Hartside Mine

Overview

A barytes mine on the Pennine escarpment west of Alston, at the northern end of the eastern Cumberland barytes field. One man worked it in 1921; it was discontinued in July 1942 and back with ten people by 1948, by then in the hands of Laporte.

History

Barytes was of little value to the mining companies before the middle of the eighteenth century and was thrown over the tips with the calcite and quartz as waste. It became a commercial product only later, and the mined area of eastern Cumberland begins in the north at Hartside and follows the Pennine escarpment down through Hilton and Appleby to Brough. Fourteen major veins have been worked along it for lead, barytes, witherite and fluorspar, in country where Cross Fell and Dun Fell dominate and the wind averages fifty to sixty miles an hour. Hartside is the northernmost of them. The official returns are sparse and tell a stop-start story: barytes in 1921 with a single person employed, under the Hedworth Barium Company; the 1944 return recording the mine discontinued in July 1942; barytes again in 1944, 1945, 1948 and 1950, with ten people in 1948, nine of them below ground. The owners in the 1940s were J. H. Harrison and then B. Laporte Ltd, and by the 1950s Laporte Chemicals. Laporte is the name that runs through this ground. Just below the summit of Dun Fell the company worked Silverband Mine, originally a London Lead Company galena mine, which produced 215,000 tons of dressed ore between 1939 and 1963 and needed an aerial ropeway three and a half miles long to get it down.

Geology

The North Pennine orefield along the western escarpment, where the veins carry lead, barytes, witherite and fluorspar together. Barytes was the gangue thrown out with the deads until a market for it appeared.

Workings

Very small. One person in 1921 and ten in 1948, nine of them below ground.

Closure

The 1944 return records the mine as discontinued in July 1942, but barytes is returned again from it in 1944, 1945, 1948 and 1950. No final closure date has been located.

What remains

No account of the site as it now stands has been found.

None recorded.

Related mines

• Lunehead Mine — Both worked barytes out of North Pennine veins where it had been gangue, and both were tiny operations that outlived the lead they were originally driven for.

Nearby mines

• Rodderup Fell Mine — 5.4 km E
• Nent Force Level — 9.0 km NE
• Holyfield Mine — 9.3 km E
• Long Meg Mine — 9.4 km SW
• Cash Well Mine — 9.5 km SE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• Barytes mining developed into a substantial industry in the eastern borders of the county. The mined area commences in the north at Hartside and follows the Pennine escarpment down through the Hilton and Appleby area to Brough. No fewer than fourteen major veins have been worked for lead, barytes, witherite and fluorspar. Many of the mines are in the inhospitable region where Cross Fell and Dun Fell dominate and the wind speed averages fifty to sixty miles an hour. ¹
• Barytes has been mined as a commercial product only since recent times. Before the middle of the eighteenth century it was of little value to the mining companies and was thrown over the tips as waste material along with calcite, quartz and other gangue minerals. ¹
• The official returns give barytes from Hartside in 1921, 1944, 1945, 1948 and 1950, with one person employed in 1921 and ten in 1948, nine of them below ground. The 1944 return records the mine discontinued in July 1942. The owners were the Hedworth Barium Co. Ltd. in the 1920s, J. H. Harrison and B. Laporte Ltd in the 1940s and Laporte Chemicals Ltd in the 1950s. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Barytes — Industrial History of Cumbria
2. (secondary) Hartside (Barytes) — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026