Location

St Peter's Mine, Sparty Lea, Allendale, Northumberland, England.

Introduction

The St Peter’s vein was first found in 1901 while the Blackett level was being driven towards the Allenheads mine. This was the last vein discovered in the level as driving was abandoned 91 meters south of the vein.

The mine was initially developed from a branch level from the Blackett level, access to the vein was gained by a 30 meter rise, from which the 54fm level was driven. The productive zone seems to have been confined to the Great Limestone. This could be due to the companies involved being interested in lead as it is reported that the vein below the Great Limestone contained predominantly Sphalerite and very little Galena, trials had been made in the three yard limestone and the four fathom limestone below the Great Limestone. After the Blackett company surrendered its leases in the area the Weardale lead co worked the vein. A new 97 meter shaft was sunk to access the mine down to the 54fm level instead of using the rather long Blackett level. The ore in the flats was considered to be very rich running as much as 25% galena at times. The ore was taken by road from the shaft to the processing plant at Sipton shaft a mile to the north. The mine was abandoned in 1946.

Collector's Guide

The most prized fluorites from St Peter's have to be the greens that are associated with the Russell collection that is now house in the Natural History museum London, Russell must have acquired the vast majority of these finds as locating these in private collection or on the market is next to impossible.

What the mine is known for an are the deep amber yellow coloured fluorites that were found in the 1990s reworking of the mine for mineral specimens. these can form large crystals several inches on edge often associated with small clear quartz crystals and tan siderite coats that preferentially coats some faces. The fluorites from here really seem to have the high lustre that's often associated with the Weardale mines and they are nearly always opaque.

The best specimens from St Peter's are usually groups of fluorites with partial coatings of siderite and quartz that carry little to no damage.

Notable Finds

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Collecting History

St Peter’s was first made famous by the collection of Sir Arthur Russell after his acquisition of beautiful green Fluorites often associated with galena. These specimens came to the attention of a group of collectors including David and Liz Hacker and Helen Wilkinson and Barry Smith. They took out the lease on the mine in the mid 1990's in the hope of regaining access to the area where these green Fluorites had been found. Access was regained to the mine via the shaft, it was reported that the shaft was in a serious state of disrepair. Access was gained to the 30fm level, below this the shaft was fully choked. Whilst they did not discover the Green Fluorites they did find some beautiful amber Fluorites associated with Siderite and Quartz.