Monument record MDR3526 - Pretoria chert mine, Monyash Road, Bakewell

A chert mine called Pretoria. (1, 2) Pretoria chert quarry consisted of two mines: Pretoria, which was an adit opening out from a quarry at Bank Top, and Greenfield, shaft-working. They were connected underground. Pretoria opened in c. 1902 and ceased to be registered as a working mine in 1968. (3) Pretoria Mine and Greenfield Mine have merged into a single complex which straddles Monyash Road at SK 211681 near Bank Top Farm. Greenfield Mine was the shaft working situated on the south side of the road but if it was ever a separate entity, then its history is completely undocumented. Pretoria Mine is believed to have been started early in 1900 by Robert William Allsop who is known to have opened a chert quarry about this time in a field belonging to himself and was working several other sites simultaneously, this being the zenith of the chert industry. The mine was named after the Battle of Pretoria in the Boer War. When described in 1906 it was stated that 'the stone is got by means of a vertical shaft, being hauled up by a crane'. The mine closed for a time between 1918 and 1922, when it was sold at auction - the sale included a blacksmith's shop and smithy, carpenter's shop, warehouse, office etc. Eventually the workings extended over an area of 650 ft by 450 ft. Activity at Pretoria Mine declined slowly and in 1964 only four men were employed (two underground) producing only 25 tons per week. Its closure in 1968 marked the end of the chert industry in Derbyshire. During recent years the quarry has been infilled but access to the workings has been preserved by the construction of a 20ft deep shaft made out of concrete pipes which is gated with a grill, admittance being controlled through the Peak District Mines Historical Society. (4)