Dowgang Mine

Overview

A lead and zinc mine on Alston Moor above Nenthead, working ground that had been hushed for ore since at least 1773. The great scar of Dowgang Hush forms the south-west corner of the Nenthead scheduled monument, with shafts and at least two levels along its course. The mine passed from a small local company to the Belgian Vieille Montagne Zinc Company by the 1900s and was standing by 1902.

History

Dowgang lies in the Nent valley on Alston Moor, four and a half miles east-south-east of Alston, in ground that is among the oldest worked in the orefield: the hush that carries the mine's name was already working in 1773, and its origin is not known. Hushing — damming a head of water and releasing it to scour the hillside and lay the vein bare — left the partially man-made valley that now forms the south-west part of the Nenthead lead mines scheduled monument, with a number of shafts and at least two levels along its course.

The mine appears in the returns as a going concern from 1882, raising lead ore and zinc ore together. The 1888 List of Mines under the Metalliferous Mines Act gives it as 'Dowgang, Nenthead, Lead & zinc ore, W. Dickinson, 65 Quay, Newcastle'; the Durham Mining Museum records the Dowgang Mine Co. and W. Dickinson in the 1880s and the Vieille Montagne Zinc Co. in the 1900s — the Belgian company that took over the Nenthead workings after the London Lead Company gave up its leases in 1882 and the Nenthead and Tynedale Zinc Company that followed it.

By then the mine was almost finished. Seven people were employed in 1900, the returns for those years recording manufacturing coal rather than ore, and it is entered as standing in 1902, 1905 and 1908. One death is recorded there: Jacob Erwine, a miner of forty-two, killed on 25 July 1881 by an explosion of dynamite when he returned to a shot that had hung fire.

Geology

Dowgang worked the lead and zinc veins of the Alston Block, the northern part of the North Pennine orefield, where mineralising fluids rose along faults and joints through a repeated Carboniferous sequence of limestones, sandstones and shales. The section sunk through in the mine's air shaft, from a surface 1,810 feet above Ordnance datum, runs through plate, a thin coal, the Fell Top Limestone and hazle — the Yoredale rhythm of the moor. Zinc ore was raised with the lead here, as at several Nenthead mines, and it was the zinc that kept the district working after the lead trade collapsed.

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

Workings

The hush is the oldest and largest working: a scoured valley with shafts and at least two levels along it. The Durham Mining Museum records an air shaft separate from the main workings, at NY773429, with its own strata section. Nothing else about the underground layout is known, and the mine was small at the end — seven people in 1900.

Closure

The mine is entered as standing in 1902, 1905 and 1908, having employed seven in 1900. No formal abandonment date is recorded.

What remains

Dowgang Hush forms the south-west part of the Nenthead lead mines, ore works and smeltmill scheduled monument, protected along with the dams, leats, levels, dressing floors and tramways of the wider Nenthead complex. The hush survives as a partially man-made valley with shafts and levels along its course; drystone walls, fenceposts, road surfaces and modern services within the area are excluded from the scheduling, though the ground beneath them is included.

The hush itself, with a number of shafts and at least two levels along it, within the Nenthead scheduled monument.

Redevelopment

None. The wider Nenthead site is conserved as a scheduled monument and a heritage centre.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Dowgang' (catalogue OMR46C, Lead Ore, undated in the catalogue); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ⁵

Recorded claims

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

• The south-west part of the Nenthead scheduled monument is formed by the Dowgang hush; its origin is unknown, though it is known to have been working in 1773, and a number of shafts and at least two levels lie along its course. ¹
• The 1888 List of Mines gives 'Dowgang, Nenthead, Lead & zinc ore, W. Dickinson, 65 Quay, Newcastle'. ²
• The Durham Mining Museum records the Dowgang Mine Co. and W. Dickinson as owners in the 1880s and the Vieille Montagne Zinc Co. in the 1900s. ³
• The air shaft, at NY773429, was sunk from a surface about 1,810 feet above Ordnance datum through plate, a thin coal, the Fell Top Limestone and hazle. ⁴
• One death is recorded at the mine: Jacob Erwine, 42, a miner, killed on 25 July 1881 by an explosion of dynamite when he returned to a shot which had hung fire. ³
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Dowgang' (catalogue OMR46C, Lead Ore, undated in the catalogue); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain) ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Lead mines, ore works and smeltmill at Nenthead, Alston Moor — scheduled monument — Historic England (via Ancient Monuments)
2. (primary) 1888 List of Mines under the Metalliferous Mines Act: Lead Ore, Zinc Ore, and Barytes Mines in Cumberland — Mines Department, via the Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Dow Gang (Lead Ore) — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Section of Strata sunk through in the Air Shaft, Dow Gang, Nent Valley — Durham Mining Museum, from the Borings and Sinkings records
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: DOWGANG — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 4 September 2026 · Last researched: 4 September 2026