The Beaumont
Company started working the Swinhope Mines primarily on the Williams Vein,
which is the continuation of the Barneycraig Vein in the Swinhope Valley. The
vein was first worked by shaft and horse level, via the Swinhopehead Whimsey
and Swinhopehead Level, which intersected each other. This part of the workings
was developed between 1809 and 1814.
The Swinhope Low Level was started
around 1814 and was driven to intersect the bottom of Swinhopehead Whimsey. The
Low Level intersected various horizons in the strata, crossing the Little
Limestone, the Low and High Coal Sills and the Great Limestone. The vein was
barren for the first 860m from the low level portal and only past this it
started to be productive right up to the West Allen boundary. Most of the lead
ore was gained from the Great Limestone, with a little from the Coal Sills and
the Little Limestone. A new vein, the North was also driven as a crosscut from
the horse level, but it was poor in galena and subsequently abandoned. It
however was strongly mineralised with sphalerite, which was reworked in 1896 by
the Vieille Montagne Zinc Company. The low level eventually connected with the
Barneycraig Mine and the Barneycraig Horse Level. The very western end also
worked the Whitewood Vein north of Williams Vein via three crosscuts.
A
number of exploratory levels were driven to find other veins. Struther Sike
Level was driven northwards below the Pattinson Sill to try and find the Low
Coalcleugh Vein in which it failed, only ever cutting several strings. It was
started in 1825, abandoned 1829, and then restarted in 1874, and again
abandoned in 1878. Deepcleugh Level was driven southeast under the Firestone
Sill. It was said to have crossed a strong vein, but no information can be
found regarding this. It was started in 1818 and abandoned in 1822, having been
driven a total of 503m with two airshafts. A trial level was also driven above
the Firestone Sill, but its horizon was too high to obtain any decisive
results. Another old level, Groove Sike was driven on top of the Firestone Sill
and a line of shafts indicates the supposed line of a vein, but no information
can be found for further details.
The mine was reopened in 1951-1952 on
behalf of Durham Chemicals Ltd and ore was extracted from the North and
Williams Veins. Some 4500 tons was shipped to the company's plant in Birtley
and it yielded 4% lead and 8% zinc. However, the distance that the ore had to
travel made the operation uneconomic.
In 1955, New Consolidated
Goldfields Ltd took over the mine with the object of exploring the large area
of the Great Limestone between Barneycraig / Williams Vein, Killhope Veins and
Allenheads Mine. With the old horse level being too small for modern machinery,
a 32° incline was driven from Swinhopehead intersecting the crosscut from
the horse level and North Vein. From the North Vein an exploratory level was
driven heading south east in the direction of Killhope Law. This level cut a
number of veins; the No 1 Vein, which proved to be a branch vein leaving
Williams Vein, the No 2 Vein, the 6040 Vein (named after the distance of the
drive 6036ft / 1.84km) and the 7330 Vein (7329ft / 2.23km). Only the No 1 and 2
Veins yielded any ore and the remaining two proved to be poor and heavily
oxidised due to the being watered. When the veins were broken into, reports say
that the water flowed from then for two months. The project was abandoned in
1960, after a total drive of 2.29km.
Shortly after the New Consolidated
Goldfields project was abandoned, the possibility of a joint venture with
Settlingstones Mine Ltd and the Weardale Lead Company came about. They planned
to extract proved high grade ore for milling. 2400 tons of ore were treated at
a small floatation plant and recovery was 6.1% lead and 5.0% zinc. A further
129 tons of ore were also treated in an efficient gravity plant, which
recovered 11.1% lead and 5.4% zinc. However, it became evident that the small
scale of operation at Swinhope could not be made profitable and the mining
operation closed.
Since the closure of the mine, the site has been used
as a dumping ground for waste from the reopening of Allenheads Mine and later
on when British Steel ran out of space to tip deads at Groverake, the deads
ended up being tipped on the site of the incline.
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