Blackton or Eggleston High Mill – NY99662518
This was built by the London Lead Company around 1820 and until that company surrendered its lease in 1902. According to Foster, in 1821 it had: one roasting furnace, one smelting furnace, two ore-hearths, two refining furnaces and one reducing furnace.
The flues ran for 815 metres to an octagonal chimney, which was demolished in 1932.
Eggleston Middle Mill – NY99342493
The mill was probably built before 1771 when Timothy Hutchinson leased Flakebrigge Mine with a smelt mill and refining house to the London Lead Company. It paid £6 per year for the mill. According to Forster, however, the mill was much out of repair in 1821, when it had three ore hearths, one smelting furnace and two refining furnaces. Operations are likely to have been concentrated a Blackton Mill thereafter.
Eggleston Low or Lady Bowes’s Mill – NY98532598
This mill is thought to have been built by Anne Bowes, mother of Talbot Bowes (then a minor) between 1608 and 1615. In 1821 it was occupied by the London Lead Company and had one roasting furnace, one smelting furnace and two ore-hearths. Like the Middle Mill, it is likely that smelting was soon moved to Blackton Mill.
Further information and references can be found in:
- Fairbairn, R.A. (2005) The Mines of Upper Teesdale (British Mining No.77), pp.157-158
- Westgarth Foster (1821) A Treatise on the Strata from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Cross Fell (Alston)
