Monument record MDR3087 - Snake Mine (disused), Middleton

A small mine with remains of gin circle, coe, slime pond and buddle. (1, 2) The surface remains at Snake Mine were excavated and surveyed in 1967 by members of the Peak District Mines Historical Society. (3) Snake Mine, Hopton Wood, comprises an artificial hillock 100ft long by 70ft wide, roughly oval, within which are a main winding shaft, the remains of a coe, an ore buddle, a climbing shaft and a horse-winding gin of which only the centre stone remains. On top of the hillock lie the circle of the horse gin and its centre stone. The main shaft, to one side of the circle, is of an unusual 'D' shape, 3ft across and 250ft deep. Below the west face of the hillock there is a terrace 25ft wide on which lie an ore buddle and a coe. The coe is built into the hillside, and measures 8ft by 12ft,with a partly paved stone floor and a fireplace. From one corner of the coe a passage leads to a climbing shaft 33ft deep. The buddle is floored at the top with limestone slabs and lined with limestone blocks. A channel lined with limestone and wood leads to the edge of the terrace, above the settling dams. The mine seems to have been in its heyday in the mid 19th century, but continued to be worked sporadically into the 20th century. A photograph taken in 1913 shows the horse-gin still standing but falling into ruin. (4) Now scheduled. The Scheduled Monument includes a walled enclosure containing the remains of a small 19th century nucleated lead mine, comprising mine workings and ore works. The remains include an oval shaft revetted by drystone walling. The mound measures c.30m by 20m and is terraced into the hillside on the north-east side where there is a ramped access onto the top of the mound. On the mound is the main shaft, a climbing shaft, a gin-circle, and a ruined coe. There is also a washing floor, another coe, and a settling tank. (5) An intact small mine complex upon a large reveted hillock, on the top of which is a small walled dressing floor with a gin circle and shaft. On a terrace to one side there is a coe containing a horizontal level to the shaft, a dressing floor and a stone lined buddle. The shaft gives access to informative underground workings. (6) Site of former Snake Lead Mines, 300 yeards SSW of Hopton Quarries. (7)