Bigrigg Mine

Overview

A haematite iron mine in the small West Cumbrian village of Bigrigg, part of a mining district with roots reaching back to a 12th-century monastic land grant, which employed over a thousand men at its Victorian peak before the whole district's iron mining ended by 1932.

History

Iron mining in the Bigrigg area is believed to trace back to the mine known as 'Acknirby', just south of the village near Langhorn Farm -- possibly the earliest documented iron mine in West Cumbria, willed in the mid-12th century by Alicia de Rumelli, of the family of the first Norman Baron of Egremont, to the Cistercian monastery of Holme Cultram. Bigrigg continued to yield small quantities of ore through the 17th and 18th centuries, but production increased sharply during the district's Victorian iron boom, when it is believed 1,000 to 1,200 men were employed across Bigrigg's mines at their height -- smaller than the scale reached at nearby Cleator Moor, but still enough to support its own miners' terrace, Springfield Terrace, locally nicknamed 'Skid Row'. Street names such as Penzance Street recall the Cornish miners who migrated to the district for work. A concentration of manganese minerals in the area was explored for manganese mining in the 1870s. On an unspecified date in 1924 a mine disaster at the mine's own Croft Pit shaft trapped ten men underground for 28 hours before they were rescued. Iron mining across the whole Bigrigg and Moor Row district had ended by 1932.

Geology

Haematite occurring within Carboniferous Limestone, part of the wider West Cumbrian iron ore field; unlike Cleator Moor and Frizington, Bigrigg lacked large ore masses in the Fourth Limestone, possibly because impermeable shale beds nearby prevented the haematite-bearing solutions penetrating as freely.

Workings

Worked through several shafts, among them the Croft Pit, where ten men were trapped for 28 hours in 1924 before being rescued.

Closure

Iron mining across the whole Bigrigg and Moor Row district had ended by 1932.

What remains

Numerous small hollows around the village mark centuries of shallow working; Springfield Terrace, the miners' housing built during the Victorian boom, still stands.

Small mining hollows scattered around the village, and the surviving miners' terrace, Springfield Terrace.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The mine known as 'Acknirby', just south of Bigrigg near Langhorn Farm, was willed by Alicia de Rumelli in the mid-12th century to the Cistercian monastery of Holme Cultram, and may be the earliest documented iron mine in West Cumbria. ¹
• It is believed 1,000 to 1,200 men were employed across Bigrigg's mines during the Victorian iron boom of the late 19th century. ¹
• A mine disaster at the neighbouring Croft Pit in 1924 trapped ten men underground for 28 hours before they were rescued. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Iron Ore Mines near Bigrigg (NY 002 130) and Moor Row (NY 006 145) — Cumberland Geological Society
2. (secondary) Bigrigg — Wikipedia

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 30 August 2026