Summary
Thorswood lead, copper and zinc mines, dating from at least the mid-C17.
Reasons for Designation
Thorswood Mines, well-documented from the late C17, are scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Rarity: the mines retain an exceptional number of gin circles within a relatively small area;
* Survival: a well-preserved site retaining good examples of both common and rare features;
* Diversity: Thorswood retains a diverse range of features representing the complete extraction process. Such a range has the potential to enhance our knowledge and understanding of the full process flow of the industry, the methods used, the chronological depth of the site and the place it held in the wider economic and social landscape;
* Documentary Evidence: a detailed documentary record of the history, productivity and ownership of the site is provided by the Earl of Shrewsbury;
* Potential: the diverse range of components represented at Thorswood have the potential to explain the development of the mine working and its chronological range, as well as contribute to the understanding of the historical and technological development of lead mining in the Peak District ore field.
History
Lead mining in the Peak District may have begun as early as the Late Bronze Age but no archaeological evidence for mining, ore processing or smelting at this time has been recorded until the Medieval period. 'Lead works' were mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086 but it is not clear if this meant mining. There is documentary evidence of mining at Nestus, Matlock Bath in C14 and there are also many Bole Hills (a primitive smelting furnace) in the area with abundant slag remains where lead was smelted. Two major pieces of evidence dating from the medieval period are of fundamental importance; the earliest written laws of lead mining from the Ashbourne Inquisition of 1288 and the carving of a medieval miner in Wirksworth church (moved from Bonsall church in C19), which is probably even earlier.
In the Middle Ages a royalty of a thirteenth of all ore mined (known as a 'lot') was paid to the Crown and a tenth (or 'tithe') was claimed by the church. The Peak was a free mining area with wide and unusual privileges and the 'free' miners were allowed to work by very liberal laws which enabled them to search for lead ore in the 'liberties'; anywhere but churchyards, gardens, orchards and highways. The miners had right of access, water and space to both mine and dump their waste without regard to the land users or owners wishes. To control mining, mineral courts were set up with a Steward and Barmaster, representing the Duchies, including Devonshire, Rutland, and Lancaster, and other landowners as lords of their own liberties, as well as a Grand Jury of 24 men (12 since 1851-52) appointed for six months to control each of the different areas. The laws grew in complexity through time and were not fully listed until the mid-C17 when Thomas Manlove, a Barmoot Steward, wrote them down 'in metre'. The mining laws were formalised in 1851-52. The court still sits today, made up of men who have a wide knowledge of the miners and mining field.
During the C12 and C14 documentary sources provide evidence of 11 and possibly 12 mining sites of one or more workings in Derbyshire; most if not all would have been worked opencast (veins which were worked from the surface to a depth of c30-40 feet). The development of the ore field after c1450 was governed by a number of factors including the miners’ ability to work the ore. The miners themselves had a progressively improved understanding of the nature and location of ore-bearing beds from the medieval period, but by the mid-C18 mine agents and overseers rather than miners had acquired enhanced geological knowledge.
The evidence for mining during the C15 and C16 comes primarily from the written versions of the laws and customs existing between 1288 and 1525. As knowledge of ore deposits increased more mines were worked but many groups of miners could be at work along a single vein. Technological development moved apace with the first evidence of firing rock underground, drainage using horse-powered pumps (c1579-1581) and a long drainage adit all appearing in contemporary documentation.
The C17 witnessed rapid expansion in both geological knowledge and technical advance. Improvements in smelting technology during the last quarter of the C16 allowed smaller size ore to be smelted in the new ore-hearth furnaces. As a consequence many large-scale opencast mines were worked. The use of gunpowder blasting for rock breakage from the C17 exploited mines to a greater depth, requiring more efficient ventilation by sinking air shafts at regular intervals into deeper workings and soughs.
Technological advancement continued in the C18; shafts and workings were at a depth of 700ft, but by the end of the century shafts were in excess of 900ft deep. The first Newcomen engine was installed between 1716 and 1719 and a 40ft diameter water wheel was recorded in 1747. Haulage was also transformed in the C18; boxes carried by boys were gradually superseded by the introduction of small, plain wheeled wagons running along two parallel planks. Haulage to the surface continued to use traditional stows (A wooden windlass used for winding materials and water) although horse gins (horse operated winding apparatus) were also in use in most medium to large mines. Longer, deep level soughs and deeper mine workings demanded improved methods of ventilation.
In the C19 profitable sources of ore became scarce and increased competition from other ore fields led to a decline in the importance of, and production at, the Peak District mines. With the exception of Millclose Mine at Darley Bridge, which worked until 1939, little profitable mining was carried out from the beginning of the C20 onwards. From the early C20 to the present, many lead mining sites have been extensively reworked for minerals originally discarded by the lead miners. Those of economic worth are primarily fluorspar, barites and calcite, while lead ore is still a valuable by-product.
Thorswood lead mines are first mentioned in 1692 when the Earl of Shrewsbury leased the mines at Thorswood and Ribden to five persons who were already working them. The lease was restricted to lead ore and if copper was found it was to be handed to the Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1718 the Thorswood mines were leased along with those at Ribden to Anthony Hill of Pepperhill, Shropshire, Joshua Haywood of Matlock and Samuel Seale of Horninglow, Burton at a yearly royalty of 1/12 of the ore raised. Samuel Seal subsequently sold his share to Thomas Gilbert. The lease included the right to "search, Digg and Delve … and also to Sink Shafts build coes and make Soughs…. To fetch and carry water to Buddle and wash the sd. Copper and lead oare there or to carry the sd. Oare to the water to bee washed and to carry wood and Timber to the sd. Mines and to carry away the sd. Oare."
In 1729 Thorswood was sub-let to a group of 12 miners. Hill and Gilbert were granted a new lease in 1733. There is little detail about the nature or success of the mining operations during this early period although the mines appear to have been quite successful from 1739-1741. Large quantities of lead and copper were said, by their owners, to have been produced. The Thorswood mine had made "several thousand pounds neat profit". Unfortunately the productive deposit was lost through negligence a few years after this.
A new venture was started in the mid-1750s by which time the sons of Thomas Gilbert owned the Thorswood mines. The owners attempted to sell shares in the mine enthusing about their potential. According to the owners the mines were producing lead and copper that was as good as any in England, labour was cheap, and there were no problems with flooding. According to Porter and Robey (2000) the engine shafts were open with engines fixed; in this case it is believed that the engines were horse gins lifting kibbles (an iron or wooden bucket) to the surface of the shaft. The lease was surrendered in February 1763 and a new one granted for a 21 year period at a one tenth duty.
There are further references to Thorswood being worked in the 1760s and 1770s. In 1793 the Earl of Shrewsbury granted all mines of copper, lead and calamine at Thorswood to Rupert Leigh and William Ingleby, who were both partners in the Cheadle Brass and Wire Company. Four years later the Cheadle Company were enquiring about the state and future potential of the mines at Thorswood, and stipulating that if the condition of the mines were not favourable then they should be given up. It was a quarter of a century before the mines were reworked. The Earl leased the mine to a new company in 1825 but there were problems with flooding and the company did not discover any significant fresh ore deposits.
During the mid-C19 the Earl of Shrewsbury commissioned a report to assess the prospects of the mines in the region. The shafts at Thorswood were judged to be inaccessible as they were deep but with no engines on them. The mine was considered to have some chance of further discoveries but not enough potential to justify the use of expensive machinery or to excavate expensive drainage levels.
Thorswood Mine was taken over by the Oakamore and Stanton Mining Company Ltd between 1859 and 1860. The only work carried out before the company folded was exploring shafts and removing debris. Among the documentary records is a book of plans of the mines worked, some of the illustrations have been reproduced by Robey and Porter (1971).
In 2003 an archaeological desk-based assessment was carried out by Birmingham Archaeology on behalf of Staffordshire Wildlife Trust in advance of the site being used as an educational resource.
Details
Thorswood lead mines are situated within the Peak District, just over the county boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire and lie within the Thorswood Nature Reserve, North Staffordshire. The site is located on an area of high ground at the southern end of the Pennines. The monument includes post-medieval lead mining remains dating from at least the mid-late C17. Extensive and large hillocks occupy a discrete area on a complex vein and/or pipe ore deposit. The mine was worked from the surface to considerable depth, for lead, copper and zinc.
The monument survives as a series of well-preserved earthworks, rock-cut features and buried deposits; the earthworks survive up to a height of c3m. The surface remains are evident within Thorswood Plantation, on open pasture to the east and similar to the north-west. A number of shafts are identifiable; at least four and possibly five to the east of the plantation are associated with gin circles ( a circular feature representing a horse operated winding apparatus) which are terraced into the slope and survive as clear circular earthworks immediately adjacent to large shafts. These particular shafts and associated hillocks to their downslope sides, stand as discreet features with little in the way of surface remains to link them or to indicate ore processing in this part of the mine complex. Section drawings published by Robey and Porter (1971) imply that the shafts were linked by underground levels and stope workings (the extraction of pockets and bellies of richer ore).
The plantation is enclosed by a dry stone wall which is still clearly evident on the western side but is fragmentary in parts on the eastern side; here small stretches survive as earthworks and others as disjointed stretches of standing fabric. Within the walled enclosure are a number of easily identifiable shafts including two particularly deep shafts which are capped but remain accessible, although the underground workings have not been subjected to archaeological investigation. Towards the northern end of the plantation the shafts are interlinked by low earthworks which appear to represent leats (water channels) and ponds suggesting an ore processing area. This may explain why a wall, potentially a belland yard wall (stone walls built around areas of working to prevent cattle from straying and eating grass contaminated by lead), surrounds this part of the complex, in order to prevent stock straying on to contaminated ground.
Beyond the belland yard wall to the north the mining remains appear less dispersed this is particularly noticeable around SK1113447304 where groups of shafts and rows of hillocks are concentrated on the north facing slopes, in a relatively small area where the mineralisation may have outcropped at surface. The earthworks here survive up to 2m in height.
Extent of Scheduling
The area of protection aims to encompass the well-preserved earthworks, rock-cut features and buried deposits relating to the lead, copper and zinc mining on the site. Further mining remains lie outside the area of protection but the main concentrations of surface remains are encompassed. Within the area all modern field boundaries and signage are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath these is included. A currently scheduled Bronze Age bowl barrow (NHLE 1010712) lies within the area of protection but has been retained as a discrete scheduled monument.
The area of protection begins at the south western corner of Thorswood Plantation (at grid reference SK1102246942). From here the line follows the post and wire fence to the north; the modern fence marks the fragmented line of the belland yard wall. Where the fence meets a dry stone wall the line of the scheduling runs to the west to meet another field boundary aligned north to south. The line then follows this boundary north for 178m and then north-east to grid reference SK110047369, here the line turns south for 78m before turning east for 47m. At this point the line turns to the south-west cutting across the field to meet with the northern boundary of Thorswood Plantation, which it continues to follow to the east until it meets the parish boundary between Wootton and Stanton. From here the line follows the field boundaries around the south-east and south sides of the field and around the southern edge of Thorswood Plantation to meet with the eastern edge of the area of protection.
