Whitriggs Mine

Overview

An old haematite mine north-west of Lindal-in-Furness, planned in 1725, praised by Thomas West as among the greatest iron mines in England, and bought in the 1840s by Henry Schneider before his great finds at Park.

History

Whitriggs lay north-west of Lindal-in-Furness in the Furness haematite field. A plan of White Riggs drawn on 6 May 1725 shows the mine already established, and Thomas West's Guide to the Lakes (1778) sent readers three miles west of Ulverston to see 'the greatest iron-mines in England', where at Whitrigs the work was carried on with much spirit by driving levels into the hill. The ore lay in a limestone bed mixed with dirty-coloured spars and much quartz.

Henry Schneider, who came to Furness in 1839 as a speculator and dealer in iron, bought Whitriggs Mine in the 1840s while his search for ore on the Earl of Burlington's land at Park was coming to little, and worked it with indifferent success for some years before turning to Mouzell and, from 1850, the Park deposit. The Ordnance Survey's county maps mark Whitriggs Iron Mines and Iron Works, and the mine's later workings appear on the same plans as those of the neighbouring Lindal Moor. Underground, a horse level and the Whitriggs Drainage Level survive.

Geology

Haematite in a limestone stratum, with spars and much quartz, in the Furness iron field.

Workings

Levels driven into the hillside, including a horse level and the Whitriggs Drainage Level; later workings shown with Lindal Moor's Frank Pit.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

A horse level and a drainage level survived underground in 1984.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Lindal Moor — Neighbouring Furness haematite mines shown together on the same deposited plans, with Frank Pit.

People

• Henry William Schneider (1817–1887) · owner — Bought the mine and worked it for some years

Recorded claims

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

• A plan of White Riggs in Furness is dated 6 May 1725. ¹
• Thomas West's Guide to the Lakes described Whitrigs among the greatest iron mines in England, worked by levels driven into the hill. ¹
• Henry Schneider bought Whitriggs Mine and worked it with indifferent success for some years. ^2,3,4
• A horse level and the Whitriggs Drainage Level survive underground. ⁵
• Deposited plans show Lindal Moor and Whitriggs together, with Frank Pit. ⁶

Sources

1. (secondary) Whitriggs Iron Mine, Whitriggs — Old Cumbria Gazetteer (Lakes Guides)
2. (secondary) Henry William Schneider — Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
3. (secondary) Henry Schneider (1817-1887) — Co-Curate, Newcastle University
4. (secondary) Henry Schneider — Wikipedia
5. (observational) Whitriggs Horse Level (logbook, April 1984) — Cumbria Amenity Trust Mining History Society
6. (primary) BGS mine plan: Multi-layer plan labelled Lindal Moor and Whitriggs, Frank Pit — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 19 October 2026 · Last researched: 19 October 2026