*SHETLAND
“Copper mining started in Shetland in 1789 when Alexander Crieghton of Tynemouth and London discovered copper prospect at Sandlodge [or Sand Lodge] some 12 miles south of Lerwick, and at Garthsness some 20 miles south of Lerwick. In order to exploit these prospects he formed a partnership with Thomas Williams of Llanidan and Pascoe Grenfell of London.”
In 1790 Williams sent a party of Welsh miners to Shetland. Leaving in September with 12 tons of ore for Beaumaris. According to local tradition they discovered that a Shetland workman had been adding copper coins to samples being tested for their copper content in order to prolong his employment. Creighton continued his efforts to establish a mine in Shetland. At first he concentrated his attention on the prospect beside the house of John Bruce at Sandlodge, sending in 1793 a ship load of iron ore to Newcastle. In 1800 with a London flour miller, Robert Redman they formed the Shetland Mining Company. Creighton then broke with the company and tried to raise capital to work the Garthsness prospect. In 1800 Robert Redman sent a party of Cornish miners, led by Matthew Thomas as mine captain to start work. In 1802 Richard Trevithick supplied a steam engine and in June 1802 a smack loaded with copper ore left for Swansea. By July 1805 they were down to 34 fathoms and pumping out 1500 gallons of water a day. By October this had risen to 6000 a day and the shaft was 38 fathoms deep. By December at a total cost of £1050, the shaft was finished, being 40 fathoms deep. In August 1807 mining ceased when the last of the coal stocks ran out. Three levels had been driven from the foot of the shaft to intersect the lodes. In June 1808 John Fleming, a minister with an interest in minerals, found the mine full of water and the engine dismantled.
“The copper deposit at Sandlodge is a massive vein of sparry ankerite with some chalcopyrite, in Old Red Sandstone. At the surface the vein has been oxidise to hematite and malachite. Much, if not all of the ore deposits obtained from the mine seems to have come from these near surface deposits, but in the 1800s and later in the 1870s much money was wasted putting down shafts to reach a rich lode that probably does not exist. Again in the 1920s a company was floated to work the mine, but no mining seems to have taken place.” [based on] Flinn (1990) ibid.
Balta Sound see Hagdale Chromite Quarry
Clothister Mine NGR HU 341 729 Landranger Sullom, Shetland
An iron mine on Shetland.
Jeffreys, Alan 2008 Mines in Scotland 27
Landless 13
National Environment Research Council, Institute of Geological Sciences. A summary of the mineral Resources of the `Crofter Counties´ of Scotland. Report No 69/5. 17.
“The 1950s were an industrious time for Sullom. As the Sullom folk were planting the ground, the Canadians were extracting from it. 1954 saw the opening of the Sullom Mine by a Canadian company to extract magnetite (iron oxide) ore from a seam found at Clothister Hill 20 years previously. The operation used the ore to clean coal and lasted until 1957. Today the magnetite mine is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Rusty red water in some of the drains and ditches give a constant reminder of the iron content of Clothister Hill.”
From: http://www.northmavine.com/sullom.htm accessed 03.02.09
Cunungsburgh NGR HU 442 294 Explorer Fanderstown, Shetland
A small copper mine.
Landless 19
MM 217
Hagdale Chromite Quarry, Balta Sound, Unst. NGR HP 640 101
The quarry was in a belt of serpentine on the island of Unst in which chromite is disseminated. In the quarry the ore is concentrated in a pseudo-vein about 12ft wide. The quarry was 86ft deep after a period of working between 1820-1862 and about 30,000 tons of ore were produced. The working was reopened during the first World War and again in 1937, the last time by Shetland Minerals Ltd who also worked another quarry at Midgarth.
http://www.fettes.com/shetland/Unst%20ophiolites.htm accessed 25.02.09
http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/gcrdb/GCRsiteaccount2421.pdf accessed 25.02.09
http://shetlopedia.com/Hagdale_Quarry accessed 25.02.09
Landless 7
CC 28
Hoswick NGR HU 409 231 Explorer Shetland
A small iron trail, which may be marked on the 1st edition OS 1:25 000 map as a cave.
Landless 31
Wilson 1921 151
Quendal Trial NGR HU 367 126 Explorer Quendal Bay, Shetland
A small copper trial. There is also a trial at Gartha Ness, but no location is given.
Landless 52
Wilson 1921 151
Sandwick Lodge NGR HU 437 247 Explorer Shetland
Levels and shafts. Ironstone was worked from the land to under the Sound of Mousa. Interesting mining relics.
http://www.archive.org/stream/specialreportson11geol#page/n227/mode/2up
accessed 14/11/10
Jeffreys, Alan 2008 Mines in Scotland 42
Hibbert 162-164 Note IX Sandlodge Mines p 105 shafts 22 fathoms deep.
Landless 55 calls it Sandlodge Mine with NGR HU 437 247 and HU 433 258
Miller 1897 430-431 Parish of Sandwick on Orkney. Pb mine “I have since learned from the “Statistical Account of the Parish of Sandwick, that the working of the mine penetrate into the rock for about a hundred yards, but it has been long abandoned, “as a speculation which did not pay”.
MM 217
Rice, C M 2002 Metalliferous minerals [in] Trewin, N H (ed) 2002 The Geology of Scotland. The Geological Society, London. Sandlodge Mine 448.
Wilson 1921 148
Serrit Geo NGR HU 409 217 Explorer Lavenwick, Shetland
At Steinfils Geo, Lavenwick. A small iron trail. There is also one at Cuningsburg, not located.
Landless 56
Mineral Resources File (British Geological Survey) Skye Memoir refers to `The Tertiary Igneous Rocks of Skye by A Harker not seen 99
Wilson 1921 151
Sullom NGR HU 341 729 Explorer Sullom, Shetland
An iron mine at Clothister, but marked on the 1st edition 1:25 000 OS map as Vesta Virdin.
Landless 58
National Environment Research Council, Institute of Geological Sciences. A summary of the mineral Resources of the `Crofter Counties´ of Scotland. Report No 69/5. 17.
Best Wishes - Tony Oldham
35 Park Road
Cwm Parc
Treorchy
CF42 6LE
United Kingdom
http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/~arb/speleo/guides.html
http://www.showcaves.com<http://www.showcaves.com/>
http://www.copsewood.org/mining/books/oldham/
http://www.showcaves.com/foreign/Big/F003-003.jpg
http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/~arb/scotland/mines_biblio.html
About me
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________________________________
From: mining-history <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Roy Starkey <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 11 August 2018 11:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Garthness copper workings Quendale Shetland
Hi Catherine
The locality you are seeking may be the large pod of pyrrhotite on the coast
at Long Geo - about HU 363 113
I will have 35mm transparency, but do not have a digital image to hand I
can send you.
Best wishes
Roy
-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Catherine Mills
Sent: 11 August 2018 11:55
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Garthness copper workings Quendale Shetland
Good morning does anyone have a grid reference for the mine
Thanks
Catherine
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