Water House Mine

Overview

A small lead mine at Haydon Bridge west of Hexham which also raised umber — the iron-and-manganese earth used as a pigment — an unusual pairing that appears in its returns for 1883, 1888 and 1890. It came back briefly in the 1920s under the Tynedale Lead Company with seven people, and was down to four prospecting by 1927.

History

The mine appears in the returns from 1882 under the Water House Mining Co. of Haydon Bridge, raising lead ore; from 1883 the returns add umber, and lead ore and umber are what it is credited with in 1888 and 1890 too. The 1888 List of Mines under the Metalliferous Mines Act gives it plainly as 'Water House, Haydon Bridge, Lead ore & umber, Water House Mining Co., Haydon Bridge'. Then nothing for thirty-five years. The Tynedale Lead Co. Ltd took it up again in the 1920s: seven people in 1925, five of them below ground, and four in 1927 with the return marked prospecting. No deaths are recorded at the mine at all, which for a working this small is unremarkable rather than remarkable.

Geology

The mine worked lead veins on the northern edge of the North Pennine orefield west of Hexham, the same ground as the Settlingstones and Stonecroft workings a few miles east, where the veins carry barium minerals rather than the fluorspar of the orefield's centre. What sets Water House apart in the returns is the umber: a soft earth coloured by iron and manganese oxides, found where iron-bearing rock has weathered, and dug for pigment rather than for metal.

Geological setting: Veins and Lodes (well documented example)

Workings

Nothing of the layout is recorded in the sources read. The scale is the clearest guide: seven people in 1925, five of them underground, and four prospecting in 1927.

Closure

The 1927 return, with four people, is marked prospecting; no later return and no closure date has been located.

What remains

No description of what survives on the site has been found.

None identified in the sources consulted.

Redevelopment

None recorded in the sources consulted.

Nearby mines

• Settlingstones Mine — 5.3 km E
• Stonecroft and Greyside Mine — 6.1 km NE
• Fallowfield Mine — 13.0 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 returns credit the mine with lead ore in 1882 and with lead ore and umber in 1883, 1888 and 1890; the 1888 List of Mines gives 'Water House, Haydon Bridge, Lead ore & umber, Water House Mining Co., Haydon Bridge'. ^1,2
• The Tynedale Lead Co. Ltd held the mine in the 1920s, employing seven people in 1925, five of them below ground, and four in 1927 with the return marked prospecting. ²
• The Durham Mining Museum records no deaths at this mine. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) 1888 List of Mines under the Metalliferous Mines Act: Lead Ore, Barytes, and Whinstone Mines in Northumberland — Mines Department, via the Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Waterhouse (Lead Ore) — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 4 September 2026 · Last researched: 4 September 2026