The British Geological Survey 1:10,000 map gives the following information:
ST 32466272 - 32616275
"Old mine ground in oolitic limestone with calcite and barite and traces of
galena".
ST 34216306 - 34346304
"Shallow workings"
ST 34406310 - 34496305 - 34506291
"Old mine ground"
ST 34816317 - 34926318
"Old mineral workings, Pb, Zn, Ba".
I also have a leaflet entitled "Worlebury Hill", published by Woodspring
Museum Service (circa 1995) which includes a sketch map of the area. At
approximate grid reference ST348631 it says "Calamine was mined from this
spot, in 1566, by German miners"
Hope this is of use.
Phil Marshall
Burnham-on-Sea
Preferred email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Alasdair Neill
Sent: 27 March 2007 09:25
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Early Modern Zinc Mines at Worle, Somerset
There is a reference to Worle Hill in Mining Journal 23.2.1878 p.205-
mineral rights for sale, worked at surface for many years. Unfortunately
not of much use for earlier working.
Alasdair Neill.
On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:38:03 +0000, Keith Ramsey <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>In their book on the industrial archeology of the Bristol area, Buchanan
>and Cossins mention that there were important zinc mines on Worle Hill
>in Somerset in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Very little
>seems to be known about these mines, and a query here some time ago
>produced little new information.
>
>For those who don't know, Worle is now a suburb of Weston-super-Mare,
>and there don't seem to be any surviving traces of mining activity. I'd
>always assumed that this was because the mines were very shallow and had
>been destroyed by later quarrying and building work, but I've recently
>begun to have doubts about this.
>
>I know that there were relatively deep zinc mines nearby at Shipham in
>the nineteenth century, and I've just discovered a letter from John
>Locke to Robert Boyle dated 5 May 1666 in which he refers to mines 30
>fathoms deep on the Mendips, although it's unclear whether they were
>lead or zinc workings. Can anyone point me towards any published work on
>early modern zinc mining which might help to shed more light on the
subject?
>
>Keith Ramsey
>=========================================================================
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