Greenburn Mine

GREENBURN MINE, CUMBRIA  

English Heritage's Landscape Investigation Team has recently carried out a detailed analytical survey of the surface remains of Greenburn Mine near Little Langdale. The new research lays the foundations for conservation work and long-term management by the National Trust, who own the site, which is widely regarded as the best preserved copper mine in the Lake District. The investigation made use of the latest Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite equipment to map the surface remains, which stretch across 26 hectares (64 acres) of rugged and remote upland terrain. The underground remains are less complex and have been mapped in the past, including by the miners themselves.

Greenburn Mine, an outlier of the Coniston Copper Mines which was called 'New Coniston Mine' and 'Great Coniston Mine' for brief periods in the 19th century, saw its heyday between about 1845 and 1861. After that date, it experienced a slow decline until 1942, when attempts to re-open the workings were finally abandoned. At the main ore processing area, water wheel pits, ruined buildings and the floors of timber sheds, processing tanks and the rusting remains of a battery of 'stamps' (vertical hammers) still survive in situ. As a result, the site is perhaps the easiest for the non-expert visitor to comprehend and the National Trust is keen to understand what survives in order to present the remains as a visitor attraction. There is scant documentary evidence for the use of the mine and most previous studies have confined themselves to outline histories of the owners. A notable exception is Eric Holland's (1981) book Coniston Copper Mines, a field guide, which made a good start of unravelling the story told by the physical remains. The new investigation was a much more prolonged examination of the complex and was able to accurately map features scattered across a wide area, so it has greatly advanced the understanding of the complex.

It has long been assumed that almost all the remains visible on the surface originated under the tenancy of Crossfield and Co, in the profitable years immediately before 1861. However, the new fieldwork detected widespread evidence for change over time. The faint imprints of two relatively early buildings apparently constructed in timber may equate to 'the Hutts or houses' mentioned in a document of 28 February 1690. A number of the mine workings can also be dated to the late 17th century on the evidence of their form and location. The Ordnance Survey First Edition 6-inch scale map, surveyed in 1847-8, attests to the existence of a number of buildings probably built in about 1845, which are no longer identifiable due to the subsequent phase of wholescale modification. The map also indicates that several of the drystone buildings which remained in use until the early 20th century and still survive in ruinous condition, including the explosives store and the miners' changing room, originated in this early phase of development. The stone-built structures dating to the tenancy of Crossfield and Co, which are numerous and well preserved, have dominated the studies of previous researchers, but the new fieldwork identified the ephemeral remains of contemporary timber structures and two small water wheel pits, which have previously been overlooked. A schematic plan possibly produced before 1861 (held in Cumbria Record Office) sheds important light on the functions of these structures and the water wheels associated with them. Curiously, one of the most spectacular and imposing features - an inclined tramway which ran for 500m down the side of the valley- has proved amongst the hardest to date. Circumstantial evidence suggests that it was built and dismantled again in the years between 1906 and 1908, when the Greenburn and Tilberthwaite Syndicate made a determined, but short-lived, effort to re-open the mine almost from scratch.

Greenburn Mine is accessible by public footpath and the remains can be explored. BUT PLEASE BE CAREFUL! There are many open and flooded shafts, and some of the buildings are in a dangerous condition. Care is especially needed in wet weather.

The full report (ref: AI/6/2001) can be ordered online. For more information, contact Al Oswald in English Heritage's York Office on 01904 601901 or e-mail al.oswald@english-heritage.org.uk