Brandy Gill Mine

Overview

A modest lead and copper mine in the Caldbeck Fells, worked only sporadically between 1852 and 1877 for a few tons of ore, but internationally significant among mineral collectors for a suite of rare supergene minerals found on its dumps.

History

Brandy Gill Mine worked an east-west lead vein crossing the gill of the same name, about 500 metres upstream from the Carrock mine, in the Caldbeck Fells, a lead-copper-baryte mining district in the northern Lake District worked from the arrival of German miners around 1564 through to the closure of the last barytes workings in 1966 -- a mining history spanning over 400 years. No reliable record of mining here survives from before 1852, and the mine worked only intermittently until around 1873, raising just a few tons of lead and copper ore; company records show Leicester M. Hutchinson & Co working it from 1863 to 1872, and M. Hutchinson & Co continuing from 1875 until final closure in 1877. Levels were driven into both banks of the gill; those on the west bank, re-examined in recent times, proved mostly barren, though the lower level shows some genuine stoping. The site's real significance emerged only after mining ended: in 1875, J. G. Goodchild of the Scottish Geological Survey discovered the rare mineral wulfenite here, though it was not until the 1950s that Brandy Gill drew serious collector attention, following reports of a suite of rare supergene minerals including bayldonite, duftite, beudantite, carminite and lindgrenite -- among them the first authenticated British occurrence of stolzite.

Workings

Worked via levels driven into both banks of the gill to follow an east-west lead vein; the west-bank workings proved mostly barren, with genuine stoping activity confined to the lower level.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• No reliable record of mining survives from before 1852; Leicester M. Hutchinson & Co worked the mine from 1863 to 1872, and M. Hutchinson & Co from 1875 until closure in 1877, raising only a few tons of lead and copper ore in total. ¹
• J. G. Goodchild of the Scottish Geological Survey discovered wulfenite here in 1875, but the site only drew serious collector attention from the 1950s, when a suite of rare supergene minerals was reported, including the first authenticated British occurrence of stolzite. ²

Sources

1. (secondary) Brandy Gill Mine (Buddlepit Mine Database) — Buddlepit Mine Database
2. (secondary) Brandy Gill Mine, Mungrisdale, Eden, Cumbria — Mindat.org

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 31 August 2026