The Groverake flourspar mine is located between the villages of Rookhope in Weardale in County Durham and Allenheads in Northumberland.
Workings at Grove Rake probably started during the medieval period and the mine takes its name from these early opencast workings. Mining certainly took place on the Green Cleugh vein in the 17th century. A series of large opencasts called Fraser's Hushes were worked on Green Cleugh Vein in the 28th century. The Weardale Iron Company opened a large quarry on the vein that was productive from 1865 to 1877. For most of the 18th and 19th centuries the lead mines at Grove Rake were worked by the Beaumont Company. By the 20th century the mines of Grove Rake were producing fluorspar. After passing through the hands of many different companies the mine finally closed in 1999, by which time it was the last fluorspar mine in England.
Size: 4287px × 2848px
Location: Rookhope, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © stephen brian / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -urban, abandoned, beams, color, colour, day, discovery, disused, exploration, field, framework, girders, groverake, hill, horizontal, image, industry, landscape, machine, machinery, manufacturing, metal, mining, neglected, outdoors, part, people, photography, platforms, pony, railings, rookhope, rural, rusting, scale, scene, silhouette, sky, square, stairs, steel, structure, tower, weardale, wheels, winding, workings
