East Cow Green Mine, Upper Teesdale

East Cow Green Mine sits quietly on the open moor just east of Cow Green Reservoir in Upper Teesdale.

It is not a place with one big ruin or one obvious focal point. Instead, this is a mining landscape made up of smaller details scattered across the hillside. Old workings are tucked into the ground, shafts are hidden among the grass, and the remains only really begin to make sense when you slow down and look properly.

To reach the mine area, drive to Cow Green Reservoir Car Park, DL12 0HX, then walk back along the same road you arrived on. This road follows the line of the old tramway, once used to move materials through the wider Cow Green mining area. 

The mine area is around three quarters of a mile east of the car park on open access land.

A quieter part of the Cow Green mining landscape

East Cow Green was one part of the wider Cow Green mining area, where lead was worked first and barytes became more important later on. Older mine records link this area with several veins, including the Teesdale or East Cow Green vein, as well as Hopkins, Middle, Holmes, Rods, and Rods Cross.

That wider context matters because East Cow Green does not really stand alone. It sits within the same upland mining district as Dubbysike, Green Hurth, and the other Cow Green workings.

Old newspaper notices help show that clearly. In July 1874, the Teesdale Mercury carried an advert for experienced lead miners at Teesdale Mine, East Cow Green, Dabby Syke Mine, and Isabella Mine in Harwood, while labourers and stonebreakers were also wanted for the construction of a road from Langdon Beck to Green Hurth Mine. A year later, in May 1875, the same paper carried a notice asking for tenders to complete a road already partly formed between East Cow Green and Dubby Syke Lead Mine.

Those notices do not prove that all of these places were one single mine, but they do show that they were being worked as closely linked parts of the same wider mining landscape.

What you see when you walk out

At first, it can feel like there is very little here.

But much of East Cow Green is hidden in plain sight.

As you walk back along the old tramway from the car park, the first feature you come to is a small old quarry on your left. It is easy to miss if you are not looking for it, but it helps show that this part of the moor was worked in more ways than one.

A little further on stands the small red brick building.

This is one of the most noticeable remains in the area, but it is important to be honest here. We have not found documented evidence directly linking the red brick building to East Cow Green Mine. It stands within the wider mining landscape and may well have been connected to activity here, but at the moment that cannot be stated as fact.

Beyond and around these features, the mine area starts to reveal itself more clearly. The ground is rough, boggy, and uneven, with shallow workings, disturbed patches, and fenced shafts hidden among the moorland. It is the sort of place where the history slowly appears through dips in the land, broken stone, and subtle changes in the shape of the hillside.

Lead first, barytes later

Like other workings around Cow Green, East Cow Green seems to reflect the wider story of the area. Earlier mining here focused on lead, while later working turned more towards barytes.

Barytes is a very heavy natural mineral, often white or pale grey in colour. Unlike lead, it was not mined to be smelted into metal. It was wanted because of its weight and useful industrial properties.

It was used in things like drilling mud for oil and gas wells, where the heavy mineral helped manage pressure underground. It was also used in paint, paper, rubber, and chemical products, where a dense white mineral was needed.

That change can also be seen in the wider Cow Green story. In December 1905, the Teesdale Mercury reported that the Cow Green Mining Company planned to erect a windmill at their Cow Green Lead Mine to pump water out of the workings so men could return to work, rather than relying on hand pumping. Later reports show barytes becoming more important. One newspaper piece described a barytes boom at Cow Green, with several hundred tons being raised and 31 men employed. By 1954, the Teesdale Mercury reported that Anglo Austral Mines Ltd had found it necessary to close their barytes mine at Cow Green.

Taken together, those reports help show how this landscape changed over time, from earlier lead mining into later barytes working.

East Cow Green and the wider mine network

East Cow Green was not an isolated working on its own. Old records suggest it was part of a much wider pattern of mining across this side of Upper Teesdale, with nearby places such as Dubbysike, Green Hurth, and the other Cow Green workings all linked through the same upland landscape.

That does not mean they were all one single mine. But it does show that this hillside was once far busier than it feels today. Roads, tramways, shafts, levels, and separate veins all formed part of a much larger working area spread across the moor.

That wider picture helps East Cow Green make more sense. What now feels quiet and scattered would once have been part of a living industrial landscape, with men working across different points of the hillside and materials being moved through the area rather than staying in one neat place.

The human cost of that landscape should not be forgotten either. Newspaper reports from the twentieth century record accidents in the wider Cow Green workings, including a fatality after a fall of stone. Even though East Cow Green feels peaceful today, places like this were once hard working and dangerous environments.

Why East Cow Green still matters

Part of what makes East Cow Green so interesting is that it has never become a polished heritage site. There are no boards, no fences leading you from one feature to the next, and no easy summary standing at the entrance.

Instead, the place still asks you to notice things for yourself.

A shaft tucked into the grass. A quarry cut into the slope. A building with no easy explanation. A ruined magazine higher on the hill. Taken separately, each feature might feel small. Together, they show just how much happened here.

That is what gives East Cow Green its value today. It is not just an old mine site. It is one of those places where the shape of the land still carries its own memory.

These are some of the remains you can still spot around East Cow Green today.

Visiting East Cow Green Mine today

This is open access land, but it is rough going. The ground can be boggy, the workings can be hidden, and the weather at Cow Green can change very quickly from sunshine to rain, hail, or even snow.

Good footwear is a must, and it is worth taking your time as you explore. That slower pace suits the place anyway, because East Cow Green is best understood by looking closely rather than rushing through.

It is not the biggest or most obvious mine site around Cow Green, and that is exactly why it stays with you.

There is no single dramatic ruin here. Instead, East Cow Green is a place of fragments. A quarry, a shaft, a hidden opening, an old building, a ruined magazine on the hill. Piece by piece, they build the story of a working landscape that has never fully disappeared.

Now the moor has softened it, but not erased it.

If you are willing to walk out, slow down, and look properly, East Cow Green still has plenty to say.