Solo visit to check out what remains above ground..........
(and also to see if any underground access was available)
At Ullcoats the first shaft was sunk in 1900 followed by another six, three of which though were abandoned during sinking because of difficulties with the glacial deposits immediately above the orebody. In 1917 the mine was taken over by the Millom and Askam Company who owned the nearby Ullbank/Florence mines. From then it was operated as a single complex and connected underground to Florence in the 1950's. It proved to be a long and lonely work for the small number of men driving the connecting drift and this part of the mine became known as `lonely hearts`.
The Ullcoats mine was closed in 1968 when the company went into liquidation following nationalisation of the steel industry. In 1969 the lease was taken by the Beckermet mine which after nationalisation became part of the British Steel Corporation.
A drift was put through in 1970 and the Ullcoats and Florence mines worked as a single unit until their closure in 1980
And on with the pictures...............