Monument record MDR4102 - Harrybecca Leadmine, Hassop
Type and Period (4)
- LEAD MINE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- MINE SHAFT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- COE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- HORSE WHIM (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Protected Status/Designation
- None recorded
Full Description
Lead mine containing a series of plumbs and hadings demonstrating lead mining techniques and geological phenomena not repeated elsewhere nationally. Plumbs are where mineralisation occurs in vertical joints and hadings where it occurs in steeply inclined beds. (1) 18th and 19th century workings.
This complex mine has a number of surface features surviving, including shafts, ruined buildings, at least one of which was presumably a coe, concrete platforms and the remains of a large walled enclosure. Inspection of the underground workings in 1993 confirmed that they contain features of geological and archaeological importance. A climbing shaft, c. 15m deep, has the collapsed remains of a fixed iron ladder, thought to have been put in during prospecting for fluorspar in the 1940s-1950s. It leads to a complex series of small passages in several narrow interconnecting east/west veins. The disposition of these at one point near the base of the shaft led to the creation of a small area of pillar and stall working, a method not recorded elsewhere in a lead mine in Britain. The date of the earliest use of the mine is unknown, but the shallow workings are of early 18th century date at the latest. In the second half of the 18th century the mine was part of the Brightside Mine title and it is the site of an engine shaft known as Middle Engine (a deep shaft at the eastern end of the complex). Brightside Mine, as a consolidated holding including Harrybecca, fell out of use shortly after the end of the Napolionic wars. It is not clear if Harrybecca Mine ever reopened. The 1879 OS map shows it as disused. (7).
At Harrybecca Mine there are deep opencuts, an overgrown gin circle and ruined buildings. There is also a 20th century fluorspar mine plant (SMR 7325) associated with one of the opencuts, with levels, platforms and ore chute drystone supports and once corrugated-iron structures (recently collapsed). (8)
An important example of firesetting with coal has been identified at the opencuts/stopes at Bacon's Mine (Harrybecca/Evans Gin Mines) and further evidence for this further east at the shafts to Harrybecca Mine. (9)
Remnant buildings and fixtures such as chutes, shafts winding houses and coes still visible today. (10)
Sources/Archives (10)
- <1> SDR12673 Verbal communication: Rieuwerts, J & Willies, L. 1988. Pers Comm..
- <2> SDR6958 Article in serial: Green A H. 1887. The Geology of North Derbyshire (BGS).
- <3> SDR3483 Article in serial: Willies, L. 1976. 'John Taylor in Derbyshire, 1839-1851, Part I' Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society. Vol. 6 (3), pp 146-60.
- <4> SDR3484 Article in serial: Willies, L. 'John Taylor in Derbyshire, 1839-1851, Part II', Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society. Vol 6 (5), pp 218-232.
- <5> SDR18444 Index: Rieuwerts, J. 1978. Peak Park Treasures: C102.
- <6> SDR18445 Photograph: Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA). 1974. Photo: 534.5-7.
- <7> SDR19238 Unpublished document: Barnatt, J (PDNPA). 1993. Hassop Estate, Hassop and Rowland, archaeological survey, 1993.
- <8> SDR19821 Bibliographic reference: Barnatt, J. 2004. An Inventory of Regionally & Nationally Important Lead Mining Sites in the Peak District. Vol. 2: Corpus of Sites. No.49, pp 71-72.
- <9> SDR21540 Bibliographic reference: Barnatt, J. 2005. Updated Inventory of Regionally & Nationally Important Lead Mining Sites in the Peak District.. No. 49, p 4.
- <10> SDR18788 Bibliographic reference: Fowkes, D (ed.). 1997. Derbyshire Industrial Archaeology. A Gazetteer of Sites. Part IV. Derbyshire Dales.
Map
Location
| Grid reference | Centred SK 2255 7312 (1347m by 588m) (Approximate) |
|---|---|
| Civil Parish | HASSOP, DERBYSHIRE DALES, DERBYSHIRE |
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Events/Activities (1)
- EDR3745
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External Links (0)
Record last edited
Mar 9 2015 11:01AM