MAGPIE MINE.

Magpie mine - a former Derbyshire Peak District lead mine. The magpie mine, just south of Sheldon, was one of the most famous lead mines in the Derbyshire Peak district and was worked until the 1950`s. Many of the buildings still stand. The mine is in the care of the Peak District Mines Historical Society since 1962. You can see the buildings from the Bakewell - Chelmorton road. In fact you can get to the mine on foot by walking across two fields. But on the day we where there, walking across the two fields was a no - no, in the field was a bull, and having a past experience with a bull, which was extremely frightening I did not attempt to get any nearer. Hence the pictures where taken from a distance. The mine is at the junction of the magpie vein, the bole vein and the butts vein, and was only one of several mines exploiting these veins - the Red Soil Mine and the Maypitts mine lay within only a few hundred metres of the Magpie mine. The mine is first recorded in 1795, though the workings are probably much older. It finally ceased operations in 1958. The heyday of the mine was in the mid 19th century. The buildings still visible are enough to be able to construct a picture of what an 19th century leadmine must have looked like.

 

 

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