Ruthwaite Mine

Overview

A small barytes mine on the northern edge of the Lake District fells at Ireby, exploring in 1910 and worked into the 1920s. Its recorded output is tiny — thirty tons in 1911, fifty in 1913 — but it employed thirty-one people in 1921, most of them at the surface, which says the work was in the dressing rather than the winning.

History

The mine first appears in the 1910 List of Mines with seven employed and the note 'Exploring', under Thomas Blacklock. It was still returning barytes in 1915 with fourteen employed, and by 1921 it was in the hands of Concrete Materials Ltd. with thirty-one people, eight below ground and twenty-three at the surface. The last returns read for this pass are 1924 and 1925, the latter with twelve employed, evenly split between underground and surface. The separate mineral statistics record the ore sold rather than the men: thirty tons of barium ore in 1911, valued at £15 at the mine, and fifty tons in 1913 valued at £50. Ruthwaite belongs to a small Cumbrian barytes industry rather than to lead mining proper. The Cumbria Industrial History Society lists it among the mines where barytes occurred as a vein ore and was worked as a commercial mineral in its own right, alongside Blencathra, Potts Gill, Sandbeds, Force Crag and the Cross Fell mines — several of which are the same Caldbeck and Uldale fell country. No account of the mine's opening, its closure or its underground layout has been found.

Geology

Barytes, barium sulphate, occurs here as a vein mineral rather than a bedded deposit — the gangue of the northern Lake District mineral veins worked for its own sake. In many Pennine and Lakeland mines it was the waste thrown out by lead miners before it acquired a value of its own for paint, and later for drilling mud and chemical use.

Geological setting: Veins and Lodes (well documented example)

Workings

The balance of the returns is the clearest thing about the working: eight below ground against twenty-three at the surface in 1921, which points to dressing and preparation plant rather than to a large underground operation. In 1910 the entry is marked as exploring, so the mine was still being proved that year.

Closure

No closure date has been located. The mine appears in the Lists of Mines for 1910, 1915, 1921, 1924 and 1925, and in no later list read for this pass.

What remains

Nothing of the mine's present state was established from the sources read for this pass.

Nearby mines

• Potts Ghyll Mine — 7.5 km E
• Roughton Gill Mine — 7.9 km E
• Deer Hills Baryte Mine — 8.2 km E
• Driggith Mine — 8.9 km E
• Brandy Gill Mine — 9.0 km E

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 Lists of Mines give Thomas Blacklock as owner in the 1910s and Concrete Materials Ltd. in the 1920s, with seven employed in 1910 while exploring, fourteen in 1915, thirty-one in 1921 and twelve in 1925. ¹
• The Mineral Statistics record thirty tons of barium ore in 1911, valued at £15 at the mine, and fifty tons in 1913 valued at £50. ²
• Ruthwaite is listed among the Cumbrian mines in which barytes was present as a vein ore and worked as a commercial mineral, with Blencathra, Potts Gill, Sandbeds, Force Crag and the Cross Fell mines. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Ruthwaite (Barytes) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Ruthwaite (Barytes) Mineral Statistics — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Barytes — Industrial History of Cumbria

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 12 September 2026