West Cow Green Mine, Upper Teesdale
West Cow Green Mine sits quietly on the open moor just west of Cow Green Reservoir car park, in a landscape where the remains are easy to miss at first.
This is not a place with one large ruin or a single feature that stands out.
Instead, it is a mining landscape made up of fragments. Subtle shapes in the ground, low spoil heaps, shallow cuts in the hillside.
What you see here today is only part of the story.
Much of the wider Cow Green mine system now lies beneath the reservoir, flooded during its construction in the late 1960s. What remains on land are the outer edges, the quieter traces of a much larger working area.
Finding West Cow Green Mine
The easiest place to start is Cow Green Reservoir Car Park, DL12 0HX.
From the car park, the mine remains are just a short walk to the west across open access land. There is no marked path, but the terrain is open and easy to explore if you take your time.
This area sits at around 480 metres above sea level, and even on a calm day it can feel exposed. The weather can change quickly here, so it is always worth being prepared before heading out.
A landscape shaped by mining and water
West Cow Green forms part of the wider Cow Green mining area, where lead was worked first and barytes became more important later on.
Records describe this as a group of mines rather than one single site. Veins such as Winterhush, Greenhush and Isabella were worked across the hillside, with shafts and levels linking different parts of the moor.
Mining here continued into the mid twentieth century, before finally closing in the 1950s.
Not long after, the landscape changed completely.
The construction of Cow Green Reservoir between 1967 and 1971 flooded large parts of the valley, including sections of the mine. The workings were not removed, they were submerged.
What remains today is only a fragment of what once existed, with much of the mine still lying beneath the water.
What you see when you walk out
At first, it can feel like there is very little here.
But like East Cow Green, this is a place where the detail slowly appears.
As you move across the moor, the ground begins to change. Slight rises mark old spoil heaps. Shallow channels cut through the grass where hushes once stripped back the soil to reveal mineral veins.
These hushes are one of the clearest signs of mining here. Water would have been stored and then released down the hillside, washing away loose ground and exposing the rock beneath.
It is a simple method, but when you stand in one of these channels today, you can still see the scale of the work that went into shaping the land.
A landscape of hidden features
Elsewhere, the ground tells its own story.
Collapsed areas hint at shafts or underground voids below. Rough patches of stone and grass mark where material was brought up and dumped. Lines across the slope show where the hillside was worked and reshaped.
There are no signs, no barriers, and no clear route linking these features together.
You have to notice them for yourself.
That is what makes this place feel different.
West Cow Green Mine today
West Cow Green is not the most obvious or dramatic mine site in Teesdale.
But that is exactly what makes it worth visiting.
There is no single structure to stand in front of. No clear start and finish. Just a quiet stretch of moor where the past sits just below the surface.
Much of it is hidden
Some of it is gone
But enough remains to piece the story together
A moment to slow down
Standing here, with the reservoir behind you and the open moor stretching out ahead, it is hard to imagine how busy this place once was.
Men working across the hillside
Water cutting through the ground
Material being moved along tracks and levels
Now it feels still.
And that contrast is what stays with you.
What you can still spot at West Cow Green
Level entrance at West Cow Green
A partially collapsed mine level set into the hillside. One of the clearest surviving features and a direct link to the underground workings.
Collapsed shaft near the reservoir
Broken ground and exposed stone show where workings once dropped into the hillside. A reminder that much of the mine still exists below the surface.
Hushes running down the hillside
Shallow grassy channels formed by water used in mining. These are some of the most visible and easiest features to recognise once you know what to look for.
Visiting West Cow Green Mine
This is open access land, but it is rough and uneven in places.
The ground can be boggy
Old workings may be hidden
And the weather can change quickly
Good footwear is essential, and it is worth taking your time as you explore.
This is not a place to rush.
It is a place to look closely.
About this guide
This page is based on a real visit to West Cow Green by Outdoor Exploring Family.
It combines what is visible on the ground with recorded information about the wider Cow Green mining area, keeping a clear line between what can be confirmed and what is simply part of the landscape today.