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Whitesmith Mine [1]

Strontian, Invernessshire.

Mine marked as a line of shafts along an open-cut, south of Meall a'Ghriuth and Beinn Ruighe Raonuill. The spoil heap is still clearly visible on the downhill slope south of the open-cut. The coordinates given would seem to be for the furthest west of the main mine shafts west of Ruighe Raonuill although an air shaft is marked further west and an adit or gallery some distance uphill to the north-west.

At NM 825660 are the Whitesmith Mines, consisting of an open-cut 150 yards long and 50 feet deep, and a whim shaft about 200 feet deep. There are also somesmall pits and opencuts. Further to the west at NM 815660 are the West Whitesmith mines consisting of small shafts and trenches. [NCMRS]

The mine buildings appear on the 1875 OS map at Ruighe Raonuill.

Whitesmith Mine is named after John Whitesmith, an English miner who worked at Strontian in the early eighteenth century. It worked via a shallow adit driven from the east, which is linked to a deep shaft, marked as Whim Shaft (Russell 1919). The eastern remains of the mine, including the adit entrance, were destroyed by quarrying in the 1980s. An ancient open-cut about 300 m long, flanked to the south by a veneer of mineralised spoil remain to the west. [Tony Oldham]

Alternative Names: Whitesmith Lead Mine

Notes: Beinn Ruighe Raonuill. A hill feature, situate on the east [west] of "Bealach Feith nan Laogh" Signifies: "The Mountain of Ronald's herding place".

Ruighe Raonuill. A green hollow, well sheltered, situate at the foot of "Beinn Ruighe Raonuill", and about 1/2 a mile from the head of Scotstown. Sig: [Signification] "Ronald's herding Place".

Meall a' Ghriuth. A hill feature situate on the west side of "Beinn Ruighe Raonuill", and about 1/2 Mile north of Scotstown. Sig: [Signification] "The hill of the Mine".

Bellsgrove Loch. A small Loch close to the mines on the lands of Sir T. Riddell Bart. [Baronet].

The Whitesmith Mines appear to have been encroached on by the later development of the Middleshope Mines which originally began downslope to the south-east. It may now be impossible to tell which of the shafts in the cental area belonged to the Whitesmith Mine and which belonged to the Middleshope Mine (which seems to include much of the 1980s barite extraction).