Holmslinn Mine

Overview

A Northumberland lead mine on the Blackett Level drainage system, notable for adopting pioneering W. G. Armstrong hydraulic winding and pumping technology in place of steam power when its shaft was sunk in 1855.

History

Holmslinn Mine stood on the left bank of the River East Allen near Sinderhope in Allendale, its 70-metre shaft sunk in 1855 as the second along the Blackett Level from its portal in Allendale Town, part of the same drainage system serving the already-published Sipton Mine. Lead mining here, under the ownership of the Blackett and Beaumont families -- who dominated Allendale's lead industry through the 18th and 19th centuries -- began in 1856 and continued into the late 19th century. Holmslinn was chosen as the site to showcase pioneering hydraulic technology developed by the engineer W. G. Armstrong for winding and pumping, in place of the steam power used elsewhere in the district. Ore raised at Holmslinn was carried away for processing and then smelted at the Blackett-operated Allen smelting mill in Allendale.

Workings

Worked via a 70-metre shaft using W. G. Armstrong's pioneering hydraulic winding and pumping technology in place of steam power; a stone-built wheel pit housed a large overshot water wheel, its surplus water carried north to the river via a stone-lined tail race.

Closure

Worked until the late 19th century.

What remains

A Scheduled Monument and Grade II Listed Building, part of the Land of Lead and Silver project managed by the North Pennines National Landscape; the stone-built wheel pit survives.

The stone-built wheel pit and its tail race.

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.

• Holmslinn's 70-metre shaft was sunk in 1855 as the second along the Blackett Level, chosen to showcase pioneering hydraulic winding and pumping technology developed by W. G. Armstrong in place of conventional steam power. ¹
• Lead mining at Holmslinn, under the Blackett and Beaumont families who dominated the Allendale lead industry, began in 1856; ore raised here was carried away for processing and smelting at the Blackett-operated Allen smelting mill in Allendale. ¹
• A stone-built wheel pit housing a large overshot water wheel survives at Holmslinn, its surplus water carried north to the River East Allen via a stone-lined tail race. ²
• Holmslinn's shaft was sunk in 1855 on behalf of the mine's owner, Wentworth Blackett Beaumont M.P., whose company's Weardale leases passed to the Weardale Lead Co. Ltd after the Beaumont mines closed in 1883. ³

Sources

1. (primary) Holmslinn lead mine, 200m south east of Holmes, Allendale (Historic England list entry 1015848) — Historic England
2. (primary) Waterwheel Pit at Holmslinn Shaft, on South Bank of River East Allen, Allendale (Historic England list entry 1154939) — Historic England
3. (secondary) Business structure of the Blackett and Beaumonts lead businesses — Dukesfield Smelters and Carriers Project

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