Carrshield lead mine and ore works. Photo Northumberland County Council.

Dressing floor for preparation of lead ore prior to smelting. Here the river runs between high stone-built sides with drainage outlets emerging in both walls. A long line of two-storey buildings formerly smithies, together with another group of small workshops, still stands. (1)

Carr Shield, surveyed by RCHME (Newcastle), July-August 1992 at 1:1250 scale. (2)

Barney Crag and Scraithole lead mines worked in 19th and 20th centuries. Scraithole mine was worked until the 1970s and the remains of this activity dominates the site. Many earlier elements are still recognisable, including buildings, trackways, culverts and reservoirs, quarries and a limekiln. Large amounts of material have been dumped near access points to prevent illegal camping. Other remains lie outside the area surveyed.
The elements which make up the site include buildings, hushes, adits, processing areas, waste heaps, quarries, limekilns and tracks. (3)

Scheduled. (4)

Adit portal of Barneycraig Horse Level on east bank of River West Allen. A probably 18th century lead mine adit portal.
Revetment wall on east side of River West Allen, to north of bridge, early 19th century. Some 60m north of bridge is a major collapse of the wall. (5)

Barneycraig Level begins just to the right of the shops with the washing floor and very high bouse teams spreading down the valley to the left. Walling was necessary to keep the river in check and to provide a built-up dressing floor. Disposal of waste was a problem; most was trammed to the other side of the valley and can be seen through the trees. (6)

A stream emerging from the old mine entrance disappears underground, reappears briefly from a low tunnel a short distance north-west of the Barneycraig mine shops, and passes down a further conduit to join the river. Inside the tunnel entrance a branch passage runs east towards the mine shops. These passages were investigated in 2009. The branch passage led to a T-junction with a conduit that ran diagonally beneath, and pre-dated, the north part of the mine shops. To the south it led to a chamber with rusting ironwork holding up the roof. To the north the passage was accessible for over 100m to a point where a wooden stake was driven through the middle of the passage (on the surface this was a trackside gatepost); the passage is presumed to continue to an exit further downstream. (7)

A series of groundworks were monitored by Archaeological Services Durham University during 2012 across the Carrshield site. These revealed that beneath a sandy crust of topsoil are the laminated blue-grey clay and silts of the spoil heap, as well as rubble and shale layers (possibly with a layer of cinder). These layers are recorded as being unstable in places. (8)

A Heritage Assessment was undertaken by Archaeological Services Durham University for Barney Craig Mine Water Treatment Scheme, Carrshield in February 2015 to inform the production of a feasibility study. The assessment combined documentary and cartographic records, records of archaeological interventions, geotechnical data, and the Historic Environment Record. The report concluded that the development has the potential to impact on recorded and previously unknown below ground remains and the setting of the historic assets. It recommended that where there is the potential for the stability of structures to be affected by groundworks associated with the development, stabilisation should be incorporated into the design scheme. It was also recommended that groundworks are restricted to the depth of the tailings, existing topography is preserved and any above ground structures are designed to minimise impact on the setting of the scheduled area, listed building and surrounding area. The nature and extent of recording work will depend on the nature and extent of works. (9)

A watching brief was carried out by Northern Archaeological Associates at Barney Craig Mine, Carrshield. The watching brief within the scheduled area demonstrated the presence of archaeological features beneath the existing Tailing Management Facility (TMF) which related to the historic lead mine. These features included a wall for a trackway leading into the mining complex and a number of wall foundations along the line of the monitored drainage works. Evidence of possible bridge footings were recorded at the northern end of the monitored drainage works and a later area of probable hard standing associate with the TMF was also recorded. The watching brief also successfully identified and avoided earthworks relating to mining activity, recognising the vulnerability of the standing remains of a miner's cottage at Low Blue Row. (10)

A watching brief between 2017 and 2018 recorded various fragments of iron, crushed stone, and occasional dressed stone blocks behind the retaining wall for the River West Allen. These items are thought to represent elements of the lead mine that were disturbed by later activity. A short section of wall aligned north-south was exposed during preliminary access work to the south of one area close to the Lodging Shop; the wall was thought to be related to a cart track which ran to the bouse teams to the north. (11)

A watching brief in 208 recorded a trough and timber structure. They are thought to have been associated with the washing floor. (12)

Barney Crag and Scraithole lead mines, which were worked during the 19th and 20th centuries, occupy the bottom and lower slopes of the West Allen valley to the south of Carr Shield. The lodging shop (NY 8037 4674) is the largest in the north Pennines and incorporated a smithy and/or assay house (1a); the building stands to full height but is in decay. Some buildings associated with the mines, such as Blue Row Cottages (NY 8041 4695), are still occupied as private dwellings while others survive as no more than footings. There are three possible hushes, one to the east of the river (NY 804 466) and two to the west (NY 803 466) which cut an earlier track. There are two adits within the survey area, one by the south end of the lodging shop and the other (Scraithole) on the west side of the river (NY 8031 4692). The stone-built bouse teams (NY 8037 4688) are probably of 19th-century origin but have been modified. Other structures have been buried by a later tailings heap (NY 8035 4707). Numerous culverts are visible, mainly in the area of the lodging shop, and there are two large reservoirs above the washing floor (NY 8038 4704). The dead heap lies on the west side of the river and the worked waste on the east side, downstream from the adits. Where it runs between the waste heaps the river is revetted on both sides by substantial stone walls which are subject to erosion. One stone- arched bridge survives and the abutments of two others can be seen. A report at RCHME Level 2 accompanies the 1:1250 plan of the site. (13 a-b)

Listed. (13c)