gNick
  • gNick
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9 years ago
I'm currently enjoying a holiday on Mull, only marred by the enthusiastic wee beasties (natch) and the shortage of mines.
Doing a search on this esteemed website revealed that there's a lead mine at Croggan so yesterday we pootled down to have a look.
Croggan is a nice place but apart from the partly derelict pier there was a significant lack of any sign of a mine. I did find an old drill steel - tipped with water passage - but this was sticking out of some concrete so being reused as reinforcement.
Obviously high summer with the bracken shoulder high in places isn't the best time to search for a mine but I would have hoped to have seen some indication. So the mine is either very old and/or small, or non-existent. From general looking about, mineralisation doesn't seem to be a significant feature of Mull so the latter seems plausible.
Does anyone have any details about this mine beyond a location?
Don't look so embarrassed, it's a family trait...
Heb
  • Heb
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9 years ago
Nick,
Wilson, in 'The Lead Zinc, Copper & Nickel Ores of Scotland' (1921), states "A lead mine is said to have been worked for argentiferous galena near Croggan, but all signs of it are now obliterated. In all probability it is the one mentioned be Sir A Murray of Stanhope in ' The Interests of Great Britain Considered', published in 1740".

Landless, in his Gazeteer of Scottish mines (1993), writes "No sign of this mine now remains".

Probably best to give up the search & retire to the nearest tea shop to drown your disappointment in a pot of tea & a large sticky bun!
robnorthwales
9 years ago
If I was going to look for any signs, I'd head uphill from the village into those wooded small valleys - there are a number of waterfalls, so if there were any ore veins exposed, they'd probably be up that way.
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ant89
  • ant89
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9 years ago
Was on Mull 2 weeks ago myself and saw that, but was on my own with dog so never really went looking.
gNick
  • gNick
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9 years ago
Sounds like a very old trial then. High summer not the time to explore looking for something that might have been little more than a sampling of outcropping ore.
Unfortunately the nearest tea shop is decidedly not close.
Worth visiting the area, if only to see the 'rock mushroom' - will stick up a picture when I get home...
Don't look so embarrassed, it's a family trait...
BertyBasset
9 years ago
If not lead, you may find an opportunity to find some corrondum, even some sapphire!
gNick
  • gNick
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9 years ago
Mushroom rock, about 10 minutes walk from the pier at Croggan

🔗107083[linkphoto]107083[/linkphoto][/link]

And a drill steel, next to the pier...

🔗107085[linkphoto]107085[/linkphoto][/link]
Don't look so embarrassed, it's a family trait...
John Lawson
9 years ago
Best to look over the disused quarries, on Mull.
You have the disused red-granite quarries and the Iona Marble quarry.
If you want a fantastic geological experience then book a visit to Fingal's Cave, it is well worth the £25 the boatman charge.
gNick
  • gNick
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9 years ago
Aye we went to Staffa - awesome geology there??
Don't look so embarrassed, it's a family trait...
ebgb
  • ebgb
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9 years ago
hop on the ferry over to ardnamurchan and wander to Strontian

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