Magpie Mine, Derbyshire Peak District.

The atmospheric remains of Magpie Mine are one of the best places to visit in the Peak District and one of the top industrial heritage sites in Derbyshire. It was the last working lead mine in the Derbyshire orefield and is one of the best surviving examples  in the UK of a 19th century lead mine. The mine has a fascinating history spanning more than 200 years of bonanzas and failures, of bitter disputes and fights resulting in the “murder” of three miners, and a Widows’ Curse that is said to remain to this day.

LOCATION
Magpie Mine is located near the village of Sheldon in the Peak District, about 5km west of Bakewell. Its Ordnance Survey Grid Ref is SK173682 and postcode DE45 1QU (please be aware that some sat-navs may take you to Sheldon village).
The mine site is crossed by several public footpaths as well as being Open Access Land allowing public access on foot at any time.

Every era of working has left its mark on the Magpie Mine site. There are numerous mineshafts – all now blocked, or capped for safety – so there is no longer access to any of the underground workings. The most impressive features are the ruined Cornish Engine House which dates from 1869, and the adjacent circular chimney (built in 1840 to serve an earlier engine, but then re-used).

A similar thing happened to the Square Chimney, which was originally built in 1840 to serve a winding engine, of which all trace has now disappeared. When the horizontal winding engine (easily identified by the winding drum on the outside of the engine house) was installed later in 1869, a flue was built to connect the existing chimney to it. The Square Chimney and flue had suffered from their exposure to the weather and were in urgent need of repair, so were renovated in 2016 with the help of a substantial grant from the National Lottery.

Just in front of the Cornish Engine House is the 728ft deep Main Shaft, marked by the steel headgear and cage dating from the mine’s last phase of operation in the 1950s. On a bright day it may be possible to look through the grille on the Main Shaft and see the water over 500ft below (the lower part of the shaft is flooded). The mine is drained by a sough (drainage tunnel) which emerges over a mile away on the south side of the River Wye (at Grid Ref SK180698) about 1½ miles west of Ashford-in-the-Water, just upriver from the Bobbin Mill and its bridge over the River Wye. It still discharges about 4-6 million gallons of water a day. The corrugated iron shed housed the winder and has the distinction of being one of only three corrugated iron buildings in the country to be accorded Scheduled Monument status.

All information courtesy of
PEAK DISTRICT MINES HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Filmed with our DJI Mini 4 Pro, edited in LightCut and audio courtesy of YouTube Studio.

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