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.

Geology

An east-west lead vein crossing Brandy Gill in the Caldbeck Fells, about 500 metres upstream of the Carrock mine, in a lead, copper and baryte district.

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.

Closure

Worked only intermittently to around 1873, with Hutchinson & Co continuing until final closure in 1877.

What remains

Unknown.

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
• Brandy Gill exposes a remarkable variety of altered gabbro: biotite replaces the primary mafic minerals near the southern margin of the complex, and away from the contact actinolite replaces the amphiboles and pyroxenes, the feldspars are chloritised and ilmenite altered to titanite. ¹
• Collectors' interest dates from the 1950s, when a suite of rare supergene minerals including bayldonite, duftite, beudantite, carminite and lindgrenite was reported from the dumps, along with stolzite, the first authenticated British occurrence. ¹

Photographs & further reading

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: 24 September 2026