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Peak Forest Lead Mines
Summary
Walk Distance 4.4 miles, 7.1 km
Total Climbing 583ft, 178m
Estimated Time 2hr 45min
Starting Point Peak Forest Village, SK 113 792
Introduction
This is the classic Sunday afternoon stroll, for those with slightly more energy anyway. There are no particularly steep gradients on the route, but if the wind is up, it will be bracing. Good fun, and so much to see.
Instructions
Leave the centre of Peak Forest by Church Lane that leads to the small hamlet of Old Dam. On reaching the T junction turn left towards Perryfoot and follow the road for a distance of 300 yards. At this point a tarmaced lane heads up the hill to the left, Eldon Lane. Follow this lane which becomes a rough track shortly after passing Sweetknoll Farm. Continue uphill until a stile is reached alongside a gate. Cross this and follow the path uphill, adjacent to the field wall on your right. When you have reached the summit of the hill, you will notice a line of grass covered hillocks that cross the path from right to left. These are the surface remains of one of the many lead veins of the limestone area and it is now known as WATTS GROVE VEIN but in the 18th Century it was called WHITE RAKE.
While at this location a good view is obtained of ELDON HOLE on the southern flank of Eldon Hill. This is Derbyshire's largest pothole and as a depth of 180 feet. It was once considered to be the entrance to Hell and an old story tells of a goose that was thrown into it re-appeared at the entrance of PEAK CAVERN in Castleton with its feathers burnt. Another tells of a man who was lowered into the depths and returned to the surface a gibbering idiot. If you take the trouble to visit the hole and look into the gaping maw, you will realise that only a gibbering idiot would allow himself to be lowered into the depths in the first place. The hole was descended in 1770 by a geologist called Lloyd who reported that the hole was not the entrance to Hell and that it was not bottomless. Many years ago Eldon Hill was thought to be where elves lived and local people stated that there are 'elves on t'hill' hence the name Eldon Hill. The summit of the hill at 1540 feet above sea level is the highest limestone hill north of the RIVER WYE.
Good views are obtained from your present location, with the village of Peak Forest in the near foreground and the town of Buxton in the far distance with the Axe Edge moors beyond.While at this location a good view is obtained of ELDON HOLE on the southern flank of Eldon Hill. This is Derbyshire's largest pothole and as a depth of 180 feet. It was once considered to be the entrance to Hell and an old story tells of a goose that was thrown into it re-appeared at the entrance of PEAK CAVERN in Castleton with its feathers burnt. Another tells of a man who was lowered into the depths and returned to the surface a gibbering idiot. If you take the trouble to visit the hole and look into the gaping maw, you will realise that only a gibbering idiot would allow himself to be lowered into the depths in the first place. The hole was descended in 1770 by a geologist called Lloyd who reported that the hole was not the entrance to Hell and that it was not bottomless. Many years ago Eldon Hill was thought to be where elves lived and local people stated that there are 'elves on t'hill' hence the name Eldon Hill. The summit of the hill at 1540 feet above sea level is the highest limestone hill north of the RIVER WYE.
Continue along the path keeping the wall on your right and you will shortly arrive at a stile in a wall. Cross over this stile and enter asmall rather windswept plantation that contains much disturbed ground. The hillocks and hollows are the continuation of the WATTS GROVE VEIN and the mine of the same name is to be seen down to your right. The mine is marked by a single sleeper- capped shaft overlooking the wide and deep CONIES DALE. Follow the path across the disturbed ground and you will shortly arrive at an obvious large depression in the course of the vein. Immediately to the left of this feature can be seen a flat circular area surrounded by a low wall. This is the remains of an horse-gin circle and the depression in the vein is where the engine or main shaft of the mine as run-in or collapsed. The gin circle is an important feature because it is one of the last to have survived in this part of the Derbyshire Mineral Field. These features were common on nearly all of the mines but because of quarrying and opencast mining operations only a few remain today. For example on MOSS RAKE near to BRADWELL there were a total of 14 such features, but today only one survives at HALL'S VENTURE or HARTLEDALE BOTTOM MINE.
In close proximity to the gin circle can be seen a fairly large and quite deep conical shaped depression in the ground. This is the remains of the water storage pond for the mine. This water was used to wash the GALENA or LEAD ORE to separate it from the waste minerals. This waste was then thrown onto the tips to form the hillocks that we see today.
Continue along the path to the far edge of the plantation where you will see an obvious sleeper- capped shaft. Adjacent to this are the remains of a crushing circle and two small coes or stone built sheds. These were used to store the miner's work clothes, tools and any lead ore that was mined. The large diameter engine shaft is about 200 feet deep and the remains of the gin circle lie adjacent but are not as clearly defined as the previously mentioned one. This mine as recently been found to be called JOULE or JOWLE GROVE in old mining records kept at the Derbyshire Records Office in Matlock.
Leave Joule Grove and take the well-defined path that heads across the rather barren ELDON MOOR, passing on the way more disused mine workings and several natural potholes. You will eventually arrive at a stile over a wall cross this and immediately turn right and cross another stile to the right of a gate on a rough lane. You have now crossed from one Mining Liberty to another, the wall is the boundary. You have left Peak Forest Liberty and entered Castleton Liberty. Follow the lane alongside the small disused limestone quarry noticing a conical grass covered feature like a small volcano. This is the remains of a small lime kiln known as a'pudding pie' and the tip of lime ash waste that lies adjacent to this is known as an 'ess' tip. In the Buxton area these tips were sometimes hollowed out to form small underground houses. One of these is still to be seen at Burbage on the outskirts of the town.
Continue along the lane and if you look to your left you will see a line of disturbed ground running across the large field from right to left. This is the remains of a complex of veins called LINICAR RAKE. These remains are untouched by modern opencast mining operations and are an important integral feature of the landscape. The mines here were last worked in about 1897 and the surface remains include numerous shafts, coes, belland yards, buddle dams and water storage ponds. The mines in this area were called LINICAR TOP, TWO RAKES HEAD, HEATH BUSH and THORN BUSH. It is recorded that in 1811 Isaac Royse was killed by lightening in the coe on Linicar Rake.
Follow the lane and you will soon cross another lead vein that crosses the lane from left to right, this is SLACK HOLE VEIN and one of the mines was known as SLACKS GROVE. Again this vein remains untouched since active underground mining ceased many years ago. At this point look across the flatish field to your right, in the immediate foreground is a large opencast mine that is now being back-filled. This is on the site of the PORTWAY MINES. In the far distance, to the right of another obvious opencast, can be seen a line of hillocks that mark the course of the OLD MOOR MINES and OXLOW RAKE. This is your eventual destination.
At a stile and gate the lane is joined by another that enters from the left, turn to the right and follow the lane for a short distance to another stile and gate. Go over the stile and immediately turn to your right and negotiate another stile that gives access to a large field that is crossed by an obvious path. You are now in an area of land called OLD MOOR. If you look to your left you will see an area of utter devastation, this is the recently worked HAZARD MINE opencast. It is at present being back-filled to restore the land to agricultural use.
HAZARD MINE was one of the major lead mines of the area and old mining records show that approximately 5000 tons of lead ore was mined at this location. The workings of the mine go down to nearly 700 feet below the 'day' or surface. The miners would have attained this depth by climbing down a series of shafts, using pieces of wood or 'stemples' wedged across the shaft to form crude ladders. At the end of the shift or 'mineral day' they would have to climb up these shafts to return to the surface. During the mid 1960's the surface remains at this mine consisted of several small coes, climbing shafts, a crushing circle, ore dressing floor, engine shaft and a walled horse- gin circle. Today after much reworking of the site only the engine shaft and gin circle survive. This is the last of its kind to have survived in the area. The shaft is in a good state of preservation and covered by an iron grill for safety reasons. It is in excess of 360 feet deep and is a perfect example of this type of shaft.
Follow the path alongside the field wall that encloses the area and you will soon cross over several small hillocks and hollows these are on the line of Hazard South Vein and Wam or Wham Rake. If you look into the field on the opposite side of the wall you will see several sleeper- capped shafts marking the location of WHAM ENGINE MINE. This mine was descended a few years ago by local mine explorers who found a small wooden cart with iron rimmed wooden wheels. This was used to convey lead ore along a level to the engine shaft for haulage to the surface.
Continue alongside the wall and you will soon arrive at a stile adjacent to a gate. Stop here and turn with your back to the gate. The hillocked ground in front of you is the site of the OLD MOOR MINES. The large area is surrounded by a low dry stone wall called a belland yard. When the mines were operational this wall, which was originally higher than it is today, was built around the mines to prevent livestock from becoming lead poisoned or 'bellanded'. The area remains untouched by modern day mining techniques and consists of several shafts, a grass covered crushing circle and walled- up exposures in the vein. In the fields to the right of these remains a short parallel vein called DAISY or DAYSIDE RAKE can be seen. Again it is marked by undisturbed hillocks which contain the remains of a coe and several open (danger) shafts.
Go through the stile and enter a rough lane that runs alongside the large hillocks that are the site of OXLOW HEAD or OXLOW HEAD ENGINE MINE on Oxlow Rake. Incidentally you have re- entered Peak Forest Mining Liberty, the stile in the wall that you have just crossed marks the boundary between this and Castleton Liberty. Follow the rough lane, gently uphill and then downhill at which point you will arrive at a gate across the track. The hillocks and hollows to your right, at this point, are the location of CLEAR-THE-WAY or STANDTOTHYSELF MINE.
While facing the gate look up to your left and you will notice a line of rough ground traversing the steep hillside, this is the western end of a large mineral vein called COP RAKE. The mines at this location are believed to be amongst the earliest worked in the Derbyshire Mineral Field, dating from the 12th Century.
Continue downhill alongside Oxlow Rake and you will soon arrive at another gate, pass through this and about 30 yards downhill, look to the right of the path. You will see a horseshoe shaped stone lined structure built into the side of a large flat-topped hillock. This is the remains of an ORE HOPPER or BOUSE TEEM dating from the mid-18th Century. This was used to store the lead ore that was mined from the nearby workings. This is an important feature being the last one to survive in this part of the orefield.
To highlight the perils of mining on March 5th 1752, Samuel Oldfield of Cop Farm, Peak Forest was killed in Bank Top Mine, Oxlow Rake (location unknown), by a fall of waste rock or 'deads or Old Man'. Almost 60 years later, on September 22nd 1810, James Clayton of Castleton was killed at Clear-the-Way Mine, Oxlow Rake, by falling about 14 fathoms (84 feet) down the Engine Shaft.
Return to the lane and follow it downhill until you arrive at another stile opposite Oxlow End Farm. At this point you will notice that the rough ground of Oxlow Rake ends abruptly, the fields opposite contain no hillocks of waste material. The reason for this is that a large sill or layer of dolerite underlies the whole of the Peak Forest area. This sill of volcanic origin would have contained no mineral veins so the rake stops at the point of contact. Go through this and turn left along the tarmac lane. Follow this until another lane is met. Turn to the right and go downhill towards the hamlet of Old Dam. On reaching Old Dam turn to the left to re-enter Peak Forest and so conclude the walk.
If the walk is done during bad weather then spare a thought for the miners of yesterday who had to walk from the surrounding villages of Peak Forest, Castleton, Sparrowpit and Bradwell to work in the mines sometimes many hundreds of feet under the paths that you now walk along.
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