Sikehead Mine Chimneys

Having just spent the morning in Blanchland visiting the Shildon Engine Room we were headed down to Barnard Castle over the Pennines when we spotted a chimney in the distance on the moors.

So naturally we ditched the car and whipped the monocular out to have a bit of a gander, but realised there were actually two chimneys. We were on the clock today and the first chimney looked well over a kilometre away, so rather than impeding our itinerary for the day, we cheated a bit and sent Red5 drone to investigate instead.

As you may have read in our other posts, the North East was a mining hotbed ad this area was perfect for lead mining. The mine associated with these 2 chimneys was called the Sikehead Mine and just a short distance away was the Killhope Mine.

The chimney has a bit of damage to the top, which is remarkable to think it has survived here on the Ramshaw Moors through the north east weather!

In the same way as the Allendale Chimneys, this 15m high chimney was the end of a flue system that was originally part of the Jeffrey Smelt Mill. Each year, the lovely job of scaling the interior of the chimney would be undertaken to scrape off the condensed lead vapour (or fume) for re-smelting. Any volunteers?

The first chimney sits next to the a dam and there was apparently another before it was drained.

Further along was another chimney which was for the pump house which housed the Cornish steam engine for one of the two mine shafts.

Definetly a walk for next time, but if you want more information from the ground level then check out this article from Two Local Explorers.