Monument record MDR7580 - Barbrook Cupola and slag mill, Baslow and Bubnell

Barbrook Cupola is not shown on Burdett's map of 1762-1767 or the amended version of 1792. It is, however, shown on a Fairbank map, probably late 18th century in date, of a proposed road from Baslow via Owler Bar to Totley. Farey, in 1811, listed a cupola and slag mill in the possession of Thomas and John Barker. Bagshaw in 1846 said the cupola had long been in ruins. The site is shown on the 25" OS map of 1879, but no buildings are marked specifically. Today, Cupola Cottage marks the site but, although local inhabitants talk of flues, none have yet been found that are convincing. There are a few pieces of slag and slaggy brick. (1) The Barbrook Cupola was sited near Cupola Cottage on the south side of the Bar Brook, about 600m further downstream from a ruined slag mill [see HER 15816]. Slags have apparently been found around the cottage, while an unpublished map, probably drawn in advance of the creation of the 1803 turnpike road, shows that the cupola was in this vicinity. Sanderson's 1835 map 'Twenty Miles round Mansfield' shows two buildings at what is labelled 'Smelting Mill' just north of Cupola Cottage on the other side of the road. One of these buildings remained when mapped in the late 1870s, but by then may well have long been used for other purposes; it had gone by 1897. All around the sites of these two buildings the soils, where exposed, are a grey colour as if containing comminuted slag or ash, and they are mixed with many small pieces of burnt coal. A ruined back wall fragment of one of the buildings survives. Farey in 1811 lists the Barbrook Cupola and a slag works, both owned by the Barkers. They were perhaps built in about 1770 when this family closed the earlier ore hearth smeltworks [HER 1302] and they were certainly here by c. 1800. The presence of the cupola and slag works were also noted by Glover in 1831, but Bagshaw noted in 1846 that the cupola had long been in ruins. While the cupola was near Cupola Cottage, the location of the associated slag works is uncertain, but it was probably sites somewhere near the cupola. As Sanderson shows two buildings, one of these may have contained the slag hearth. (4)