Monument record MDR4058 - Brightside Lead Mine, Hassop

Excellent example of 19th century layout, with the only surviving ore bins in Derbyshire. Surface mining rights owned (1974) by Bleaklow Mining Co. (1). Fairly complete mine remains (especially in plan) including adit, ore kilns and grate, shaft, engine house and stump of chimney. (2, 3). The monument was scheduled in July 1998. It is situated on a steep wooded slope and includes the ruined buildings, earthworks and buried remains of the Brightside lead mine, considered to be the best remaining example of its type. It is remarkable for the survival of an unusually complete range of components, including distinctive features such as a range of ore bins or wash kilns believed to be the only original examples left in the Derbyshire orefield. The Brightside mine was in operation from at least 1853, when a steam engine was ordered for pumping and winding. Steam was also used for a sawmill, and possibly for crushing ore in the early stages of processing. However, a well preserved adit (a horizontal tunnel giving access to the mine) and portal testify to an earlier beginning. Horses were initially used to pull ore to the surface, with an adit giving access to the mine. Horsepower later gave way to a steam engine driving winding gear to haul ore out of a vertical shaft. See the scheduled monument record for a full description. (4). At Brightside Mine there is a rare bank of three bouse teems, an arched haulage level called the Newcastle Road, the footings of a horizontal pumping/winding engine with chimney base, and a ruined sawmill. A mine cottage is still inhabited. (5). Photographic record. (6-9).