1. The History
Located to the west of Stoney Middleton in the Derbyshire Peak District, Middleton Dale is a steep-sided valley, made up of carboniferous limestone. The village of Stoney Middleton lies at the eastern end while the historic plague village of Eyam is situated approximately half-a-kilometre to the north of the dale, through the side valley of Eyam Dale.
The north side of the valley is riddled with an extensive system of caves, many of which that have been exploited to mine the lead ore known as galena (lead sulphide). Found in the carboniferous limestone, it has been mined here for thousands of years, including by the Romans, as evidenced by the discovery of inscribed lead ingots, known as ‘pigs’. Its uses were numerous including roofing, guttering, plumbing, musket balls and for the manufacture of pigments and paints. It represented a major industry for the local area and reached a peak in the 17th and 18th centuries before its eventual decline in the 1850’s, due to cheaper imports from abroad.
The mines in Middleton Dale are relatively small operations and were often worked by farmers looking to supplement their income from farming by mining small veins at quiet times in the farming calendar. By the mid-1700s, the use of gunpowder made extraction of the ore more easily, as shafts and levels could be driven through hard limestone.
2. The Project
Understandably, the larger lead mines around Stoney get more attention (namely Nickergrove mine (report HERE) and Merlin’s mine (report HERE)) while the various Middleton Dale Levels tend to get neglected. This most likely because of the sheer number of them and the fact that many are not that extensive. As a consequence, they tend to get explored less frequently and are much lesser often documented. So the purpose of this project is to methodically work through the levels and document them!
Map 1:
Legend:
A – Level 1, 46m
B – Level 2, 18m
C – Level 10, 15m
D – Level 4 (Triple Hole), 91m
E – Level 5 (Fingle’s Cave), 62m
F – Level 6 (Shining Cliff Mine), 91m
Map 2:
Legend:
G – Level 7, 106m
H – Level 11 (Monday Mine), 52m
I – Sunday Mine, 62m
J – Level 9 (Friday Mine), 76m
K – Level 8. 30m
L – Level 12 (Kings Level), 18m (blocked)
3. The Pictures
Level 6 (Shining Cliff Mine)
This report is going to concentrate solely on this mine as it’s a very pretty mine and surpassed all expectations. There’s no info out there that I could find, but was probably worked until the second half of the 1800s.. It’s a pretty simple mine. This building by the main road from Stoney to Matlock was likely to have had something to do with the mines in the area:
Peeking under the door, anyone know what a Lister does?
At base of top cliff, the first challenge was to get up to the mine entrance. There isn’t any particular obvious signs of a footpath going up to the entrance. After a scramble and a bit of a tumble en route, I got to the entrance:
The initial drive is a bit of a crawl:
But it soon opens out:
You then come to the main passage. To the left it soon ends:
So, it’s a right turn. Then it’s straight down. Initially things are a bit rough:
With a lot of boulders on the floor:
Then it opens out a bit:
And the best thing about the mine: its lovely mineralisation:
The first of two step downs – they may have been collapsed whinzes:
This looks like a wax candle:
Really loved these cave pearls too:
On a bit more:
Located to the west of Stoney Middleton in the Derbyshire Peak District, Middleton Dale is a steep-sided valley, made up of carboniferous limestone. The village of Stoney Middleton lies at the eastern end while the historic plague village of Eyam is situated approximately half-a-kilometre to the north of the dale, through the side valley of Eyam Dale.
The north side of the valley is riddled with an extensive system of caves, many of which that have been exploited to mine the lead ore known as galena (lead sulphide). Found in the carboniferous limestone, it has been mined here for thousands of years, including by the Romans, as evidenced by the discovery of inscribed lead ingots, known as ‘pigs’. Its uses were numerous including roofing, guttering, plumbing, musket balls and for the manufacture of pigments and paints. It represented a major industry for the local area and reached a peak in the 17th and 18th centuries before its eventual decline in the 1850’s, due to cheaper imports from abroad.
The mines in Middleton Dale are relatively small operations and were often worked by farmers looking to supplement their income from farming by mining small veins at quiet times in the farming calendar. By the mid-1700s, the use of gunpowder made extraction of the ore more easily, as shafts and levels could be driven through hard limestone.
2. The Project
Understandably, the larger lead mines around Stoney get more attention (namely Nickergrove mine (report HERE) and Merlin’s mine (report HERE)) while the various Middleton Dale Levels tend to get neglected. This most likely because of the sheer number of them and the fact that many are not that extensive. As a consequence, they tend to get explored less frequently and are much lesser often documented. So the purpose of this project is to methodically work through the levels and document them!
Map 1:
Legend:
A – Level 1, 46m
B – Level 2, 18m
C – Level 10, 15m
D – Level 4 (Triple Hole), 91m
E – Level 5 (Fingle’s Cave), 62m
F – Level 6 (Shining Cliff Mine), 91m
Map 2:
Legend:
G – Level 7, 106m
H – Level 11 (Monday Mine), 52m
I – Sunday Mine, 62m
J – Level 9 (Friday Mine), 76m
K – Level 8. 30m
L – Level 12 (Kings Level), 18m (blocked)
3. The Pictures
Level 6 (Shining Cliff Mine)
This report is going to concentrate solely on this mine as it’s a very pretty mine and surpassed all expectations. There’s no info out there that I could find, but was probably worked until the second half of the 1800s.. It’s a pretty simple mine. This building by the main road from Stoney to Matlock was likely to have had something to do with the mines in the area:
Peeking under the door, anyone know what a Lister does?
At base of top cliff, the first challenge was to get up to the mine entrance. There isn’t any particular obvious signs of a footpath going up to the entrance. After a scramble and a bit of a tumble en route, I got to the entrance:
The initial drive is a bit of a crawl:
But it soon opens out:
You then come to the main passage. To the left it soon ends:
So, it’s a right turn. Then it’s straight down. Initially things are a bit rough:
With a lot of boulders on the floor:
Then it opens out a bit:
And the best thing about the mine: its lovely mineralisation:
The first of two step downs – they may have been collapsed whinzes:
This looks like a wax candle:
Really loved these cave pearls too:
On a bit more:
Last edited:
lol
