Dale Head copper mine 300m north east of Dale Head

Reasons for Designation

Copper was extracted in Britain intermittently from the Early Bronze Age (about 2000 BC) until the early 20th century, after when the industry was confined to by-product production and small scale reworkings of mines and dumps. There is very limited evidence for copper mining before the 15th and 16th centuries, and most known sites are of later date, principally of the industry's 18th and 19th century peak after it had been revitalised by developments in smelting technology. In the 18th and 19th centuries, as perhaps it had also been in prehistory, British production was important on a European scale. Nucleated copper mines are a prominent type of field monument produced by copper mining. They consist of a range of features grouped around the adits and/or shafts of a mine. The simplest examples contain merely a shaft or adit with associated spoil tip, but more complex and, in general, later examples may include remains of engine houses for pumping and/or winding from shafts, housing, lodging shops and offices and power transmission features such as wheel pits and leats. The majority of nucleated copper mines are of 18th to 20th century date, earlier mining being normally by rakes, opencuts and open levels, and including scattered ore dressing features. An essential part of a copper mining site is the ore works, where the mixture of ore and waste rock extracted from the ground was separated (dressed) to form a smeltable concentrate. The range of processes can be summarised as: picking out clean lumps of ore and waste; hammering (breaking down lumps to a smaller size by manual hammering or by mechanical crushing); jigging (separation of gravel-sized material by shaking on a sieve in a tub of water; and buddling (separation of finer material by washing away the lighter waste in a current of water). Field remains of ore works include crushing devices, separating structures and tanks and tips of distinctive waste from the various processes, together with associated water supplies. Simple ore dressing devices had been developed by the 16th century, but the large majority date from the 18th to 20th centuries, when technology evolved rapidly. During English Heritage's national evaluation of the copper industry, 130 sites were assessed. This is a highly select sample of the numbers of sites that historically existed in England; although there are no national estimates, for the south west alone an estimate has been made of over 10,000 sites. It is considered that protection by scheduling is appropriate for less than 50, with alternative means of protection or management being considered more appropriate for the other nationally important sites.

Dale Head copper mine and its associated spoil heap and dressing floor 300m north east of Dale Head survives reasonably well and is a rare example of an 18th century copper mine which has remained untouched since abandonment. As such it offers an exceptionally good opportunity to study 18th century copper mining and dressing processes and in particular the application of non-local technology as provided by the Cornish mining engineers.

Details

The monument includes two mines, a spoil heap and an ore dressing floor which formed part of Dale Head copper mines. It is located high on the fellside amongst Dale Head Crags above the Newlands Valley 300m north east of the summit of Dale Head. Copper is known to have been mined in the Newlands Valley during the 16th century when many mines in the Keswick area were owned by the Mines Royal Company who, during the 16th and 17th centuries, were leaders in European mining technology. However, it is not known if Dale Head was one of those mines worked during this period. It is thought that Dale Head mine was being worked in about 1700 by one Thomas Robinson and that Cornish mining engineers were employed here around 1775. There are no records of any mining at Dale Head from the 19th century onwards. At NY22501551 there are the remains of an adit or level, its entrance now blocked by scree which has tumbled from the steep fellside above. Immediately below this level is a spoil heap on top of which is a small copper ore dressing floor consisting of gravel-sized dressing waste, some of which has spilled down the steep slope immediately to the north. A short distance lower down the fellside, in precipitous ground at approximately NY22521556, there is a waterfall at the head of which is an open level. This level is considered to have been the one worked by Robinson and later the Cornish miners. It is hand-drilled and contains an internal railway of iron strips laid on wooden rails suggesting mid-18th century working.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

34952

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Adams, J, Mines of the Lake District Fells, (1995), 67
Cumbria Amenity Mining History Soc in Dale Head Mine, (1995)

End of official list entry

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