Coniston Copper Mines

Overview

Coniston Copper Mines is a 5 km² landscape of workings above Coppermines Valley, worked from the 1590s Elizabethan Mines Royal through to a 19th-century peak under John Taylor, when it was one of the largest copper mines in the north of England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, recognised as one of the most complete surviving examples of Victorian copper mining outside Devon and Cornwall.

History

Commercial mining at Coniston is first recorded in the 1590s, when the Crown-backed Company of the Mines Royal brought in German miners from the Tyrol and Bavaria to work the Bonsor and Paddy End veins. A 1599 survey found the workings already "in poor production" with "dilapidated workings", suggesting they had been worked for some time before that date; a fuller 1602 survey, and later an 1684 letter recalling the operation from three former miners, give a detailed picture of Elizabethan working practice. Mining ceased around the start of the Civil War in the 1640s. The site was reopened in the 18th century by Charles Roe's Macclesfield Copper Company, which centralised ore processing onto two large dressing floors. The mine reached its peak under John Taylor and manager John Barratt from the 1820s, employing over 600 people at its height and eventually running 13 waterwheels to power pumps, winches and processing machinery. The Deep Level, driven around 1850, connected the previously separate workings onto a single tramway. Falling copper prices — undercut by new, cheaper South American ore — pushed the mine into decline through the late 19th century. Primary ore extraction wound down in the early 20th century, though the site was not entirely abandoned: the Coniston Electrolytic Company, a French-run venture, briefly reprocessed waste spoil for residual copper by acid leaching, and the Mandalls Slate Company used one of the Bonsor Mill buildings for dressing slate brought over by aerial ropeway. Small-scale activity of this kind continued until 1956.

Geology

The mines lie in rhyolitic and andesite lava flows interbedded with hardened volcaniclastic dust and ash (British Geological Survey Sheet 38). Mortar stones found at Simon's Nick and East Bonsor resemble those from the prehistoric copper mines at Great Orme in North Wales, and it has been suggested mining here could date back to the Bronze Age — but no datable material evidence for activity before the 1590s has been found at Coniston, and mortars are simple enough tools to have remained unchanged in design for millennia, so on their own they prove nothing about date.

Workings

Early Elizabethan working was opencast, following veins visible at the surface down into long, narrow open stopes — well preserved today around Simon's Nick, where the open stopes still extend deep into the hillside. Ore was dressed close to where it was won: small semi-circular drystone shelters, roughly 2 m across and only two or three courses high, are thought to have given crushing and sorting workers some protection from the weather. Cobbler's Level, an adit driven to drain the Low Works, was started in 1614 and took three years to complete entirely by hand, since gunpowder was not used at Coniston until 1693. By the time work stopped in the 1640s, Low Works had reached a depth of forty fathoms (about 73 m). Later working reused and deepened the Elizabethan veins, eventually driving workings to at least 375 m below the Deep Level of around 1850. Ore transport evolved from jack-roll winches and horse gins to an aerial tramway between Paddy End Middle Shaft and the Bonsor dressing floors, said at the time to be the longest continuous winding rope in the country. Processing graded ore by hand — high-grade ore was broken to thumbnail size by women called "bucker" workers — before poorer-grade material went through mechanical stamps, jigs and buddles to separate ore from waste.

Closure

Copper production declined through the late 19th century as cheaper imported ore undercut prices, and had effectively ended by the early 20th century. The site was not immediately abandoned, however: the Coniston Electrolytic Company reprocessed waste spoil at Bonsor Mill for residual copper, and slate dressing and small-scale exploration continued at the site until 1956.

What remains

Substantial remains survive across the valley, reflecting the site's near-continuous use over roughly 400 years. A 2012 Time Team archaeological evaluation recorded standing drystone building remains at both the Levers Water/Back Strings area and Cobbler's Level, though dating them precisely proved difficult since the whole complex reuses the same stone across different periods. Around the Back Strings stopes, several small semi-circular ore-dressing shelters and mortar stones survive from the Elizabethan period. Below ground, the eastern end of the 17th-century German workings at Low Works survives in very good condition.

Surviving surface features include the standing walls of at least two Elizabethan-period buildings near Simon's Nick, the remains of the Old Engine Shaft wheel pit, and extensive spoil heaps distinguishing different phases of work — dark, orange-brown spoil from the Elizabethan mines contrasts with the dark grey blasted rock of the 18th- and 19th-century workings. No structural trace of the stamp mill referenced in 17th-century documents has been found at either candidate location.

Redevelopment

A £455,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant supported the Coniston Copper Project, which repaired around 150 elements across ten historic structures and opened a visitor heritage centre with self-guided trails through the valley. The former mine manager's house, built in 1830, now operates as the Coniston Coppermines Youth Hostel.

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. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The earliest confirmed commercial mining at Coniston dates to the 1590s, under the Crown-backed Company of the Mines Royal. — Coniston Copper Mines, Coniston, Cumbria: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results
• Some accounts suggest mining could date back to the Bronze Age, based on mortar stones resembling those from the prehistoric Great Orme copper mines in Wales, but no datable material evidence for activity this early has been found at Coniston. (uncertain) — Coniston Copper Mines, Coniston, Cumbria: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results
• Sources give closure dates ranging from 1897 to 1950; a 2016 professional archaeological assessment records that primary copper extraction had wound down by the early 20th century, while a French-run venture reprocessing waste spoil, plus slate dressing, continued at the site until 1956 — likely explaining the range of dates in circulation. — Coniston Copper Mines, Coniston, Cumbria: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results
• By the time Elizabethan-era work stopped at the start of the Civil War in the 1640s, the Low Works had reached a depth of forty fathoms (about 73 m). — Coniston Copper Mines, Coniston, Cumbria: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results
• A timber sill beam recovered from a standing building at the Back Strings site during a 2012 Time Team excavation was radiocarbon dated to 1435–1515 with 86.5% probability — a maximum age for the timber, which may have been reused, so the building itself is not necessarily this old. — Coniston Copper Mines, Coniston, Cumbria: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results
• The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM number 38773, National Heritage List for England entry 1003055), reflecting its national importance. — Coniston Copper Mines, Coniston, Cumbria: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Images

Sources

1. (primary) Coniston Copper Mines, Coniston, Cumbria: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results — Wessex Archaeology / Channel 4 Time Team
2. (secondary) All About the Coniston Copper Mines — Coppermines & Lakes Cottages Ltd
3. (secondary) Coniston Copper Mines — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) Coniston copper mines — Wikipedia
5. (secondary) History of Coniston Copper — Lake District National Park Authority