Anglesite occurs as prismatic orthorhombic crystals and earthy masses, and is isomorphous with barite and celestine.

It was first recognized as a mineral species by William Withering in 1783, who discovered it in the Parys copper-mine in Anglesey; the name anglesite, from this locality, was given by F. S. Beudant in 1832.

Crystals from some other localities, notably from Monteponi [it] in Sardinia, are transparent and colourless, possessed of a brilliant adamantine lustre, and usually modified by numerous bright faces.

There are distinct cleavages parallel to the faces of the prism (110) and the basal plane (001), but these are not so well developed as in the isomorphous minerals barite and celestite.

At most localities it is found as isolated crystals in the lead-bearing lodes, but at some places, in Australia and Mexico, it occurs as large masses, and is then mined as an ore of lead.