Micklam Fireclay Mine

Overview

A drift mine on the clifftop at Micklam, north of Lowca, that fed the Micklam brickworks with fireclay for the Workington steelworks' furnaces, and was still worked by about twenty men in 1981.

History

Micklam lies on the cliffs a short distance north of Lowca, on the Cumberland coast north of Whitehaven. The mineral railways that reached the site at the end of the nineteenth century were driven by coal at Lowca, coke and, above all, fireclay and firebricks, made mainly to line the furnaces of the Workington steelworks. A narrow-gauge railway, 2 ft 6 in wide, ran from the fireclay drift mine along the clifftop to the brickworks, beside the Lowca Light Railway, which ran workmen's trains to Micklam from 1912 and public passenger trains from 1913 to 1926.

In its later years the mine belonged to the United Steel Companies. It worked the Micklam fireclay with 46 men in 1950, about thirty through the late 1950s and about twenty-five in the 1960s and 1970s, latterly through its No. 5 working, which employed 19 men in 1981; the abandonment plans of Micklam No. 5 are dated that year. Two miners died there: in 1933 a man of 53 was caught by a set of tubs, and in 1946 a miner died who had lain in hospital for 74 weeks after a stone of nearly a ton fell on him in 1939. The ruins of the brickworks still stand on the clifftop.

Geology

The Micklam fireclay.

Workings

A fireclay drift mine (latterly No. 5), with a 2 ft 6 in tramway along the clifftop to the brickworks.

Closure

The abandonment plans of Micklam No. 5 are dated 1981.

What remains

The ruins of the brickworks stand on the clifftop.

Remains of the Micklam brickworks on the cliff top.

Related mines

• Lowca Colliery — Adjoining workings at Lowca, served by the same mineral railway.

Recorded claims

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

• Micklam railway station served the fireclay mine and brickworks at Micklam, north of Lowca; workmen's trains ran from 1912 to 1929. ¹
• Micklam's fireclay and bricks were made primarily to line furnaces at the Workington steelworks, and a 2 ft 6 in railway ran from the drift mine to the brickworks. ¹
• Micklam employed 46 men in 1950 working the Micklam fireclay, and its No. 5 employed 19 in 1981. ²
• The Old Cumbria Gazetteer records Micklam Clay Mine at NX 9804 2232. ³
• The remains of the Micklam brickworks stand on the top of the cliffs. ⁴
• The abandonment plans of Micklam No. 5 are dated 1981. ⁵

Sources

1. (secondary) Micklam railway station — Wikipedia
2. (primary) Micklam Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Old Cumbria Gazetteer: Micklam, Lowca — Lakes Guides (Old Cumbria Gazetteer)
4. (observational) Micklam Brickworks site, Lowca, West Cumbria (photograph) — Geograph Britain and Ireland
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21861384: Micklam No. 5, abandoned 1981 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 21 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026