Gillfoot Park Mine

Overview

Gillfoot Park was a haematite mine at Egremont in the west Cumberland iron orefield, where six pits were sunk on one property. The first ore came from No. 1 pit in 1879 under the Gillfoot Park Mining Company, which worked it until the Wyndham Mining Company took over in 1901. Beyond the ore itself the mine was known to collectors for fine calcite groups showing the twinning called 'butterfly' twins, and for specimens of kidney ore. Working is recorded as having ended in 1915, though the ownership record runs to 1918.

History

Egremont sits in the exposed northern part of the west Cumbrian iron orefield, where Carboniferous limestone reaches the surface and haematite was worked from the medieval period onwards — the earliest documented mining in Egremont parish, at Bigrigg, dates from 1179. Gillfoot Park belongs to the late, industrial phase of that field. A total of six pits were sunk on the property; the first ore was raised from No. 1 in 1879 by the Gillfoot Park Mining Company, recorded as owner from 1881 to 1900. The Wyndham Mining Company Ltd took over in 1901 and is recorded to 1918, with working stated to have ended in 1915. The mine sat among a dense cluster of contemporaries — Southam, Pallaflat, Park House, Syke House and others all lie within two kilometres — reflecting how thickly the orefield around Egremont was worked in the late nineteenth century. Nineteenth-century west Cumberland mining ended in the late 1970s, with small-scale production for pigment continuing at nearby Florence Mine until 2006.

Geology

The mine worked haematite in the Carboniferous limestones of the west Cumbrian orefield, a narrow belt running between Lamplugh and Calder Bridge. The Cumbrian deposits typically occur not as veins but as large irregular or flat-lying replacements of limestone, usually associated with or adjacent to faults; original features of the host rock, including bedding planes and fossils, are commonly preserved within the ore. Gillfoot Park lies in the exposed part of the field north of Egremont, where the limestone crops out at surface, rather than in the concealed portion running south beneath Permo-Triassic cover. The ore here included the fibrous mammillated 'kidney ore' for which the district is known, and the mine was a noted source of calcite groups showing 'butterfly' twinning. The currently accepted account of the orefield's origin has iron-bearing fluids, derived either from Permo-Triassic rocks of the Irish Sea Basin or from the western Lake District granites, driven up-dip and gaining access to the limestones through faults, replacing them wholesale.

Geological setting: Iron Replacement Deposits (well documented example)

Workings

Six pits were sunk on the property. A depth of about 59 m is recorded for No. 1 pit, the first to raise ore. Nothing is recorded of the underground layout; west Cumberland haematite mines of this period generally followed the irregular replacement bodies rather than any regular vein, and where ore had been wholly removed the resulting voids were commonly filled with waste rock or blown sand, leaving only heavily timbered shafts for access to workings below.

Closure

Working is recorded as having ended in 1915, while the ownership record for the Wyndham Mining Company Ltd runs from 1901 to 1918. No source reconciles the two dates or gives a reason for the closure.

What remains

The site is recorded as lying on private land. Nothing is recorded of what survives at the surface.

What's uncertain

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

• Working is recorded as having ended in 1915, but the ownership record for the Wyndham Mining Company Ltd runs from 1901 to 1918. The two dates disagree. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• The first ore was raised from No. 1 pit in 1879 by the Gillfoot Park Mining Company, which worked the mine until the Wyndham Mining Company took over in 1901. ¹
• Six pits in total were sunk on the Gillfoot Park property. ¹
• Working is recorded as having ended in 1915, but the ownership record for the Wyndham Mining Company Ltd runs from 1901 to 1918. The two dates disagree. (disputed) ¹
• Gillfoot Park was a noted source of calcite groups showing 'butterfly' twinning, and of kidney ore — the fibrous mammillated haematite for which the west Cumberland field is known. ^2,1
• The Cumbrian haematite orebodies occur as large irregular or flat-lying replacements of Carboniferous limestone, usually associated with or adjacent to faults, rather than as veins. ²
• The earliest documented evidence of mining within Egremont parish relates to Bigrigg Mine in 1179, long predating the industrial-era pits such as Gillfoot Park. ³
• Where all the ore had been removed from the flats, the resulting voids were commonly filled with waste rock, and in some cases sand was blown into the cavities, leaving only heavily timbered shafts for access to the lower workings. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gillfoot Park, Pit No.1 — Buddlepit Mine Database
2. (primary) Haematite deposits of Cumbria — BGS Earthwise
3. (secondary) Iron mining — Industrial History of Cumbria

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