Summary

A mine worked for lead from the C16 and C17, and for calcite from the late C19 to 1931.

Source: Historic England

Details

The scheduled area includes the earthwork, buried, standing and rock cut remains of Putwell Hill Mine. The area includes the vein as it runs across Putwell Hill down to the old railway line in Monsal Dale, with evidence for lead mining present as a series of earthworks and buried and standing remains. These include Monsaldale Lead and Spar Mine, close to the old railway line, as well as shafts, waste hillocks, open cuts (vein working open to daylight) and belland yard walls (walls built around contaminated land to keep out stock).

The vein is marked by two lengths of open cut, a longer, wide section running up the steep hillside from Monsaldale Mine and a shorter narrow section of about 50 metres running along the top of the hillside to the west. An eastern opencut has been capped with concrete beams. The entrance to a blocked stope (an excavation from which ore has been extracted) can be seen as a vertical fissure in the rock face on the west side of the old railway embankment, the upper part stacked with deads (waste material) supported on a wedged rock. A tumbled stone wall that runs up the hillside parallel to the east open cut is part of the wall that enclosed the cut, expanding westwards as the cut was lengthened. At the top of the hillside, to the west of the main open cut, a stone wall encloses an area of hillocks and a line of shaft hollows. Another area of hillocks to the west of this, south of the ruinous buildings, is enclosed by a tumbled stone walled belland yard, including a possible meerstone (marker stone). The shaft hollows continue to the south of the track, up to the west open cut and beyond. To the south of these is a linear embankment, shown on historic OS maps from 1879.

Elements of the mine complex buildings towards the east end of the rake survive in a ruinous condition, including the chimney, which stands to about 7 metres, as well as stone, brick and concrete buildings and a series of interlinked, stone-built structures to the south. Opposite these, on the west side of the track is a stone structure that has the appearance of a bridge abutment, and may relate to what appears to be a line of communication shown on the 1922 OS map crossing the track from one section of the mine to another. A short length of track, a sunken roadway running south-east from this point, is included in the scheduling. To the north-west of the mine buildings, beyond the scheduled area, is an early C20 quarry.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The scheduled area includes an irregular corridor of land running from the old railway up the steep east side of Putwell Hill, and continuing to the west along the hillside above Monsal Dale. The corridor contains all mineral workings associated with Putwell Hill Mine, including the late C19 buildings of Monsaldale Mine, as well as all earthwork remains.

At the east end, the scheduled area includes the stope entrance in the railway embankment and encloses the main opencut and the C19 mine structures. The south-west corner at the embankment is at SK1792671874, and at this end the scheduling is about 52 metres wide. From the south-west corner the south scheduling boundary travels west, meeting the roadway to the east of the mine buildings at SK1784171844, where the line turns south following the east side of the roadway for a distance of about 45 metres before returning, forming a spur about 15 metres wide at its widest point. The south scheduling boundary then continues west, meeting a track running south-east to north-west at SK1773171787. At this point the corridor containing the opencut is at its widest, at about 65 metres. From here, the south boundary follows the curve of the track, turning south at SK1760371758 to form a sub-rectangle 22 metres by 53 metres. The west side of this follows a field boundary to rejoin the scheduling corridor enclosing the rake just south of the track. It then travels on a trajectory slightly south of west, the end of the scheduled area marked by the next field boundary to the west at SK1692371598. The line is straight except for a slight belling out to the south between SK1723071659 and SK1704471620. Here the west end of the scheduled corridor is at its widest at about 55 metres.

From the railway embankment in the east, as it climbs the steep hillside the north boundary follows a straight line almost parallel to that to the south boundary, apart from a scoop about 47 metres wide by 19 metres deep, its east corner at SK1778471880. This cuts in to exclude the C20 quarry. The north boundary runs up the hillside to the field boundary at SK1765571834, from where it follows the field boundary west, then south for about 23 metres before turning west to take in the belland yard between the ruinous structures to the north and the track to the south. This area measures about 22 metres from north to the track in the south, and 97 metres from east to west, where it joins the track, which it continues to follow for the remainder of its length, ending at the field boundary to the west.

All modern structures not specifically mentioned in the scheduling description, including track surfaces, fence and gate posts, are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Putwell Hill Mine, the vein of which was worked for lead in the late C16 and C17, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: it is a well-preserved site displaying chronological depth and illustrating process and technological development, from the apparently older hilltop workings to the continued working of the hillside minerals, the surviving earthworks and structures of which have a defining presence in the landscape;
* Documentary Evidence: there is documentary evidence of working on Putwell Hill at least as early as the late C16;
* Rarity: Putwell Hill Mine illustrates well the distinctive Derbyshire mining tradition, reflected in the range and character of surviving features;
* Group Value: Putwell Hill Mine sits within an area of well-preserved mining remains, with Lees and Dove Rakes to the north, and evidence of mining between. It illustrates the extent and intensity of exploitation of this regionally distinct mining landscape;
* Potential: the range of surface remains and buried archaeological deposits, and the survival of underground stopes, 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, 'Mining History' in High Rake Mine, Little Hucklow Derbyshire excavation and conservation at an important C19 mine, (2011)
Barnatt, J, Bevan, B , 'Antiquity 76 pp.50-56' in Gardoms Edge: A Landscape Through Time, (2002)
Barnatt, J, 'Mining History' in Excavation and Conservation at How Grove, Dirtlow Rake, Castleton, Derbyshire, (2002)
Bird, R, 'Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society 5.1,' in Putwell Hill Lead Mine, Monsal Dale, (1972)
Other
Cranstone, D, MPP The Lead Industry Step 1 Report, (1992)

Source: Historic England