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Arran, Glen Sannox
Barytes Mine(S) (19th Century) - (20th Century), Inclined Plane (19th Century) - (20th Century)(Possible), Lade(S) (19th Century) - (20th Century), Opencut(S) (19th Century) - (20th Century), Pond(S) (19th Century) - (20th Century), Railway(S) (20th Century), Spoil Heap(S) (19th Century) - (20th Century), Water Wheel (19th Century) - (20th Century)
Site Name Arran, Glen Sannox
Classification Barytes Mine(S) (19th Century) - (20th Century), Inclined Plane (19th Century) - (20th Century)(Possible), Lade(S) (19th Century) - (20th Century), Opencut(S) (19th Century) - (20th Century), Pond(S) (19th Century) - (20th Century), Railway(S) (20th Century), Spoil Heap(S) (19th Century) - (20th Century), Water Wheel (19th Century) - (20th Century)
Canmore ID 40213
Site Number NS04NW 16
NGR NS 0058 4549
NGR Description NS 003 457 to NS 008 451
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/40213
- Council North Ayrshire
- Parish Kilbride
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Cunninghame
- Former County Buteshire
NS04NW 16 003 457 to 008 451
Barytes was first mined at Sannox in 1840, and between 1853 and 1862 nearly 5,000 tons were produced, when the mine was closed. It was re-opened after the First World War, and by 1934 output had risen to 9,000 tons, but the vein petered out in 1938. Baryta mines.
Source: R McLellan 1970.
(Location cited as NS 007 463)> Barytes mine, Glen sannox, 19th century. The most interesting survival here is almost half an all-iron overshot wheel in its pit.
Source: J R Hume 1977.
The site of these mine workings is represented by a number of spoil heaps and ruined concrete buildings. Two disused mine shafts, now fenced off, are also visible.
Visited by OS December 1977.
Field Visit (1991)
This barytes mine at the mouth of Glen Sannox was surveyed in 1991. It was composed of a widely distributed series of shafts, gullies and spoil heaps with a small railway line running through the heart of the area.
CFA 1991ad; NMRS MS 625/18, nos 7-19.
Reference (2008)
(Location cites as NS 008 452) Glen Sannox: Series of mines and shafts. Some dangerous due to wooden stemples on the floor. Abandoned before 1862 [but see McLellan 1970].
Grampian Speleological Group 2008.
Note (5 July 2018)
The location, classification and period of this site have been reviewed.
HES Survey and Recording 5 July 2018
Field Visit (30 October 2019)
Mining remains associated with the extraction of barytes are visible along the banks of the Sannox Burn. Barytes was used in a variety of applications: as a filler in paper and paint production; as an additive in geological drilling and in the manufacture of barium chemicals. Two phases of activity are represented: the first from 1840 to 1862 and the second from the end of the First World War until 1938, when the vein of barytes became exhausted. The remains include several disused shafts and drift mines, many linear trenches, large areas of dumped spoil and two mineral railways, buildings, building platforms, ponds and there is an iron water wheel still in its pit, which was powered by a lade fed from a tributary stream on the S side of the Sannox Burn.
According to documentary sources, mining operations began in the mid-19th century, with nearly 5000 tons of barytes extracted between 1853 and 1862. During this period a large pulverising mill was erected on the S bank of the Sannox Burn to process and prepare the mineral for shipping on to market. This first phase of mining ceased in 1862 when the eleventh Duke of Hamilton considered that operations spoiled the beauty and tranquillity of the surrounding landscape. Mining resumed after the end of the First World War, when new shafts were sunk and a mineral railway and new pier were built. In 1934 output rose to almost 9000 tons but by 1938 the vein of barytes was exhausted and operations ended. The railways were dismantled and the buildings demolished at the end of the Second World War.
A comparison of the OS maps provides some evidence regarding the sequence of mining activity in Glen Sannox, although by the time the 1st edition of the 6-inch map was published the first phase of operations had already ceased (Argyllshire 1869, Sheet CCXXXVIII). This map shows a large area of spoil in a meander on the S side of the Sannox Burn adjacent to the annotation ‘Old Mines (Barytes)’, with a track leading E to Sannox Bay. It is clear from a revision of the 2nd edition six-inch map, published in 1924 but prepared in 1914, that the first phase of mining straddled both sides of the Sannox Water as here ‘Old Mines (Barytes)’ is annotated on the S side while ‘Old Shaft’ is shown within a fenced enclosure on the opposite bank together with a small area of spoil (Argyll and Bute 1924, Sheet CCXXXVIII). When the one-inch ‘popular’ edition was published in 1926, mining operations had resumed and the ‘Mines’ on the S side of the Sannox Water were served by a mineral railway that ran E to connect with the new pier at Sannox Bay (Island of Arran 1926, Sheet 77). This depiction is replicated on subsequent editions of the OS map published throughout the 1930s and 40s until 1956, when the 7th series one-inch map is published (Isle of Arran 1956, Sheet 66). By this date, the railway serving the pier at Sannox Bay had been removed, the mines are annotated as ‘disused’, and the locations of two of them are shown on the N side of the Sannox Burn. Only on the current edition (2020) of the OS map does the depiction begin to represent the overall extent of operations, including another mineral railway that connected one mine on the N side to the processing plant and loading platforms on the S.
The depictions on the OS maps do not allow for a detailed analysis of the chronology of the operations, however they do support the notion that mining and processing began on the S bank of the Sannox Water and moved progressively N to exploit the vein of barytes. The spoil of the earliest activity stretches along the S bank and has been quarried extensively, probably to provide the metalling for the later railways and tracks. Also on this S side, there are at least two shafts still visible, both now fenced off, a brick-built earth closet, one roofless building and several platforms and machinery stances. Further upslope to the S, there are linear quarries with upcast and some narrow trenches, where trials have been dug to locate the extent and quality of the vein. Water has also been harnessed and a channel has been cut from the burn that feeds S into the Sannox Water, carrying water NE to a series of ponds. This same burn has been dammed further downstream where a sluice controls water into a lade which runs E, providing power to the water wheel and in turn to the machinery processing the barytes. Although the railway has been removed, its line is in part still followed by the present vehicle track.
The mining remains to the N of the Sannox Water are more extensive and the majority belong to the second phase of exploitation. Here there are no fewer than twelve mines and shafts, all with associated spoil heaps, and the finger-like impression of one is suggestive of tipping-runs removing the waste from the mine head by bogies; the end of one of these tipping-runs overlies a prehistoric hut circle (Canmore Id 364121). This mine is connected to the S by a mineral railway which exits the mine through a cutting where sleepers are still in situ; it is possible that this may have operated as an inclined plane. At several points this railway is carried across flatter boggy ground by a series of embankments. To either side of the railway and to the NW, linear trial trenches are still visible, the longest at the NW end measuring 120m in length.
In addition to the hut circle already mentioned, there are several others spread across the surrounding moorland, while three shieling huts were also recorded adjacent to the workings, two on the N side and one on the S (Canmore Ids 364125, 364130, and 364124 respectively).
Visited by HES Survey and Recording (ARG,AMcC,KM), 30 October 2019
