Driggith Mine

Overview

A once-profitable Caldbeck Fells lead and copper mine, worked to three underground levels, that was reopened for barytes in the 1920s before finally closing after repeated changes of ownership in the 1940s.

History

Driggith Mine, at the head of Driggith Beck, was probably first worked in the 17th or 18th century for lead and copper ore, alongside smaller quantities of zinc blende and barytes; its lead ore carried around 25 ounces of silver per ton. Three levels were driven — at thirty, sixty and ninety fathoms — with the sixty-fathom level the most productive. The mine was initially very profitable but grew less so over time and had been abandoned by around 1842 (recorded as abandoned 'about thirty-five years' before an 1877 account). It was reopened in 1926 to work its barytes veins, and changed ownership no fewer than three times during the 1940s before finally closing for good.

Geology

Driggith works low-temperature lead-zinc-copper veins — the Driggith Main Vein and South Vein — developed in a north-east/south-west fracture system within the Eycott Volcanic Group, alongside separate east-west barytes-bearing veins worked in the 20th century.

Workings

Underground working reached three levels at thirty, sixty and ninety fathoms depth, with the sixty-fathom level the most productive of the mine's lead and copper output.

What remains

Little survives to see on the surface today beyond scattered scrap metal, shaft structures and pulley equipment; the levels themselves are largely water-filled or collapsed, with no passages considered safe to explore.

Scattered shaft structures, pulley equipment and scrap metal remain on the surface.

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.

Sources

1. (secondary) Barytes — Industrial History of Cumbria
2. (secondary) Driggith Mine
3. (secondary) Driggith Mine, Caldbeck — Old Cumbria Gazetteer

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