Ruined winding engine house and chimney, Old lead mine, Whitespots, Newtownards, Co. Down

This is the site of a former three-storey engine house associated with the Whitespots lead mine, built around 1836 and abandoned in the 1860s. The main building finally collapsed in 1975, and all ruins have since been cleared away. Only the chimney stack survives, standing to the north of the former complex.

The surviving chimney is built in whinstone rubble with the uppermost portion in brick and stone coping. It measures approximately 2.2 metres in diameter and stands about 14 metres in height. A small opening approximately 1 metre in height exists at the base. According to the original survey card, the chimney was originally about 9 feet in diameter and 90 feet high, constructed three-quarters of its height in whinstone rubble with a stone cap, then extended in brick with a stone cap.

The original engine house was a three-storey structure with a broken slated roof and gable ends. The walls were built in whinstone rubble with broken openings and a segmental arch doorway with Scrabo stone voussoirs. Ivy growth covered the walls. The building stood adjacent to the chimney stack.

Historical Context

Lead mining at Whitespots began in 1780 when the Bangor and Newtownards Mining Company was formed by Robert Ward of Castle Ward, Reverend James Clewlow of Bangor, Sir John Blackwood of Ballyleidy (Clandeboye), James Millar (a mining engineer from Mayo), and Robert Stewart (the future Lord Londonderry), who leased the land from his father Alexander. Mining commenced in October 1780 under Millar's supervision but was abandoned in September 1783 due to difficulties in locating sufficiently rich ore veins.

In 1827, a Manx company titled "Newtownards Mines" secured a lease from the 3rd Marquis of Londonderry and recommenced mining on a much larger scale. An old windmill on the site was renovated and adapted to power mining machinery, and a complex of mining-related structures were constructed. By 1840, concerned about the low royalties he was receiving, Londonderry commissioned engineer John Taylor (employed by the Ulster Mining Company at Conlig, to the north) to survey the mines. In March 1842, Taylor produced a critical report on the Manx operators' "smash and grab" mining methods, which extracted ore haphazardly and at high expense whilst the full potential of the veins remained untapped.

When the lease was renewed in 1842, new clauses were included to discourage ore stripping and encourage more careful mining methods. The company significantly increased expenditure, discovered new veins, and the mine began to yield ore in greater quantities. A new shaft was sunk to the south, and this new engine house was erected, along with additional buildings including a counting house with dining room constructed around the main shaft near the windmill. In 1850, the company acquired the Conlig Mine also, becoming the Newtownards and Ulster Mining Company.

The success was short-lived. After 1853, yields at Whitespots began to decline sharply. The newly opened veins ran dry faster than anticipated, and unwilling to repeat their investment, the partners abandoned the Conlig mine in 1853. By 1865, yields at Whitespots had dropped so dramatically that the company auctioned the lease of both mines, along with all mining equipment, in March of that year.

Engine and Equipment

According to an inventory dated December 1864, the engine house contained one Cornish pumping engine with a 36-inch cylinder and 8 feet 6 inches stroke—supplied by two flue boilers of half-inch plate, 20 feet long and 5.5 feet in diameter. The equipment also included a balance bob, capstan, sheers, and 200 fathoms of 8-inch capstan rope. The gearing of the engine was bright and the entire apparatus was in first-rate working order. This was apparently the sole Cornish pumping engine ever used in Ireland.

Later History

The engine house was abandoned when the mine closed in 1865. Frederick Blackwood, Lord Dufferin, purchased the lease in March 1865, primarily to discourage future mining at the adjacent Conlig mine, which he regarded as an eyesore next to his Clandeboye estate. Dufferin had little interest in the Whitespots lease and initially attempted to surrender it to the Marquis of Londonderry. The Londonderry agent, however, insisted that lease-holders must adhere to the rigid terms of 1842, which stipulated active mining activity. To avoid this requirement (as mining in the area had become unprofitable), Dufferin eventually purchased the title to the royalties outright. Attempts to reopen the mine in 1879 and again in 1912 came to nothing.

The main building survived in ruined form until 1975, when it finally collapsed. The former area covered by the Whitespots mine remains barren and inhospitable today, largely unforesaken due to the prevalence of waste lead left behind by mining activities. The site now adjoins a golf course to the north and west of the surviving chimney, with woods to the east.