty much trashed inside by the extensive efforts of mineral collectors.

The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.
Henry David Thoreau

sparlad
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

9 years ago

mineral collectors?? highly unlikely as there's sod all up there of interest apart from baryte which nobody wants except the oil industry for use in drilling mud.

Jim MacPherson
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

9 years ago

Clearly someone was interested not that long ago.

http://www.ukfcg.org/stonechats/59clip.pdf

derrickhand
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

9 years ago

All very interesting, but does anyone have (or prepared to offer) any actual information?

Is there a viable adit, is it open, are the workings open or collapsed, are there any access issues?

plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose

christwigg
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

9 years ago

I've never been in person (got snowed off in about 2010 and never got around to re-arranging)

I'm not going to re-type Ian Tylers book, but there are underground photos of at least four different levels.
But how much is accessible I don't know.

Heres a lo-res phone photo, which hopefully demonstrates theres plenty to warrant a visit.

🔗105049[linkphoto]105049[/linkphoto][/link]

John Lawson
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

9 years ago

It is a few years since we were last there.
I cannot understand why it suggested that these mines were trashed by mineral collectors!
A few clear crystals of barite for faceting hardly constitutes trashing!
No the mine dumps were worked for barite, and once these were exhausted, the operators," cleared up the site!
We found 2 or 3 open levels, Atkinson's level is knee deep, and has a major fall, where it meets, the vein, it may be able to bipass it but then you would have to be a good climber.
I would however suggest it is ' a good weather' trip, as there is no shelter if things turn nasty.

derrickhand
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

9 years ago

#10

Ok thanks, interesting.

We moved our caravan to the Dufton area last year so I've been exploring the area a little. I was intending to do some winter walking during a long off-season, there but for obvious reasons that didn't happen.

I'm interested to see the reference to the reworked dumps. I had various involvement with reworking old mines in the 70s and 80s, I was doing various contract work during the oil and civils winter off seasons in those days and it was the sort of odd job that tended to come along when the stone and aggregate market was slow and drilling fluid suppliers were building up stock for the coming campaign.

Dufton looked familiar when we first came there and I attributed it to the Pennine Way, but I may have briefly been there working.

plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose