Coalcleugh

Overview

Coalcleugh, high in the West Allen valley, was one of the oldest and most important lead mines of the Blackett and Beaumont family's vast Weardale and Allendale mining empire, worked continuously under one dynasty or its successors for close to two centuries.

History

The Blackett family, Tyneside coal owners who diversified into lead, began leasing land in the West Allen from the Bishop of Durham in the 1670s-80s and built up Coalcleugh into one of the principal mines of their growing lead empire; through marriage, the Blackett mining interests passed to the Beaumont family around 1830. The earliest workings followed the Low Coalcleugh Vein from shallow shafts, and a prospecting level, Coalcleugh Level, was later driven to intersect the deeper High Coalcleugh Vein some 2,500 feet from its portal. From around 1760 the Barneycraig Horse Level was driven over a mile into the hillside to reach the separate Barneycraig Vein, which came into full production between 1808 and 1823. The Beaumont Company worked Coalcleugh and its associated mines from 1729 until 1878, over which period they raised 187,924 tons of lead concentrate; falling lead prices in the 1870s forced the closure of the Beaumont family's Weardale and Allendale mines in 1878, and their leases passed to the Weardale Lead Company. Coalcleugh saw a final phase of reworking between 1899 and 1921, when the Vieille Montagne Zinc Company — the same Belgian firm that later worked Nenthead's Rampgill mine — reopened parts of the site for its zinc content, recovering 311 tons of zinc concentrate between 1874 and 1880 under its predecessor and continuing to work zinc into the early 1920s.

Geology

The mine worked lead- and zinc-bearing veins in the Carboniferous rocks of the Alston Block, part of the northern Pennine orefield also worked at nearby Nenthead, Allenheads and Killhope.

Geological setting: Hydrothermal Deposits (well documented example), Veins and Lodes (well documented example)

Workings

Coalcleugh Level was driven to intersect the High Coalcleugh Vein some 2,500 feet from its portal, while the Barneycraig Horse Level, begun around 1760, ran for over a mile to reach the separate Barneycraig Vein. All of Coalcleugh's lead ore was smelted at the Beaumont family's Allenheads Mill at Dirtpot.

Closure

The Beaumont Company's Weardale and Allendale mines, including Coalcleugh, closed in 1878 amid collapsing lead prices; the Vieille Montagne Zinc Company reworked parts of the site for zinc between 1899 and 1921, after which mining ceased for good.

What remains

Earthwork remains of the shallow shaft workings that follow the Coalcleugh Low Vein survive as a scheduled rake, alongside associated dressing areas and spoil heaps thought to represent the earliest phase of mining at the site.

The wider West Allen valley retains extensive surface evidence of Coalcleugh's long working life, including the line of the mile-long Barneycraig Horse 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.

• The Beaumont Company worked Coalcleugh and its associated mines from 1729 to 1878, raising 187,924 tons of lead concentrate, besides 311 tons of zinc concentrate between 1874 and 1880. ¹
• The Barneycraig Horse Level, begun around 1760, was driven for over a mile to reach the Barneycraig Vein, which came into full production between 1808 and 1823. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Coalcleugh — Wikipedia
2. (primary) Coalcleugh Mine Plan (BGS Mine Plans Catalogue) — British Geological Survey
3. (secondary) Business structure of the Blackett and Beaumonts lead businesses — Dukesfield Smelters and Carriers Project

Record created: 22 August 2026 · Last researched: 22 August 2026