Silverbrook Mine

The old stack at this small lead and zinc mine, now totally covered in ivy. The other buildings are completely shrouded in scrub.
Reputedly first worked during the 1750s, it was abandoned due to flooding. The remains that can be seen today date from a second period of working between 1852 and 1860 when a 30 inch pumping engine and a 20 inch horizontal winding engine which also drove the crusher were installed. The main shaft was vertical for 16 fathoms then followed the lode down to the 66 fathom level. There was a second shaft about 120 yards south west of main shaft sunk to the 11 fathom level.
The main lode trending north east was from 1 to 5 feet wide and yielded argentiferous galena and zincblende with quartz, calcite and siderite. The recorded output was 93 tons of 65% lead ore, 80 ounces of silver and 1,474 tons of zinc ore(Dines 1956, Hamilton-Jenkins 1978)
Much of what is known about the above ground layout of the mine has been gleaned from two sketches dating from about 1856, now in Torbay Natural History Museum, by the local artist Frederick Foote showing the mine as it was when it was working. The notable mineral collector Sir Arthur Russell reputedly had the finished painting by Foote in his possession. Oh, to be able to find that if it exists!

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This photograph was uploaded October 18^th 2018 by ourmark.

Copyright / re-use statement: cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Alan Hunt - geograph.org.uk/p/3514137

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