Sallies Mine

Overview

A barytes mine on the Gatten estate in Shropshire, worked by Malehurst Barytes Co. Ltd until 1947, when its ropeway closed; its shaft now supplies the estate's water.

History

Sallies Mine was a barytes mine on the Gatten estate in Shropshire, worked in its last years by Malehurst Barytes Co. Ltd of Minsterley, the company that also worked Huglith Mine. It belongs to the later phase of mining around the Gatten valley, after barytes, long regarded as a waste mineral, had become worth working; the history of the valley names it with Huglith and Gatten among the barytes workings served by the aerial ropeway system that ran to the Malehurst mill. The British Geological Survey holds a plan of the Sallies workings, and the Mining Remediation Authority's abandonment plan for barytes is dated 30 November 1948. Work went on at Sallies until 1947, when its ropeway was closed and the mine abandoned, and its shaft now supplies the water for the Gatten estate.

Geology

Barytes (baryte) veins.

Workings

A shaft, now the Gatten estate's water supply, and an aerial ropeway, closed in 1947; a plan of the underground workings survives.

Closure

Worked until 1947, when the ropeway was closed and the mine abandoned; its abandonment plan for barytes is dated 30 November 1948.

What remains

The mine's shaft now supplies water to the Gatten estate.

Unknown.

Related mines

• Huglith Mine — Both worked by Malehurst Barytes Co. Ltd of Minsterley.

Recorded claims

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

• Workings continued at Sallies until 1947, when the ropeway was closed and the mine abandoned; the shaft now supplies the water for the Gatten estate. ¹
• By the 1880s barytes, previously regarded as waste, was of considerable interest, and Huglith, Sallies and Gatten were among the barytes workings, with an aerial ropeway from Huglith to Malehurst mill. ¹
• A BGS plan of Sallies Mine records it as worked by Malehurst Barytes Co. Ltd of Minsterley. ²
• The Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan for Sallies, for barytes, is dated 30 November 1948. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Minerals and Mining - The Valley of Gatten, Part 5 — Pollardine Farm (James Lawson)
2. (primary) Sallies Mine; worked by Malehurst Barytes Co. Ltd, Minsterley (BGS mine plan KP6958, item 9172) — British Geological Survey
3. (primary) Sallies (Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan OM15056, via BGS catalogue item 21871183) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 18 September 2026 · Last researched: 19 September 2026