Feature Assessment: Cultural landscapes / Lead mining features
# Lead mining features
Overall vulnerability |
# Feature(s) assessed:
- Lead rakes and mines - large and small scale extraction & processing infrastructure
- Below ground workings
# Special qualities:
- Internationally important and locally distinctive wildlife and habitats
- Landscapes that tell a story of thousands of years of people, farming and industry
# Feature description:
Lead mines were once a familiar sight across the White Peak. While some of the features of mining can be seen at the surface, many are largely underground; the underground workings can be deep and complex. Many mines have associated soughs - underground drainage channels - built to take water out of the mines. See ‘Reservoirs and water management’ for further discussion of such water management features. Some of the most prominent surface features still visible are lead rakes. These are composed of the working areas and spoil that was left when miners had extracted the lead ore. These hillocks are viewed as an incredibly important for the calaminarian grassland habitat they support. Approximately 30 ha of calaminarian grassland and lead sites have been mapped in the PDNP, the vast majority of this being priority habitat.
Relatively few lead mining sites have designated status. A total of 163 sites within the PDNP are included in the PDNPA Inventory of Regionally and Nationally Important Lead Mining Sites, while nine are also seen as important lead mining landscapes. There are many more lead mining sites of local significance.
Intact buildings relating to lead workings are rare. One fine example, the Magpie Mine at Sheldon, dates back to 1740. It was also the final working lead mine in Derbyshire and closed for the final time in 1954. This site is one of the most complete groups of historic lead mining buildings, with an engine house, chimneys, and other structures.
# How vulnerable are lead mining features?
Lead mining features in the PDNP have been rated ‘high’ on our vulnerability scale. This score is due to high sensitivity and exposure to climate change variables, coupled with a highly variable current condition, and moderate adaptive capacity.
Lead mining remains in the PDNP are in variable condition, some high value sites are in very good condition, but many other hillocks and sites of ecological interest have been degraded. Changes in the climate could have a major direct impact on these sites altering the composition of the important calaminarian grassland habitats, while increased storm events could lead to pollution further downstream and damage to remaining archaeological features. Spoil tips and workings often comprise loose soils and deposits that are very vulnerable to erosion by wind water and abrasion. Surface features are particularly vulnerable to agricultural improvement, such as infilling and levelling. While some calaminarian grassland species have capacity to adapt, sites are fragmented and recovery from damaging events may be slow. Archaeological features have less adaptive capacity and should be considered a non-replaceable resource. Factors which may help to partially offset climate stressors include the good diversity of archaeological features which still exist, the diverse micro-topography of the remaining lead landscape, and the relatively well-studied nature of assets in the PDNP.
Overall potential impact rating | |
Overall adaptive capacity rating |
# Current condition:
There are significant archaeological remains of lead mining in varying condition. The total of 163 regionally important sites and nine important lead mining landscapes within the PDNP cover a wide range of types of mining remains and ecological habitats. There are many more sites that are not designated or on the list of regionally important sites, but that contribute to the historic mining landscape.
A small number of building features are in very good condition such as those at Magpie Mine and Bateman's House, and most feature types have some examples in a good condition. Most include hillocks or relatively common surface features such as shafts, access levels and dressing floors. Around two thirds include rare or special surface features including engine houses and other mine buildings and drains, and most have underground features. Many surface remains have been lost over time, some as a result of the materials originally discarded by miners being reworked to access fluorspar and barite – both of which are now more valuable than the lead. Others have been lost due to changes in land use, for example being levelled or infilled for agricultural purposes.
Lead mine sites are heavily polluted. They are home to calaminarian grasslands, as the metallophyte species are adapted to this pollution. This unique habitat is irreplaceable, and some contaminated soils will be washed away each year. The PDNP is currently a UK stronghold for these grasslands.