Rotherhope Fell Mine_ Alston Moor

							Rotherhope Fell Mine, Alston Moor

The Rotherhope Fell mine (also known as Rodderup Fell) was located on
Alston Moor, just west of Weardale. Lead mining on the Rotherhope Fell
mine (also known as Rodderup Fell) and related veins dates to the late
eighteenth century, and Fairbairn (1993) listed a continuous succession of
leaseholders and operators through the nineteenth century.

In 1900 the property was acquired by the Vieille Montagne Lead and Zinc
Company, which operated the mine until 1947, when it was sold and
dismantled. Reprocessing of old dump material for fluorspar continued into
the 1970s. The most recent workings were accessed by an incline known as
the Blackburn level.   From this level a number of drifts and underground
shafts worked the vein at levels from the Five Yard Limestone down to the
Whin Sill. Extensive flats were encountered in the Tynebottom Limestone.
Fluorite, galena, and calcite were the most common minerals found, along
with lesser amounts of other sulfides.