Little Pasture Mine

Summary

C18 and C19 mining complex known as Little Pasture Mine.

Reasons for Designation

Little Pasture Mine, established in the early C18, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Rarity: it has well-preserved remains of rarely surviving surface features, notably the C19 stone crushing wheel, and the reckoning house.

* Survival: it is a well-preserved site as a whole displaying C18 and C19 surviving features;

* Diversity: the diversity of features has the potential to enhance our understanding of the industry and chronological depth of the site and the place it held in the wider economic and social landscape;

* Documentary Evidence: documentary sources give information about ore raised and money generated during the period of intensive activity in the 1720s. The 2004 survey of Little Pasture Mine is an important archaeological document;

* Potential: it is likely that the mine can yet yield further evidence and understanding to explain its development and chronological range, as well as contribute to the understanding of the historical and technological development of lead mining in Derbyshire.

History

Lead mining in Derbyshire may have begun as early as the Late Bronze Age as indicated by the discovery of lead artefacts at Mam Tor and Gardoms Edge, but no archaeological evidence for mining, ore processing or smelting at this time has been recorded (Barnatt, Bevan and Edmonds 2002). In the Roman period, the presence of a major national lead industry is attested both by classical references and by numerous finds of lead 'pigs' (ingots of smelted metal). The distribution and inscriptions of the pigs indicate production in the Mendips, South Shropshire, Derbyshire and the Yorkshire Pennines. The mines themselves are elusive as later mines have cut through the earlier shallow workings (Barnatt and Smith 2004, p. 49). Medieval mining is almost equally elusive in the archaeological record, although there are two major pieces of evidence from this period 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 medieval times 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 made 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. To control mining, mineral courts were set up with a Steward and Barmaster representing the Duchy and a Grand Jury of 24 men (12 since 1851-52) appointed for six months to control each of the different areas. The laws were not fully listed until the mid-C17 when Thomas Manlove, a Barmoot Steward, wrote them down 'in metre', and they were formalised in 1851-52. The court still sits regularly 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) and would eventually have gone further underground. 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. Once the nature of wide and deep horizontal deposits was understood by the mid-C16, meers (a linear measurement along a vein irrespective of its width or depth) were measured in squares rather than the usual linear measurement along the vein. Technological development moved apace with the first evidence of 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 mines had their old underground workings and surface hillocks extensively reworked. The breaking of rock underground using gunpowder (from the 1660s) made working mines to a greater depth easier, but these required more efficient ventilation, gained by sinking shafts at regular intervals. The driving of soughs (1627 onwards) to dewater mines was crucial and these became common.

Technological advancement continued in the C18. At the beginning of 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; baskets and sleds were gradually superseded at larger mines by the introduction of small, plain wheeled wagons running along wooden rails. Iron railed tramways became relatively common in the C19. Haulage to the surface continued to use traditional stows (a wooden windlass used for winding materials and water) although horse gins 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 1880s onwards. From the early C20 to the present, 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.

Little Pasture Mine, which worked veins under the shale first found in the early C18, was known originally as ‘Mr Ashton’s Haycliffe’ with ownership established in April 1715. There appears to have been a single sough associated with the mine which drained into the troughs in Well-field. In about 1720-21 the agent at Little Pasture, Francis Drabble, who was described as ‘a very Skillful Miner’, drove a shale gate northwards from the mine and discovered the continuation of the Miners Engine Break Vein (which was sometimes also called Hucklow Vein Edge). A shale gate is a level driven through shale. These served many purposes, including exploration, access, ventilation and drainage. The exploratory shale gate at Little Pasture mine may have been an extension to the original sough. During 1720 alone 2,181 loads of ore were raised, and from 1721 to 1724 the profits from the mine amounted to £9,976; a staggering amount for the time. The mine then became well-known nationally during the Lisbon earthquake of November 1755. The earthquake in Portugal was one of the deadliest in history, and shocks had been felt throughout Europe, including in some of the Eyam mines. The reckoning house at Little Pasture was slightly damaged but remained standing. The building on the site is almost certainly the original reckoning house.

After the massive strike of lead ore in the early C18, it is not known to what extent mining continued into the late C18 or C19. The ore crushing stone on site is a typical C19 feature however. The mine is not labelled as disused on the first edition Ordnance Survey (OS) map of 1880 which shows a shaft in the north-west corner and another in the north-east corner which has a circular feature (gin or crushing circle) on the north side and a small building on the south side. Further to the west is a large building and another circular feature to the south-east. The reckoning house is further to the east, located along the eastern boundary. On the second edition OS map of 1898 the mine is labelled ‘disused’ and the only building depicted is the reckoning house. The third edition OS map of 1922 shows no changes except that there is now quite considerable tree coverage throughout the site. The extensive mineral hillocks in the southern part of the site were reworked in the C20, whereas the hillock with remaining structures to the north comprises shale from shaft sinking and this remains largely intact.

Details

The scheduled area is the moderate-sized mine complex occupying a field approximately one hectare in extent, centred at grid reference SK2070577257. It is roughly rectangular in shape, orientated north-south, and narrowing at the south end. The ground slopes downwards to the south. The monument survives as a series of earthworks, buried deposits and standing features, all within a belland yard (walls built around the contaminated area to keep cattle away), including two shafts, a gin circle, dressing floor, crushing circle and wheel, possible ponds, an C18 reckoning house, and an extensive series of hillocks.

The belland yard wall is of dry stone construction and is in poor repair in places. The two shafts are on shale hillocks at the northernmost end of the site and have both been backfilled. One is located in the north-west corner and passes through a mound which may consist of upcast from the shaft. At the foot of the mound on the south-east side are two possible ponds. The main shaft is located in the north-east corner on higher ground which falls away sharply to the south. The 1880 OS map shows a gin circle to the north of the shaft, and a flat area near the shaft has been interpreted in the Lead Legacy publication as a dressing floor, but specific features are no longer visible on the ground. On a lower terrace there is a stone crushing wheel and a sunken circular crushing area which is now only partly defined with no surface sign of the crushing track.

Nearby to the east, set into the hillside, is a well-preserved, two-storey mine reckoning house, subsequently used as a field barn. It is constructed of uncoursed rubble stone with heavy quoin-work at the corners and stone lintels under a pitched roof re-clad in slate. The south elevation has a stone gable chimney stack, a centrally placed entrance, and a window opening on the right-hand-side of the first-floor. The north elevation, which is set into the hillside, has an entrance at first-floor level. The west elevation has a centrally-placed ground-floor window opening, as does the east elevation which also has a window opening on the right-hand-side of the first floor. The roof structure has been rebuilt in the C20.

Below the crushing circle there is a further terrace with a short stretch of retaining wall which may be a third ore-dressing area. It is approached from the north-west by a terraced track. Further to the north-west there are 2-4 hollows that may be water storage ponds. Downslope from the main mine complex are the remains of a series of heavily reworked waste hillocks.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The area of protection includes the mining features, and the ground beneath, located within the field defined by a boundary of dry stone walling.

Excluded from the scheduling are all modern fences, fence posts and any made-up surfaces of trackways, although the ground beneath all these features is included.

Sources

Books and journals
Willies, L, Parker, H, Peak District Mining and Quarrying, (2004)
Rieuwerts, JH, Lead Mining in Derbyshire: History, Development and Drainage in 4 volumes, (2007)
Barnatt, J, Penny, R, The Lead Legacy. The prospects for the Peak Districts Mining Heritage, (2004)
Barnatt, J, Mining History in Excavation and Conservation at How Grove, Dirtlow Rake, Castleton, Derbyshire, (2002)
Barnatt, J, Bevan, B, Antiquity 76 pp.50-56 in Gardoms Edge: A Landscape Through Time, (2002)
Barnatt, J, Mining History in High Rake Mine, Little Hucklow Derbyshire excavation and conservation at an important C19 mine, (2011)

Other
Chitty, G, Monuments Protection Programme: The Lead Industry Step 4, 1995,
Barnatt, J, Updated Inventory of Regionally and Nationally Important Lead Mining Sites in The Peak District, Nov 2005,
John Barnatt, Lathkill Dale National Nature Reserve Archaeological Survey, 2005,
Cranstone, D, MPP The Lead Industry Step 1 Report, (1992)
Cranstone D, Monument Protection Programme (MPP): The Lead Industry – Step 3 Report, (1991)

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