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Louisa Mine

Glenshanna Burn, E of Glendinning / Jamestown, Dumfriesshire.

Mine (Antimony), late 18th to early 20th c.

Series of flooded adits, currently blocked 100 metres in. Three adits (High Level, Middle Drift & Low Level) connected by blind shafts, the Low Level being the most extensive with its southern half being connected to the surface by three shafts. See mine plan (SP1784, in refs) for layout.

"The Louisa Mine, also known as Glendinning Mine, is located near the head of the valley of Glenshanna Burn (a tributary of Meggat Water), approximately 1.3 km (0.8 miles) east of the small settlement of Jamestown and 22.5 km (14 miles) NE of the town of Lockerbie. The Jamestown settlement lies 7 km (4.5 miles) N of the hamlet of Bentpath and was established by the Westerhall Mining Company in the 1790s for miners working at the short-lived Louisa mine, extracting antimony discovered nearby in the form of stibnite. Both the ore processing plant and a row of miners' cottages at Jamestown are now gone, leaving only a solitary house, but the remnants of the mine and its spoil heaps can still be found at the foot of Alkin Hill to the east.

Ore was found at the Louisa Mine in 1788 and extracted from 1793-1798, 1888-1901 and 1919-1922. The vein trends NE, with stibnite being the primary mineral occurring. The mine was the first and probably the largest antimony mine in Britain.

From the track running up the valley to the mine on the N side of the burn, two trail drifts can be seen clearly. The high level shaft of the main mine is still open for a short distance. Near the collapsed entrance to the lower level lies the only surviving building, the magazine, built of brick with a slated roof. Between the upper level shaft and the burn valley are the remains of the spoil tips, a furnace and a number of minor structures, such as ponds for washing the ore." [Mindat.org]

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"In the south-central part of the Southern Uplands antimony was won from the Louisa Mine [NY 313 966] at Glendinning, about 6 km east of Eskdalemuir. About 200 tonnes of antimony were produced in the late 19th century from a north-east-trending network of thin veins worked by shafts and adits. The antimony is principally contained in stibnite, but other antimony-bearing minerals are present, including semseyite, bournonite and tetrahedrite. Also commonly present are arsenopyrite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite, all contained in a quartz-carbonate gangue. The host rocks are Silurian sandstone of the Hawick Group, which modern exploration has shown to contain stratabound disseminations of pyrite and arsenopyrite concentrated into debris flow beds of intraformational conglomerate up to 4 m thick and containing 0.75 per cent arsenic. The arsenopyrite contains up to 0.4 per cent gold and 0.33 per cent antimony, whilst the pyrite contains up to 5 per cent arsenic. These relationships suggest a complex mineralisation history, and a possible source for the vein mineralisation." [Stone et al, 2012]

Alternative Names: Glendinning Mine, Louisa Antimony Mine

Notes: Given coordinates are for the mouth to the 'High Adit'. Shafts to the Low Level are visible at [NY 3125 9654] & [3127 9658]. A third shaft shown on the mine plan x-section is probably located at [3128 9661]. Given length & VR are approx, based on measurements from mine plan (High Level ca. 280m, Middle Drift ca. 220m, Low Level ca. 430m).

Vein trends NE and hades SE at 80 deg to vertical. Walls horizontally slickensided about 4 ft apart. Infill mainly breccia of country rock (Silurian slate) cemented with calcite & quartz with occasional strings of ore, up to 2 inch wide. Primary mineral stibnite (Sb2S3) occuring in masses & strings, mixed with lead (galena). zinc (sphalerite - mainly black iron bearing "marmatite" but some lighter more transluscent "honey-blende"), copper (chalcopyrites) & iron (pyrite) . Other primary antimony minerals, jamesonite (Pb4FEeSb6S14) & semseyite (Pb9Sb8S21) also occur but rarely. Secondary minerals cervanite & valentinite only found as minor encrustation on stibnite.

Antimony, Cervanite & valentinite pseudomorphs, Sphalerite - Black Jack & Honey Blende. Massive galena associated with stibnite, sphalerite, etc. recovered from spoil.

There may be more trials in the area.