Started out as a recce as I had heard of this place a few weeks back. After tramping up and down a couple of hills, nearly giving up then finding a 'steep bank no access' sign I found it with little time left for a proper mooch.
There's not much history I can find, other than this mine has probably been worked for lead, maybe from even roman times. There's evidence of a roman settlement about a mile from here. There's also one curiosity here, a rare mineral, Carbonate-cyanotrichite, and this place has the UK's second recorded occurrence. It forms 'sky-blue crusts of interlocking spheroidal aggregates of minute feathery crystals in the wall-rock of the underground workings.' Couldn't find any, though it might be under the graff that's everywhere here.
It's not very large, going back maybe 70 or 80 metres, with quite a few short passages going off from quite a few levels. There was only time for a couple of photos before it went dark outside and I didn't fancy scrambling back up the hill in the dark.