Upper Slatesike Mine

Overview

A lead mine at the head of Slate Sike on the flank of Cross Fell, worked before 1778 by cross-cut adits on the West Cross Fell vein and given up early in the 19th century for a level driven lower down. Its ore works were worked entirely by hand, and the last 30 m of its main level was built by cut and cover to keep the gradient that drained it.

History

Upper Slatesike worked the West Cross Fell vein, the westward continuation of the Cashwell vein, by a series of cross-cut adits — levels driven to cross the line of the vein rather than to follow it. The mine is thought to have been worked before 1778 and to have been abandoned by the early 19th century in favour of an adit driven at a lower level, which lies outside the scheduled area. Its neighbour Cashwell, on the watershed between the Tees and the South Tyne, was worked from before 1778 too, had a small smeltmill built about 1800 and kept going until about 1921; Upper Slatesike stopped far earlier, which is why its remains are those of an 18th- or early 19th-century mine rather than a Victorian one, and why it is reckoned one of the best preserved examples of its date in northern England.

Geology

The mine lies at the head of Slate Sike, one of the headwaters of the Tees, on the eastern flank of Cross Fell. It worked the West Cross Fell vein, the westward continuation of the Cashwell vein, in the Carboniferous rocks of the Alston block.

Workings

The scheduled remains are the main level and the ore works. The final 30 m of the level, passing through shallow ground, was built by cut and cover — a cutting was dug, arched stonework built inside it to form the level, and the whole covered with earth — so that the gradient needed to drain the mine could be kept. Its side walls stand about a metre high and run out beyond the entrance to a stone building about 6 m by 5 m that controlled access and is read as the mine office and store. A tramway about half a metre wide, flanked by low grassed-over spoil, runs south-east from the level and forks: the western branch fades out among spoil heaps, the eastern runs about 10 m to three stone bouse teams standing close to their original height of about a metre. East of these an area some 50 m by 70 m is covered in discrete spreads of dressing waste from concentrating the ore to 60 or 70 per cent lead; all the processes here are thought to have been hand-powered, the ore broken and sorted by eye and then washed through a series of stages, and a network of small channels across the site shows the water being used over and over. The spoil heaps are rounded, hogs-back tips of the kind made by wheelbarrow, quite unlike the flat-topped finger tips left by rail-borne tubs in the 19th century.

Closure

The mine was abandoned in favour of an adit driven at a lower level by the early 19th century. That lower adit is not part of the scheduled monument.

What remains

The structural and earthwork remains of the main level and ore works are a scheduled monument and are considered one of the best preserved 18th- or early 19th-century lead mines in northern England; the more dispersed levels and shafts around them are not scheduled. Volunteers surveyed the site with Cashwell Hush for the North Pennines OREsome project.

The cut-and-cover section of the main level with its side walls, the office and store building, the tramway and its fork, three stone bouse teams, spreads of hand-dressing waste, wheelbarrow-tipped spoil heaps and a network of water channels.

Redevelopment

None. The site is open fell at the head of Slate Sike.

Nearby mines

• Cash Well Mine — 1.8 km NE
• Silverband Mine — 4.6 km S
• Rodderup Fell Mine — 6.9 km N
• Coalcleugh — 7.0 km NE, Northumberland
• Crook Burn Mine — 7.1 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.

• Upper Slatesike worked the West Cross Fell vein, the westward continuation of the Cashwell vein, by a series of cross-cut adits. ^1,2
• The mine is thought to have been worked before 1778 and to have been abandoned by the early 19th century in favour of an adit driven at a lower level. ¹
• The final 30 m of the main level was built by cut and cover, with arched stonework set in a cutting and then covered with earth, to maintain the gradient that allowed it to drain. ¹
• All the ore-dressing processes at Slatesike are thought to have been manually powered, the ore broken and sorted by eye and then washed through successive stages to concentrate it to 60 or 70 per cent lead. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Upper Slatesike lead mine and ore works, 750m north east of Black Dub, Alston Moor (List entry 1015837) — Historic England
2. (secondary) Cashwell Hush and Upper Slatesike (OREsome project) — North Pennines National Landscape

Record created: 22 September 2026 · Last researched: 22 September 2026