More information : Between mid September and late November 2000, English Heritage carried out an analytical field investigation of the surface remains of Greenburn Mine; the survey was requested and partly funded by the landowners, the National Trust (Event record 1335820) (1). The best-preserved building, which comprises an accommodation block, office and workshop (NY 20 SE 9) serves as a parent record for the other components of the complex.
Two slab-built stone tanks, probably originally lined with lead sheeting, which held acid used in the process of precipitating copper from cuprite ore. Documentary evidence indicates that once used, the acid was stored in settling tanks which allowed the residue to drain gradually into the Greenburn Beck. One of these may be a fairly-well-preserved timber tank of similar proportions set into the ground a few metres to the north-east; the second may have been supported on two stone 'weirs' in the stream itself. The tanks were certainly in place by 1873, and probably continued in use until at least 1913.
For further information, see the report at Level 3 standard available through the NMR archive, which includes reproductions of 19th-century documents, extracts from the survey at 1:500 scale, photographs and interpretative drawings. (1)
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