Silverband Mine

Overview

A lead and barytes mine high on Great Dun Fell, in the North Pennines, best known today for the remains of its aerial ropeway — at 1.75km the best-surviving example of its kind used in a metal-mining context anywhere in England, according to Historic England.

History

Lead has been mined in this part of the North Pennines since at least the 14th century, and during the 19th century the London Lead Company worked Silverband Mine, high on the south-western slopes of Great Dun Fell above Milburn, periodically for galena. A small quantity of barytes was raised between 1914 and 1918, but production increased dramatically once the La Porte Chemical Company took over the mine in 1939. Almost immediately, La Porte installed an aerial ropeway to solve the problem of moving ore off an exposed fellside at over 700 metres: buckets suspended from a cable ran over at least seventeen iron pylons, descending the fell to a mill at Milburn Grange around 5km away, with the ropeway itself measuring some 5.6km in total; from Milburn Grange, a second ropeway carried the finished, dressed product on to Long Marton railway station. It replaced an earlier, cruder method of getting ore down the fell — an inclined plane, down which ore-filled trucks ran on rails, part of which survives running parallel to the ropeway's route. Between 1939 and 1963, Silverband produced 215,000 tons (211,603 tonnes) of dressed barytes ore. According to a Northern Mine Research Society study, parts of the ropeway were transferred in 1963 to the Aviemore Ski Centre in Scotland for reuse. The mine closed and the ropeway was dismantled in the 1960s, but Silverband reopened later in the twentieth century — sources differ on whether this was the 1970s or 1980s — and was worked intermittently thereafter by opencast methods, with ore milled on site and the product taken down the fell by lorry rather than by ropeway.

Geology

Silverband lies in the North Pennine orefield, where barytes — a sulphate of barium — occurs as a vein mineral in association with lead, as it does across most of the major British lead orefields. The mine's earlier working was for galena, a sulphide of lead, before attention shifted to the associated barytes as demand for it grew through the 20th century.

Workings

Ore was originally hauled down the fellside by an inclined plane, with trucks running on rails; this was superseded from 1939 by an aerial ropeway, buckets suspended from a cable running over at least seventeen iron pylons of at least two different designs — the best-preserved a Y-shaped type on a stone-and-concrete base, others simpler frames further up the fell. A stone-built brake house near the foot of the ropeway controlled its speed. Later working, after the mine's reopening, switched to opencast methods with ore processed at an on-site mill rather than sent down by ropeway.

Closure

The mine and its ropeway closed in the 1960s (Wikipedia gives 1966); Silverband later reopened and was worked intermittently into the later twentieth century by opencast methods — sources differ on whether this resumed in the 1970s or 1980s — with ore then milled on site and taken down the fell by lorry.

What remains

Designated a Scheduled Monument, the surviving remains of the ropeway, brake house and inclined plane are described by Historic England as the best-surviving example of an aerial ropeway used in a metal-mining context in England. At least seventeen pylon positions survive along the fellside in varying states — some toppled, twisted or dragged from their footings, others still standing to nearly full height with wheel mechanisms intact. The brake house survives only in part: its north wall stands to roof height with a small, corrugated-roofed extension and a fireplace still visible, while its south wall has partly collapsed. A photographer visiting in 2015 also noted the remains of a mid-station operator's cabin along the route, by which time the wider mine site had been cleared of most other structures.

Seventeen or more ropeway pylons in varying states of collapse, a partially standing stone-built brake house, sections of the earlier inclined plane's trackbed running parallel to the ropeway, and a mound of crushed ore of unknown function survive on the fellside; no comparable remains have been recorded at the former mill site at Milburn Grange.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• The London Lead Company worked Silverband Mine, on the south-western slopes of Great Dun Fell, periodically for galena during the 19th century, part of a wider tradition of lead mining in the area dating back to at least the 14th century. ^1,2
• A small amount of barytes was raised between 1914 and 1918, but production increased dramatically once the La Porte Chemical Company took over the mine in 1939, going on to produce 215,000 tons (211,603 tonnes) of dressed barytes ore between 1939 and 1963. ¹
• An aerial ropeway installed by La Porte almost immediately after their 1939 takeover used buckets on a cable running over at least seventeen iron pylons to move ore off the fellside, superseding an earlier inclined plane down which ore-filled trucks ran on rails; a stone-built brake house controlled the ropeway's speed. ¹
• The ropeway ran a total of some 5.6km down to a mill at Milburn Grange, from where a second ropeway carried the finished product on to Long Marton railway station; parts of the ropeway were transferred to the Aviemore Ski Centre in Scotland in 1963, according to a 2011 Northern Mine Research Society study. ³
• The mine and ropeway closed in the 1960s (1966, per Wikipedia's account of Great Dun Fell), before Silverband reopened later in the 20th century and was worked intermittently by opencast methods, ore then being milled on site and taken down the fell by lorry. ^4,5
• The surviving ropeway, brake house and inclined plane are a Scheduled Monument, which Historic England describes as the best-surviving example of an aerial ropeway used in a metal-mining context in England. ¹

Images

Sources

1. (primary) Silverband mine aerial ropeway, brake house and inclined plane, Milburn — Historic England (Scheduled Monument listing 1021009)
2. (secondary) Silverband Mine — co-curate.ncl.ac.uk (Newcastle University)
3. (secondary) Silverband Mine aerial ropeway, Great Dun Fell — Geograph Britain and Ireland (James T M Towill, citing Smith & Murphy 2011, British Mining No. 91, NMRS)
4. (secondary) Barytes — Industrial History of Cumbria
5. (secondary) Great Dun Fell — Wikipedia

Record created: 27 August 2026 · Last researched: 27 August 2026