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Bay Mine (Pumping Shaft)

Wanlockhead, Whyte's Cleugh, Dumfriesshire.

Mine (Lead), 18th c.

"The Bay Mine: The Bay vein was worked from a mine in a little valley to the NE of the Wanlock Burn and called Whyte's Cleuch. It is bounded by the Dod Hill, 537m and Limpen Rig, 508m, and is about 900m long. Many of the ore veins cross the valley and it has always been an important centre of mining operations. The Bay mine is towards the bottom of the valley at an altitude of 381m. Two shafts, one for pumping and one for winding, reach the adit, known as Milligan's Level, about 33m below the surface. The top of the winding shaft has fallen in, leaving a crater in loose ground. The pumping shaft is intact and capped with concrete.

The 25" OS Map, 1898 Revision, shows that there were once sidings of a mineral tramway on flat ground beside the mine, and the line of this tramway can still be followed along the sides of Limpen Rig and Sowen Dod to the old smelter beyond the cottages at Meadowfoot. Near the top of this tramway is a ruined reservoir, and from it the line of a leat can be traced along the side of the valley to a point where it once took water from the Whyte's Cleuch Burn and also from an adit, Tait's Level. Tait's was once an important day level into the higher workings in Cove and Beltongrain veins. Above the leat, a later water system of earthenware pipes and wooden troughs carried water from the Whyte's Cleuch and Limpen Burns to a small cistern near the minehead.

The sinking of the Bay Mine shafts was begun in 1789, but this first phase of mining operations lasted only ten years. Sometime in the 1860's the mine was re-opened and work continued there until the present century, probably until 1914. Certainly, by the 1920's the mine was disused, the machinery being scrapped during the 1930's when the Wanlockhead mines were run down and closed. In 1954 a consortium of companies began to drain the Wanlockhead mines and subsequently worked the New Glencrieff mine for a short time. They attempted to de-water the Bay mine, and the pitwork, including the remains of a water pressure engine, was taken out. The contractors, Messrs. Mowlem Limited, erected a massive headgear over the old pumping shaft and to support this, and the winding engine, they dug out some of the surface structures and laid concrete rafts." [NMRS, 1976]

"Named after Botany Bay in Australia. 1789 saw the opening of the pumping/main shaft at Bay Mine. The mine appears to have operated from 1790 to 1919. This mine is famed for being the site of William Symington's Improved Atmospheric Engine." [aditnow]

The Bay Mine levels are connected to the Straitstep workings to the SE (see mine plan in refs). "The course of this [Whyte's Cleuch] vein, as laid down on the old plans, is rather irregular, and in all probability the workings are not all in one vein. The Bay Mine is the most northerly of the works, and is situated on what is known as the Bay Vein, which trends about N.N.W. and hades to the east. About 120 yds. from its junction with Straitstep Vein proper this vein changes its direction, and runs about 12° west of north for a short distance; then it turns off to the west and resumes its former direction. The change may possibly be due to the fact that the Weir's Vein joins the Bay Vein at about this point." [Wilson, 1921]

"A short time previous to the termination of their operations at Menock-hass, the Company turned their attention to the north end of said [Bay-Straitstep] vein, where it crosses Whitescleugh Burn. There they also established a steam-engine of sixty horse power, on the plan of the late Mr William Symington, and sunk the mine to the depth of 47 fathoms under the main level. That part of the vein which is north of the Engine Pit, was pretty rich, and produced a considerable quantity of excellent ore so far as it did bear, but having entered an extensive clay bed, which runs nearly east and west for some miles, the forehead ceased to bear ore, and the Company, of course, turned their attention more particularly to the south end of the mine, where the vein runs through the end of the Dodhill towards Straitstep proper. On this account, and also from Whitescleugh being sunk 12 or 15 fathoms deeper than Straitstep, as was shewn by a communication that was made betwixt the two mines, the Company were enabled to take out much ore in Straitstep, which otherwise would have been lost." [History of Sanquhar]

Alternative Names: Charles Mine, Whitescleugh, Whyte's Cleugh

Notes: The discovery of lead around the area is generally attributed to Dutch gold prospector, Cornelius de Vois, locally referred to as Cornelius Hardskin. Vois was active in this area at the end of the 1560's, however records show that mining activity was present as early as 1512. In these early days, gold and silver was being searched for, usually by the means of hushing in the hope of exposing any veins. Some native gold was found and even nuggets have made appearances, but most of what was recovered, was by panning or sluicing. No native silver was found, and only when lead mining was started did some recovery of silver occur via the process of smelting lead ore. Due to the general failure in finding any rich veins, the area was abandoned at the beginning of the 17th century. [mineexplorer]

At Bay Mine Site (NS 868 137) there is a stone column for a water engine and the pit of a large waterwheel. Excavations by Glasgow University Summer Schools in 1972-4 revealed foundations of engine- and boiler-houses, including the stone base for an engine built by William Symington. [Canmore]

"William Symington (1764-1831) was an engineer and inventor, and the builder of the first practical steamboat. Symington was born in Leadhills, to a family he described as being "respectable but not wealthy." His father worked as a practical mechanic at the Leadhills mines. Although his parents intended for him to enter the ministry, he intended to use his good education to make a career as an engineer. In 1785 he joined his brother George in his attempts to build a steam engine at Wanlockhead. He impressed the manager of the mining company, Gilbert Meason, so much that he was sent to the University of Edinburgh in 1786 to spend a few months attending science lectures. By the time William joined his brother, George had already succeeded in building the second engine using James Watt's design to be built in Scotland.

William Symington quickly saw a way to marry the efficiency of the Watt engine with the simplicity of that devised by Thomas Newcomen. Encouraged by Gilbert Meason, Symington demonstrated the practicality of his idea and his improved atmospheric engine was patented in 1787. When Watt sent someone to make a sketch of how this new engine worked, he discovered that the steam was condensed under a second piston and this was then pushed down when fresh steam entered the cylinder, forcing out the condensate. The power piston worked by the atmospheric pressure acting on the vacuum created by the condensing steam. After its completion, Symington drew up a prospectus outlining the advantages of his invention, and this was circulated by Meason and his influential friends. This resulted in the improved engine at Bay Mine in 1789 and Symington becoming known as the inventor of the commercially viable atmospheric pumping engine." [Wanlock Visions]

Hydrographic Feeds: Whyte's Cleugh Burn

Hydrographic Resurgences: Previously Wanlock Water (or via drainage level to Leadhills).