Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/09/028

Address :
Ruined winding engine house and chimney Old lead mine Whitespots Newtownards Co. Down

Townland:
Whitespots

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Demolished

Former Use
Pump house

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
Demolished

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OS Map No:
131/8

IG Ref:
J4918 7687

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Site of former three storey engine house associated with the former Whitespots lead mine. This building built c.1836 and abandoned in the 1860s finally collapsed in 1975 and all the ruins have since been cleared away. All the that remains of the complex is the chimney (to N) which is built in whinstone rubble with uppermost portion in brick (with stone coping) and measuring c.2.2m in diameter by c.14m in height. There is a small opening (c.1m in height) at the base. The N and W of this chimney is a golf course with woods to the E. Description from 1st Survey card " 3 sty building. Broken slated roof, gable ends. Walls whinstone rubble. Broken openings. S/c arch doorway, Scrabo stone voussoirs. Ivy growth on walls. Adjacent chimney about 9 ft dia x 90 ft high. Three quarters height in whinstone rubble with stone cap and extended in brick with stone cap."

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Lead mining in Whitespots began in 1780 when the ‘Bangor and Newtownards Mining Company’ was formed. The partners in the company were Robert Ward of Castle Ward, Rev. James Clewlow of Bangor, Sir John Blackwood of Ballyleidy (Clandeboye), James Millar, a mining engineer from Mayo, and Robert Stewart, the future Lord Londonderry. It was from Stewart’s father, Alexander, that the land was leased. Mining commenced in October of that year under Millar’s supervision but frustrated at their efforts to find rich enough veins, the partners abandoned the mine in September 1783. In 1827 a Manx company under the title ‘Newtownards Mines’ secured a lease of Whitespots from the 3rd Marquis of Londonderry and recommenced mining in the area on a much larger scale. An old windmill on the site was renovated and readapted to power various pieces of machinery, and a complex of mining related structures were constructed. By 1840, however, Londonderry had become concerned about the relatively small return he was receiving in the form of royalties from the Manxmen. He commissioned John Taylor, an engineer who was employed by the Ulster Mining Company at Conlig (just to the north of Whitespots), to survey the mines. In March 1842 Taylor produced a report criticising the methods of mining at Whitespots in which the Manx owners employed what has been termed a ‘smash and grab’ method in which ore was extracted in a haphazard fashion and at relatively high expense, whilst the full potential of the veins remained untapped. Thus in 1842 when a renewed lease was granted to the company (most of whose original partners appear to have been forced to resign), clauses were contained within the document to actively discourage the stripping of the ore and to encourage more careful (and ultimately more profitable) mining methods. As a result, the company greatly increased expenditure on the venture, new veins were discovered and mine began to yield ore in greater quantities. A new shaft was sunk to the south and a new engine house erected, whilst more buildings including a counting house with ‘dining room’ were constructed around the main shaft near the windmill. In 1850 the company acquired the Conlig Mine also. The success of the Newtownards and Ulster Mining Company (as the partnership became known after 1850) was short lived. After 1853 the yields of the Whitespots mine began to decline. The partners were not prepared for the newly opened veins to run dry so quickly and though richer veins may have existed, they were not prepared repeat their investment. The Conlig mine was abandoned in 1853 and by 1865 yields had dropped so dramatically at Whitespots the that the company auctioned the lease of the mines in both townlands, along with all of the mining equipment, in March of that year. The lease was bought by Frederick Blackwood, Lord Dufferin, ironically to discourage future mining at Conlig which he had long regarded as something of an eyesore, being right next to his Clandeboye estate. Blackwood had little interest in holding on to the lease of Whitespots, however,.and at first he attempted to surrender it to the Marquis of Londonderry. Londonderry’s agent, however, insisted that anyone who held the lease had to adhere to the rigid terms of 1842 which stipulated active mining activity. In order to avoid this (for mining in the area was of course unprofitable) Dufferin eventually bought the title to the royalties outright. In 1879 and again in 1912 there were attempts to reopen the mine both of which came to nothing. Today the former area covered by the Whitespots mine remains barren and inhospitable, largely unforsaken due to the prevalence of the waste lead left behind after the mining activities. This engine house was built in c.1838 to serve the north shaft of the former Whitespots lead mines. The inventory of the buildings on the mine dating from December 1864 lists ‘one Cornish pumping engine 36in. cycl. 8ft. 6in. stroke; supplied by two flue boilers of a half inch plate, 20ft. long & 5.5ftft diameter, also balance bob, capstan, sheers & 200 fathoms 8in. capstan rope. The gearing of the engine is bright and the whole is in first rate working order’. Apparently this was the sole Cornish pumping engine ever used in Ireland. The engine house was abandoned when the mine closed in 1865, but much of the main building survived until 1975 when it finally collapsed. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI D.654/P/1 Londonderry Papers Journal of the work carried out by the Bangor and Newtownards mining Company 1780- 83. 2 PRONI D.654/P/3 Londonderry Papers Report on the lordship of the lead mines 1829 3 PRONI OS Maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 6. 4 PRONI D.654/P/8 Londonderry Papers Report on the lead mines by John Taylor, 7 Mar 1842. 5 PRONI D.654/P/4 Londonderry Papers Lease between F.B. [?]Byrne and G.W. Dumbell relating to the Newtownards lead mines, 5 April 1842. 6 PRONI D.654/P/9 Londonderry Papers ‘Report on the Irish lead mines’ by G. Elliot, Dec.1851 7 PRONI D.654/P/5 Londonderry Papers Lead mines papers 1858-60. 8 PRONI OS maps 1st rev. 1858-60, Co. Down 6. 9 PRONI D.654/P/6 Londonderry Papers Assignment between G.W. Dumbell and Lord Dufferin, 25 May 1865. 10 PRONI D.654/P/7 Londonderry Papers Surrender of lease between Lord Dufferin and Lord Londonderry, 3 Dec 1867. 11 PRONI D.1071/K8/4/- Dufferin Papers Documents concerning the Conlig and Whitespots mines including an inventory of the materials and buildings on the Newtownards lead mines 21 Dec. 1864. Secondary sources 1 A. Woodrow 'A history of the Conlig and Whitespots lead mines' (Northern Mine Society 1978). This is an extremely detailed (and somewhat specialised) book which quotes from Manx records concerning the ‘Newtown Ards Mines’ 1827-28. 2 W McCutcheon 'The industrial archaeology of Northern Ireland' (HMSO 1980), plate 142. 3 E.R.R. Green 'The industrial archaeology of County Down' (HMSO 1963), p.52.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Site of former winding engine house associated with the Whitespots lead mines, built c.1838 but abandoned in 1865 and now demolished with only the chimney stack surviving.

General Comments

Date of Survey

10 June 1998