Longcleugh Mine

Overview

A lead vein in the Nenthead mining field on Alston Moor, leased from the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital in 1751 and worked from the Middlecleugh Level as part of the wider Middlecleugh-Longcleugh-Caplecleugh vein system that made Nenthead one of the North Pennine Orefield's most productive mining centres.

History

The Longcleugh Vein was among the leases the mining company operating at Nenthead negotiated with the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital, who had held the manor since 1735, during 1751. It was worked as part of a closely linked group of veins - Middlecleugh, Longcleugh and Caplecleugh - that together formed one of the most productive parts of the Nenthead mining field, upper portions of the Longcleugh and Middlecleugh veins being reached via the Middlecleugh Level. Nenthead itself became one of the London Lead Company's main mining areas by the mid-18th century, and the wider field, worked initially from the discovery of the Rampgill Vein in 1690, went on to make Alston Moor one of the country's principal lead-producing districts by the mid-19th century.

Longcleugh is nonetheless a mine of its own, and the point is worth making because almost nobody who goes underground here is told it. The way in is the Smallcleugh portal, so the whole system tends to be called Smallcleugh; but Smallcleugh proper ran only as far as the Longcleugh Vein beyond the Ballroom Flat, together with the first of the Middlecleugh Vein and the Middlecleugh Second Sun Vein. The ground past that - Carr's Cross Vein, Cow Hill Cross Vein, Barron's Sump Chamber and on - is Longcleugh, and it was originally worked not from those levels at all but from shafts of its own. The Mining Remediation Authority still holds Longcleugh, Smallcleugh and Cleugh Flatts on one plan, which is how the confusion keeps its footing.

Structural geology recorded in the Middlecleugh Level shows the Longcleugh Vein's mineralisation history directly: slickensides on its vein walls, pitching 15 degrees west, are partly covered by cubes of green fluorite, evidence that strike-slip movement along the vein took place before, during and after mineralisation. The London Lead Company gave up its last Nenthead leases in 1882, selling its holdings on to the Nenthead and Tynedale Zinc Company, which was in turn taken over by the Belgian Vieille Montagne Zinc Company in 1896; intermittent production across the wider Nenthead field continued until 1963. The mine's own entries in the national record run through the Lists of Mines of 1859-61 and 1863-74 and the Mineral Statistics of 1848-74 and 1882-92, and it is described in Dunham's memoir of the orefield and in Fairbairn's monograph on the mines of Alston Moor.

Geology

The Longcleugh Vein in the Nenthead field on Alston Moor, one of the linked Middlecleugh-Longcleugh-Caplecleugh group of veins cutting the Carboniferous limestones and sandstones of the Alston Block. Slickensides on the vein walls in the Middlecleugh Level, pitching 15 degrees west and partly covered by cubes of green fluorite, record strike-slip movement along the vein before, during and after mineralisation. The Longcleugh ground also carries Carr's Cross Vein and Cow Hill Cross Vein.

Workings

Originally worked by shafts of its own. The upper parts of the Longcleugh and Middlecleugh veins were reached from the Middlecleugh Level, along part of whose entrance a large water pipe was later laid to serve workings elsewhere in the field, and the mine is entered today through the neighbouring Smallcleugh portal, beyond the Ballroom Flat. Its ground takes in Carr's Cross Vein, Cow Hill Cross Vein and Barron's Sump Chamber.

Closure

The year work at Longcleugh finished is not known. Its entries in the national returns run through the Lists of Mines of 1859-61 and 1863-74 and the Mineral Statistics of 1848-74 and 1882-92, and large-scale working across the Nenthead field had ended by about 1900, with intermittent production continuing until 1963.

What remains

The workings are reached underground from the Smallcleugh portal, past the Ballroom Flat, and are visited regularly by mine-exploration groups. The surface of the wider field is a scheduled monument and is managed as a heritage site by the Nenthead Mines Conservation Society; the 2018 condition survey of that monument covered the Middlecleugh, Smallcleugh, Carrs and Rampgill surface areas rather than Longcleugh, whose own shafts are not among the recorded components.

Longcleugh's original shafts are not among the components recorded in the surveys of the scheduled Nenthead surface complex, which covers the adjoining Middlecleugh, Smallcleugh, Carrs and Rampgill ground. What the mine is known by now is underground.

Related mines

• Middlecleugh Mine — The Middlecleugh level reaches the east side of Longcleugh Vein, and the Vieille Montagne water pipe runs to the junction of the two.
• Rampgill Mine — The Longcleugh Vein's eastern workings were hauled out through the Rampgill Horse Level.
• Smallcleugh Mine — One continuous set of workings entered through the Smallcleugh portal, but two mines: Smallcleugh runs as far as the Longcleugh Vein past the Ballroom Flat, and everything beyond it - Carr's Cross Vein, Cow Hill Cross Vein, Barron's Sump Chamber - is Longcleugh, which was originally worked by its own shafts. The two are routinely taken for one mine, and the Mining Remediation Authority holds them on a single abandonment plan with Cleugh Flatts.

What's uncertain

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

• A 2012 discussion among mine explorers at Nenthead reported that Minco plc was drilling to prove ore reserves around the village, with the geology said to suggest substantial high-grade ore 400 to 500 metres below the existing workings and results not expected before 2014 or 2015. (uncertain) ⁴

Recorded claims

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

• The Longcleugh Vein was among the leases negotiated with the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital, who had held the manor of Alston Moor since 1735, during 1751. ¹
• Longcleugh was worked as part of a closely linked group of veins -- Middlecleugh, Longcleugh and Caplecleugh -- reached via the Middlecleugh Level; slickensides on the Longcleugh Vein's walls, partly covered by cubes of green fluorite, record strike-slip movement before, during and after mineralisation. ¹
• Nenthead became one of the London Lead Company's main mining areas by the mid-18th century; the company gave up its last Nenthead leases in 1882, and intermittent production across the wider field continued under later owners until 1963. ^1,2
• Longcleugh is a mine in its own right, not a part of Smallcleugh. Because it is reached today through the Smallcleugh portal it is often assumed to be Smallcleugh's far end, but Smallcleugh proper ran only as far as the Longcleugh Vein past the Ballroom Flat, together with the beginnings of the Middlecleugh Vein and Middlecleugh Second Sun Vein. The ground beyond - Carr's Cross Vein, Cow Hill Cross Vein, Barron's Sump Chamber and further - is Longcleugh Mine. ^3,4
• Longcleugh was originally worked by shafts of its own, rather than from the levels through which it is entered now. ³
• The mine is described in Dunham's Geology of the Northern Pennine Orefield (1948, pages 166 and 178-184; second edition 1990, pages 58, 138 and 145-148) and in Fairbairn's The Mines of Alston Moor (British Mining No.47, 1993, pages 73-74 and 78), with its companies covered by Almond's paper on the Nenthead and Tynedale Lead and Zinc Company 1882-96 and Landless's on the Vieille Montagne works (both British Mining No.5, 1977). ⁵
• Longcleugh appears in the Lists of Mines for 1859-61 and 1863-74, in the Mineral Statistics for 1848-74 and 1882-92, and in the epitome of evidence of the 1864 Royal Commission on mines outside the Coal Mines Act, at page 153. ⁵
• The Mining Remediation Authority catalogue holds one plan covering Cleugh Flatts, Longcleugh and Smallcleugh together, and names Longcleugh on a composite plan of the Alston Moor, Smallcleugh, Rampgill, Carrs, Middlescleugh, Caplecleugh, Black Ashgill, Browngill and Bentyfield workings. ⁶
• The Nenthead complex around it was scheduled in 1987, with amendments in 1997, as list entry 1015858, the designation describing it as the most intact mining landscape in the North Pennines and singling out the survival of the London Lead Company's network of roadways as well as the buildings and dams. ⁷
• A 2012 discussion among mine explorers at Nenthead reported that Minco plc was drilling to prove ore reserves around the village, with the geology said to suggest substantial high-grade ore 400 to 500 metres below the existing workings and results not expected before 2014 or 2015. (uncertain) ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Bulletin 9-1: The History and Workings of the Nenthead Mines, Cumbria — Peak District Mines Historical Society (NMRS Bulletin)
2. (secondary) Alston Moor, Cumbria — Wikipedia
3. (observational) Smallcleugh Mine — Mine Explorer Society — Mine Explorer Society
4. (observational) Smallcleugh mine, Nenthead, Christmas 2012 (Derelict Places) — Derelict Places
5. (secondary) Longcleugh Mine — record trail and bibliography — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: Cleugh Flatts, Longcleugh, Smallcleugh — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
7. (secondary) Nenthead Mines OREsome Summary Report, August 2018 — North Pennines National Landscape

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 28 September 2026