Westcott Mine

Overview

A copper mine on the Gatten estate in the hills south of Pontesbury, first tried in the 1750s and floated as a company in the 1860s, which sank shafts and put up a Cornish engine but found little if any saleable ore. The company failed in 1872; later trials on Westcott Hill were for barytes, and the engine's chimney and part of its boiler house survive in a private garden.

History

Thomas Hill began copper mining at Westcott when he bought the Gatten estate in the early 1750s, with his agent Thomas Bell reporting on the work. By February 1753 the original miners had taken on five partners, among them Peter Blakeway, a Shrewsbury surgeon, Samuel Harrop, a Shrewsbury brazier, and a Mr Dodd, an apothecary. Saleable copper proved elusive: in April Bell reported the use of gunpowder for blasting, and by December the miners were flagging and had sent for a miner from Yorkshire, after sinking a pit 25 yards deep at a cost of 50 shillings a yard. No further mining is recorded until 1838, when Samuel Smith took a general lease of the estate's minerals, including Westcott, and in 1858 Jonah Harrop let Westcott to John and Edward Harrisson, miners from Pulverbatch, and John Job of Snailbeach, an accountant. In the 1860s a company was floated to mine copper here; it sank shafts and installed a Cornish engine, but little if any saleable ore was found, and it went into liquidation in 1872. The lease was bought by Joseph Fearon of Whitehaven, who was bankrupt by 1882 and three years behind with the rent. By then barytes, long thrown away as waste, was in demand, and the numerous levels and shafts on Westcott Hill belong to trials for it.

Geology

Copper was the first object, and saleable ore was never found in quantity; the later trials on Westcott Hill were for barytes. The vein structure and host rocks are not described in the sources.

Workings

A pit sunk 25 yards in the 1750s trials; shafts sunk in the 1860s with a Cornish engine for pumping or winding; and numerous levels and shafts on Westcott Hill from the later barytes trials.

Closure

The 1860s copper company went into liquidation in 1872 after finding little saleable ore, and the lease's next holder, Joseph Fearon, was bankrupt by 1882. When the last barytes trials on Westcott Hill ended is not recorded.

What remains

The chimney and part of the boiler house of the 1860s Cornish engine survive in the garden of Westcott Birches, a private property, where a 2011 account also describes them. Levels and shafts from the barytes trials remain on Westcott Hill.

The engine chimney and part of the boiler house in a private garden, and the levels and shafts of the barytes trials on Westcott Hill.

Redevelopment

The engine remains stand in a private garden; there is no other redevelopment.

People

• Thomas Bell · agent, from 1753 — Thomas Hill's agent, whose reports of 1753 record the blasting and the miners' lack of success.
• Peter Blakeway · partner, from 1753 — A Shrewsbury surgeon, one of five partners the miners had taken on by February 1753.
• Joseph Fearon · lessee, 1872–1882 — Of Whitehaven; bought the lease after the 1872 liquidation and was bankrupt by 1882, owing three years' rent.
• Edward Harrisson · lessee, from 1858 — A Pulverbatch miner, joint lessee of Westcott from 1858.
• John Harrisson · lessee, from 1858 — A Pulverbatch miner, joint lessee of Westcott from 1858.
• Jonah Harrop · landowner, from 1858 — Granted the 1858 lease of Westcott.
• Samuel Harrop · partner, from 1753 — A Shrewsbury brazier, one of the partners of 1753.
• Thomas Hill · owner, from 1753 — Bought the Gatten estate in the early 1750s and began copper mining at Westcott.
• John Job · lessee, from 1858 — An accountant of Snailbeach, joint lessee of Westcott from 1858.
• Samuel Smith · lessee, from 1838 — His 1838 general lease of the Gatten estate's minerals included Westcott.

Recorded claims

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

• Thomas Hill began copper mining at Westcott when he bought the Gatten estate in the early 1750s; by February 1753 the miners had taken on five partners from Shrewsbury including a surgeon, a brazier and an apothecary. ¹
• In 1753 the miners sank a pit 25 yards deep at 50 shillings a yard, used gunpowder for blasting and sent for a miner from Yorkshire, without finding saleable copper. ¹
• A company floated in the 1860s sank shafts and installed a Cornish engine but found little if any saleable ore, and went into liquidation in 1872. ¹
• The chimney and part of the boiler house of the Cornish engine survive in the garden of Westcott Birches. ^1,2
• Westcott was mined initially for copper and later for barytes; numerous levels and shafts on Westcott Hill relate to barytes trials. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Minerals and Mining - The Valley of Gatten, Part 5 — Pollardine Farm (James Lawson)
2. (observational) Huglith & Westcott Mines — YoungManGoneWest

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