Raasay: No.1 Ironstone Mine adit entrance (intake) 3

Raasay Ironstone Mine and Processing Works

A photo taken through the steel grille across the intake adit entrance of the Raasay No.1 Ironstone Mine, taken in April 2019. The concrete block walls extend just a short distance in, thereafter it is natural stone with few supports. There were two entrances for the No.1 Mine; this one allowed fresh air into the mine and was the main haulage road for ore. The link below shows the mine entrance in 1917.

The other adit for return (exhaust) air and its ventilation fan was located a short distance away.

Background
The two adits of Raasay No.1 ironstone Mine were situated about 2.5 km north of East Suisnish pier and worked the Jurassic (Upper Lias) age siderite and chamosite ores from 1914 to 1920. The mine was owned and developed by William Baird & Co. who also built the terraces of houses in the village of Inverarish to house the mine workers, many of whom were German prisoners of war. A tramway and incline connected the mine to the processing works (crusher, calcining kilns, gantries, loading hoppers) at East Suisnish.

A second pair of mine adits (Raasay No.2 Ironstone Mine) just north of Inverarish were also opened up around the same time but never went into proper production due to geological difficulties (faulting).

There was also a small amount of opencast outcrop mining carried out near the No.1 Mine, again around the same time.

The works were dismantled by 1943 but the site is now a scheduled protected monument.

A view of the No.1 Mine in 1917 is here:
geoscenic.bgs.ac.uk/asset-bank/action/viewAsset?id=1338