Summary

Coalpithole Rake, near Chapel-en-le Frith in Derbyshire is an extremely well-preserved example of a linear sequence of lead mine workings exemplifying the lead mining and ore processing techniques developed from the medieval period to the late C19 in the Derbyshire orefield.

Source: Historic England

Details

The area of protection includes the earthwork, buried, standing and rock-cut remains of Coalpithole Rake, an extensive lead mining complex dating from at least the early C18. The site is located within the Liberties of Peak Forest and Chapel-en-le-Frith (the district within which the miners worked, governed by a set of laws and customs), in the northernmost sector of the Derbyshire ore field. It lies 4 km to the east of Chapel-en-le- Frith, close to where the Carboniferous limestone landscape of the White Peak and the gritstone landscape of the Dark Peak meet.

The area of protection is centred on SK10046 81065. It is linear in shape and extends from south-east to north-west for approximately 1.5 km from the western side of the Perryfoot Road at SK1064280876 to the site of no.10 shaft to the north-east of Rushup Farm at SK0916581343. The workings are continuous along the line of the vein, and include intermediate concentrations of activity at the two Coalpithole Mine sites associated with shafts nos. 8 and 10 to the north-west side of the Sparrowpit to Castleton road (henceforth referred to as ‘the road’).

The mining of the site developed incrementally along a rake vein; the earthwork, buried and standing remains represent the surviving elements of this activity. Numerous shafts, including two lined engines shafts (shafts nos. 8 and 10 sunk to facilitate mechanised pumping and winding operations), belland yard walls (substantial drystone walls erected around dressing floors to prevent livestock grazing on contaminated ground), a long open cut (a vein worked open to daylight), gin circles (remains of horse-powered winding apparatus) dressing floors (primary ore processing areas) water storage and settling ponds, extensive hillocks (mounds of spoil produced by excavation and dressing and crushing processes) and lengths of trackway, are represented. The site also includes vestiges of late C19 horizontal steam engine and boiler houses and associated structures which are believed to survive as low upstanding ruins.

Coalpithole Rake is expressed as a cluster of shafts on the east side of Perrydale, centred at SK1060380915 where there is thought also to be a flat-topped dressing floor and the remains of a horse-gin platform. The rake extends upwards on Gautries Hill in a north-easterly direction from the area around the former mine manager’s house in Perrydale, initially as a substantial open cut into the hillside, and thereafter with both shafts and lengths of opencut extending into sloping ground as Gautrees Hill rises and falls, with a deep open cut and flanking shafts extending downhill towards the road. Beyond this point, the vein dips downwards below the overlying shale bed, requiring mining activity at a much greater depth. The visible evidence for the mining activity in this area of level ground is provided by the earthwork remains of hillocks, the surface remains associated with shafts nos. 8 and 10, a leat and a possible storage reservoir thought to have originated as a power source for C18 waterwheel-powered pumps.

The eastern section of the rake is traversed by a farm track. To the west of this point, beginning at SK1028780978 is a wide, deep opencut, possibly a natural swallow hole subsequently enlarged by mining. Progressing westwards, there are the earthwork remains of an oval pond, then a dressing floor with nearby collapsed shafts and a possible gin circle and associated collapsed drystone wall. Beyond this is a sleeper-covered shaft, then a walled dressing floor on a hillock with a shaft at its centre with collapsed ginging (dressed or rubble stone lining to the upper part of a shaft). To the southern side of the next section are the remains of a small two-cell drystone structure with an associated dressing floor. There is a rubble heap within the western D-shaped section, possibly covering a shaft, and a curved drystone wall to the eastern section. The rake then extends into a large open cut of between 3 and 6 metres deep, and consistently of 4 to 5 metres width. At its western end is a further dressing floor within which are 3 settling or slime ponds, the lowest of which is separated from the upper ponds by a bank and a retaining wall. At the junction of the rake and the road at SK0970781189 is a large roughly circular hollow thought to have been a water storage pond formed from a natural swallow hole.

To the north-east of the road, the principal evidence of lead mining is found around the sites of nos.8, 9 and 10 shafts located on or near the line of the vein, which in this area was worked at a much greater depth than areas to the east. The remains of the mine complex associated with no.8 shaft at SK0958781200 and those at no.10 shaft at SK0919481275 are representative of late C19 investment by the Peak Forest Mining Company, but the earthworks remains of the leat and the diamond-shaped reservoir to the north of no.8 shaft are thought to form part of the development of powered pumping from the shaft by the Newcomen Engine and water wheels installed there in the 1780s.

The line of the vein extended at depth to the west of the leat (an open watercourse taking water away from to and from mine workings or water mill sites) and reservoir in a north-westerly direction towards Rushup Farm. In an area to the east, centred at SK0919481275 is the site of the mine complex around no.10 shaft, where, in addition to hillocks, are documented (Barnatt, 2004) the brick foundations and floor surface of an engine house or boiler house and the remains of a brick-built flue extending up the hillside to an associated chimney base.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The area of protection is comprised of two areas of protection. The first (Area of Protection 01) defines the main extent of the rake between Perrydale and the area immediately to the north-west of the road at the bottom of Gautries Hill.

The second area of protection (Area of Protection 02) defines an area associated with no.10 shaft to the east of Rushup Farm centred at SK0958781200.

Area of Protection 01 starts on the east side of the Perrydale road at a drystone wall at SK1061280851. This upper section of the boundary is V shaped and extends to the base of the sloping ground to the east, then turns north-westwards to SK1057080980. It then moves to the west, crossing the Perrydale road before turning north-westwards to SK1038077988. From this point it extends westwards to intersect the north- east edge of the workings. The lower section of the boundary extends from the drystone wall point previously described, crosses the Perrydale road and follows a drystone wall on its western side to SK1054680925. It then extends south-westwards to SK1048980891, passing to the rear of the former mine manager's house. From this point, the area of protection boundary lines on both sides of the rake follow the edge of the workings as they progress north-westwards over Gautries Hill to SK409707 381189. where the rake meets the road. On the north-west side of the road, the area of protection boundary follows the line of a low drystone wall to the north-east side of a narrow leat, turning north-eastwards at the rear of a modern farm shed to SK0954581327. It then turns to the north-west to follow the upper edge of an irregularly-shaped pond or reservoir to SK0916581327, where it extends a short distance to the south-west to join the upper limit of the leat at SK0947581431. Here it follows the lower edge of the leat to SK0958681248. It then turns south-west to follow the curved edge of a small wooded area back to the road at SK0964681166.

Area of Protection 02 begins at SK0933081241 and follows the field boundary north-westwards to SK0916581343, then turns south-westwards to SK0913981236. From there it moves north-east to a farm track and follows its north-east edge to SK0921981215, before extending to the east to meet a field boundary and following it for a short distance to the starting point of the area of protection.

All modern post and wire fences, road and track surfaces and signage are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath all these features is included. The former mine manager's house, and all other outbuildings associated with it, are similarly excluded, but the ground beneath them is included.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Coalpithole Rake is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: Coalpithole Rake is an exceptionally well-preserved site displaying a diversity of surviving features, many of which have been destroyed by later phases of mining activity on similar sites in Derbyshire;
* Diversity: the site retains a diverse range of features representing the extraction and ore processing stages of lead mining in Derbyshire. Such features have the potential to enhance our knowledge and understanding of the county’s nationally significant lead mining industry, of the chronological depth of the site in question and of the place it held in the wider economic and social landscape;
* Documentary Evidence: the historical context of mining at Coalpithole Rake is provided by Barmote Court records, with more specific details relating to the establishment and operation of the Peak Forest Mining Company;
* Group Value: the group value of the many different features contained within the site enhances its national significance. The sum of the whole transcends the significance of individual components and provides an example of what was once a far more extensive, multi-period and regionally distinctive mining landscape;
* Potential: the diverse range of features represented at Coalpithole Rake have the potential to explain the development and chronological range of the mine working at the site, as well as to contribute to the understanding of 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)
Rieuwerts, J H, Lead Mining in Derbyshire: History, Development and Drainage. Volume 2 Millers Dale to Alport and Dovedale, (2008)
Rieuwerts, JH, Lead Mining In Derbyshire:History, Development and Drainage, (2010)
Rieuwerts, JH, Lead Mining In Derbyshire: History, Development and Drainage 4: The Area South of the Via Gellia, (2012)
Willies, L, Parker, H, Peak District Mining and Quarrying, (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)
Heathcote, C, 'Mining History.' in The History of Coalpithole Vein in Peak Forest and Chapel-en-le Frith Liberties, Derbshire. 1705-1880., (2007)
Other
Chitty, G , Monuments Protection Programme: The Lead Industry Step 4 Report, 1995,
Cranstone, D. , Monuments Protection Programme: The Lead Industry Step 1 Report, 1992,
Cranstone,D., Monuments Protection Programme: The Lead Industry Step 3 Report , 1994,
John Barnatt, Lathkill Dale National Nature Reserve Archaeological Survey, 2005,

Source: Historic England