A large lead mining complex in Foxdale, shown as a working Lead & Silver mine on the 1869 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map. The Foxdale Mines were part of a mineralised zone running east to west from Elerslie mine in Crosby to Niarbyl near Dalby. Mining at Foxdale was noted as early as an 1724 governor's report, which predicted its closure - an assessment proved wrong when Michael Knott of Kendal reopened the mines in 1823 under lease from the Duke of Atholl. By 1830 a lode "a yard square" had been discovered, and by 1848 Foxdale was described as "the most productive [mine] in the island," averaging around 2,400 tons of silver-lead ore annually through the 1840s; the operation was incorporated as a limited company in 1853. The North lode ore was noted for high silver content, ranging 50-400 ounces per ton, with some Tetrahedrite/Fahlerz ore averaging 3,000-4,000 ounces of silver. Between 1828 and 1885 the mines shipped roughly 120,000 tons of lead ore, generating an estimated £61,850,000 in revenue. The mines closed in 1911. iMuseum holds archival material including a longitudinal section of Central Foxdale mines (showing Amy's Engine and Taylor's shafts) and photographs of Foxdale miners from 1899.