Crossgill Mine

Overview

A West Cumberland hematite mine at Frizington, part of a shared ore body worked alongside Parkside, Frizington Parks, Goose Green and High House, struck by two separate multiple-fatality accidents nearly half a century apart before its abandonment in the 1920s.

History

Crossgill Mine worked red hematite iron ore at Frizington, part of the West Cumberland iron field, where principal ore bodies occurred within bands of carboniferous limestone overlying Skiddaw slate, deposited as flats, irregular bodies or true veins along lines of geological weakness -- ground where, as one local historian put it, 'roof falls were commonplace, holing into abandoned workings and slides of disturbed ground were all part of the miner's way of life.' Crossgill worked the same ore body as the neighbouring Parkside, Frizington Parks, Goose Green and High House mines, an orebody extending laterally over some 16 hectares. It was already working by December 1864, when it belonged to Mr Smith of Whitehaven; ownership passed formally to the Crossgill Iron Ore Co. in the 1880s, the Parkside Mining Co. in the 1890s, and finally Parkside & Birks Mining Co. Ltd in the 1920s. Recorded employment fluctuated with the fortunes of the wider ore body -- from 17 men in 1894 to a peak of 165 in 1910 -- and by 1913 Crossgill was the only one of the five neighbouring mines still working; it was finally abandoned in 1925 or 1926, bringing the whole group's long working life to a close.

Workings

Worked red hematite from a shared ore body extending over some 16 hectares with the neighbouring Parkside, Frizington Parks, Goose Green and High House mines.

Closure

Abandoned in 1925 or 1926, the last of the five neighbouring mines working this ore body to remain open.

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.

Disasters & major incidents

• Shocking Pit Accident at Frizington (1864)
  10 December 1864 · Surface / Tip Failure · 3 fatalities
  A temporary scaffold erected at the mouth of the Crossgill iron-ore pit collapsed, dropping three men to their deaths while three others narrowly escaped.
• Crossgill Mine Fall of Ground (1911)
  14 September 1911 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  A large mass of ore and stone fell without warning from the side of a working at Crossgill Mine, killing two men on the spot.

Recorded claims

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

• Crossgill worked the same ore body, extending over some 16 hectares, as the neighbouring Parkside, Frizington Parks, Goose Green and High House mines; ownership passed from Mr Smith of Whitehaven (recorded 1864) to the Crossgill Iron Ore Co. (1880s), the Parkside Mining Co. (1890s) and Parkside & Birks Mining Co. Ltd (1920s). ¹
• Recorded employment ranged from 17 men in 1894 to a peak of 165 in 1910; by 1913 Crossgill was the only one of its five-mine group still working, and it was finally abandoned in 1925 or 1926. ¹
• Crossgill lay within the West Cumberland iron field, where principal hematite ore bodies occurred within bands of carboniferous limestone overlying Skiddaw slate, and where roof falls and holings into abandoned workings were, in a local historian's words, simply part of a miner's way of life. ²

Sources

1. (secondary) Crossgill (Iron Ore) (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Iron mining — Industrial History of Cumbria

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