Lunehead Mine

Overview

A Teesdale lead mine that became a barytes mine. The London Lead Company had it in the 1880s; by 1894 the returns had stopped saying lead ore and started saying barytes, and it went on producing that until 1942.

History

Lunehead lies in Lunedale above Mickleton, in ground the London Lead Company worked for most of the nineteenth century — a company that leased mines across Teesdale from 1753 and paid for schools at Grains o'Beck and Carlbeck and for road improvements in the 1830s. Old mine shop buildings stand at Lunehead where the lead miners stayed during their weekly shifts, the pattern of work in these dales: too far from home to go back each night. The official returns tell the change of mineral plainly. Lead ore in 1882, 1884, 1888 and 1890; barytes from 1894 through to 1905; barytes and lead ore together in 1910, 1915 and 1921; and barytes alone thereafter. The owners changed with it: the London Lead Company in the 1880s, the Lunehead Lead and Barytes Company in the 1890s, the Lunehead Lead Ore and Barytes Mining Company in the 1900s, J. G. Reynoldson in the 1910s, N. Reynoldson in the 1930s and Athole G. Allen of Stockton in the 1940s. The London Lead Company itself agreed to dissolve in 1902 and was out of Teesdale by 1905. It was never large — seven people in 1894, twenty-six at the most in 1910 and again in 1925 — but it was steady for half a century. The 1945 return records the mine as discontinued in 1942.

Geology

The North Pennine orefield, where the lead veins carry barytes as gangue. That is the whole story of this mine: what had been thrown aside with the deads became the product when the lead gave out and the barytes market appeared.

Workings

A small mine worked with between two and twelve people underground at any time, with more on the surface than below through most of its life — the ratio of a dressing operation rather than a deep one. Mine shop buildings at Lunehead housed the lead miners during their weekly shifts.

Closure

The 1945 return records the mine as discontinued in 1942, and the 1950 return repeats it.

What remains

No account of the mine as it now stands has been found. The old mine shop buildings at Lunehead survive.

The mine shop buildings where the miners lodged during the week.

Related mines

• Hartside 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

• Closehouse Mine — 2.4 km N
• Augill Mine — 5.4 km SW, Cumbria
• Force Garth Quarry — 8.2 km N
• Cow Green Mine — 9.7 km NW
• Hilton and Scordale Mines — 13.1 km W, Cumbria

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.

• The official returns give lead ore from Lunehead in 1882, 1884, 1888 and 1890; barytes from 1894 to 1905; barytes and lead ore together in 1910, 1915 and 1921; and barytes alone from 1925 to 1950. Employment ran from seven in 1894 to twenty-six at its highest in 1910 and 1925, and the 1945 return records the mine discontinued in 1942. ¹
• At Lunehead there are old mine shop buildings where the lead miners stayed during their weekly shifts. The London Lead Company leased the mine for most of the nineteenth century and made grants to both schools in the dale, at Grains o'Beck and Carlbeck, and towards major road improvements in the 1830s. ²
• The official lists name, in turn, the London Lead Company in the 1880s, the Lunehead Lead and Barytes Company in the 1890s, the Lunehead Lead Ore and Barytes Mining Company in the 1900s, J. G. Reynoldson in the 1910s, N. Reynoldson in the 1930s and Athole G. Allen (Stockton) Ltd in the 1940s. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Lunehead (Barytes) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) A Detailed History of Lunedale — Lunedale Heritage

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