Racketgill Vein, Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
Racketgill Vein	Vein
Middleton-in-Teesdale	Civil Parish
County Durham	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

Racketgill Vein is an adit that was part of Hudeshope West (Parkin Hush Level), an east-west vein that worked both sides of Hudeshope Beck by hushes and trial levels for lead. Racketgill Vein is located approximately 500 metres (⅓ mile) northwest of Hudeshope Head Mine.

Hudeshope West (Parkin Hush Level) consisted of three adits, previously having being worked via open cut around 1787. Two of the adits are on the west side of the beck with the other on the east side almost directly opposite. The mine was worked by Chayters and later by the London Lead Company with pockets of good ore found, but ultimately the mine had little success in producing a good return. Hudeshope West (Parkin Hush Level) was privately leased and reworked for fluorite in a small operation by SAMUK (Swiss Aluminium Mining UK) during the late 1970s in search of fluorspar. The person in charge, Malcolm Allison, was nicknamed ‘Fangio’ after a famous racing driver and consequently Racketgill Vein portal was sometimes referred to as ‘Fangio's Level’. It has also been called Newberry Scar Level, but in SAMUK's abandonment plan of 1972 it was called Hudeshope West trial. The locality is now known as Racketgill Vein. At the end of the operation by SAMUK the east and the upper west adits were sealed leaving only the adit near beck level (Racketgill Vein) open. At the same time SAMUK had also reworked the nearby spoil heaps of Coldberry Lead Mine, approximately 630 metres (a little over ⅓ mile) away to the south.

The map location is for the most recent working, Hudeshope West trial, in the Great Limestone on the west side of the beck in Newberry Scar, where fluorite specimens have been collected in recent years.

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