Summary

Maury Mine and Sough, lead workings dating from the mid-C17 to the late C18.

Source: Historic England

Details

The scheduling includes the earthwork, buried, standing and rock cut remains of Maury Mine and Sough. The area includes Maury Vein as it runs from the south of Priestcliffe Lees, at about SK1448272897, for about 67 metres north-east to the River Wye, as well as all surviving features associated with Maury Mine on the hill top. The evidence for lead mining here survives as a series of earthworks, buried and standing remains, which include shafts and shaft mounds, a capped engine shaft, walled gin circle (a horse powered winding arrangement), waste hillocks, open cuts (vein working open to daylight), belland yard walls (walls built around contaminated land, the belland yard, to keep out stock), possible ponds, dressing floors and pits, coes (a hut for storage or shelter) buddle dams and possible buddling trough (buddling is the process of separating lead ore from other matter).

Most of the features on the hill top are concentrated within an irregular but roughly square area on the south edge of Priestcliffe Lees, enclosed by walls on three sides but open to the north. To the south-west of this area these walls form two sides of a belland yard filled with hillocks, in the south-west corner of which is a possible pond. On the north side of the belland yard is a well-preserved walled gin circle, the site of winding gear for the capped shaft immediately to the south, next to which is a small capped climbing shaft. This is immediately to the east in a line of about four deep circular hollows. Close to these features there is also a possible ore bin as well as ruined coes, a buddle dam and possible pond. Immediately to the east of the belland yard, but continuing into its south end, is a line of shaft mounds, capped shafts, and, further east, open cuts, marking the west end of Lees Rake.

To the north of the belland yard is an area of hillocks, at the north edge of which is a very prominent, probably C19, reprocessing site, with large waste heaps, buddle dam and a possible buddling trough. Immediately to the north-west of this complex, two separate lines of hollows and shaft mounds converge on an open cut just above the point where the hillside falls away steeply. Both contain closely spaced shafts. A wall around the top end of the cut forms a belland yard. Down slope, the ground levels out to form a flat working area containing a reprocessing dressing floor and dressing pits, as well as traces of stone-lined features. Near the bottom of the hill, above the Monsal Trail (the old railway line), is the collapsed entrance to the level, a tramway bed, dressing floor, ruined coe, buddle dams, large hillocks and traces of a ruined belland yard wall. Below the old railway line, next to the river, there is the walled sough tail, two partially-restored coes, and a hillock. Nearby there is a lidded shaft giving access to underground workings along Maury Sough.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The scheduled area includes a field, walled on three sides, south, west and east, enclosing the main area of the hilltop mine workings. The south-west corner of the field is at SK1443672802. The field forms a roughly square area about 280 metres by 225 metres at its maximum extents. To the west, south and east the scheduling is defined by field boundaries, the line following the outer edge of the walls. To the north, the line leaves the west field boundary about 240 metres from the south corner of the field, at SK1448073000, travelling east for about 104 metres before curving south and east, excluding the cairn to the north (scheduled monument NHLE 1020086). At a point about 214 metres east of the west field boundary, at SK1469172960, at the top of the slope before the land falls away sharply to the north, the scheduling boundary turns north-east, and the scheduling continues as a corridor containing the rake as it runs down the hillside and the ore processing area. The corridor is about 84 metres wide at the top of the slope, broadening to about 114 metres at its widest, and about 96 metres where it meets the old railway line, the Monsal Trail. Here the scheduled area expands to the south-east, taking in an area about 188 metres long between the south-west side of the Monsal Trail and the river, the south boundary of this section following the line of the south railway embankment, the east boundary following the line of the footpath to the river, the most north-easterly corner meeting the footbridge. The point where the north-west scheduling boundary meets the river is at SK1502973168.

All modern structures, fence and gate posts are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included. The small irregular field immediately to the west and the field attached to its south-west corner containing a small number of isolated features are not included within the scheduled area.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Maury Mine and Sough, lead workings dating from the mid-C17, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival and Diversity: it is a well-preserved site displaying chronological depth and illustrating process and technological change through its diversity of features, the surviving earthworks of which have a defining presence in the landscape;
* Documentary Evidence: historical documents provide detail on the chronology of the site and the continuing efforts over more than 250 years to manage it as a going concern. In combination with good physical preservation, good documentary evidence also presents an opportunity for insight into the social and economic context of lead mining and its impact on Derbyshire communities;
* Rarity: Maury Mine illustrates well the distinctive Derbyshire mining tradition, reflected in the range and character of surviving features;
* Group Value: Maury Mine sits within an area of well-preserved mining remains, with the west end of Lees Rake within the scheduled area. This is contiguous with the scheduling of Lees and Doves Rakes, illustrating the extent and intensity of exploitation of this regionally distinct mining landscape;
* Potential: this diverse range of surface remains and buried archaeological deposits contain the potential to make a substantial contribution to our understanding of the extraction of the mineral, its on-site processing and, more broadly, to the historical and technological development of lead mining in Derbyshire.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Barnatt, J, Smith, K, The Peak District, (2004)
Barnatt, J, Penny, R, The Lead Legacy. The prospects for the Peak Districts Mining Heritage, (2004)
Rieuwerts, JH, Lead Mining in Derbyshire: History, Development and Drainage in 4 volumes, (2007)
Willies, L, Parker, H, Peak District Mining and Quarrying, (2004)
Barnatt, J, Bevan, B , 'Antiquity 76 pp.50-56' in Gardoms Edge: A Landscape Through Time, (2002)
Barnatt, J, Heathcote, C, 'Mining History 15.3' in The Maury and Burfoot Mines, Taddington and Brushfield, Derbyshire, (2003)
Other
Cranstone, D, MPP The Lead Industry Step 1 Report, (1992)

Source: Historic England