Deer Hills Baryte Mine

Overview

A short-lived 1960s trial working on the fellside west of Potts Gill, part of the closing phase of the Caldbeck Fells' 20th-century baryte-mining boom, abandoned once the lode proved too poor to work.

History

Deer Hills Baryte Mine was a late trial working on the fellside west of Potts Gill, 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. In 1961, McKechnie Bros of Widnes drove a series of trials on Deer Hills, beyond the already-abandoned west end of the Old Potts Gill mine, after identifying promising quantities of baryte in the lodes there. Crosscuts were driven and a small amount of ore extracted, but the lode proved poor and the work was soon abandoned -- a modest coda to the Caldbeck Fells' wider mid-20th-century barytes boom, which had begun with the reopening of the Potts Gill mines in 1844 and continued, on and off, until the district's last barytes workings finally closed in 1966.

Workings

Worked via crosscuts driven beyond the abandoned west end of the Old Potts Gill mine, extracting a small quantity of ore before the lode proved too poor to continue.

Closure

Abandoned soon after the 1961 trials, once the lode proved uneconomic.

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.

• In 1961 McKechnie Bros of Widnes drove crosscuts on Deer Hills, beyond the abandoned west end of the Old Potts Gill mine, after identifying promising quantities of baryte; a small amount of ore was extracted, but the lode proved poor and the work was soon abandoned. ¹
• Deer Hills' 1961 trial came late in the Caldbeck Fells' 20th-century barytes-mining boom, which began with the reopening of the Potts Gill mines in 1844 and continued, on and off, until the district's last barytes workings closed in 1966. ²
• The 1961 trial was prompted by the exhaustion of the adjoining Old Potts Gill mine's own workings; McKechnie Bros drove cross-cuts beyond its abandoned west end in search of a continuation of the same baryte lode. ³

Sources

1. (secondary) Old Cumbria Gazetteer - Caldbeck Fells Barytes Mines — Old Cumbria Gazetteer
2. (secondary) Barytes — Industrial History of Cumbria
3. (secondary) Deer Hills Baryte Mine (Caldbeck Fells) — Mindat

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