The Industrial Past
As you walk through the sylvan peace of Lathkill Dale, the only sound the song of birds and the chuckling stream, it’s hard to believe that this was the scene of intense industrial activity for nearly a hundred years, from the end of the eighteenth century.The deep, steep-sided dales provided lead miners with an easy means of access to the precious lead veins, and the river a means of power to pump out the water which was always the miners’ greatest enemy. Only the ruins of Mandale Mine are left, nearly hidden in the trees, but the drainage ‘sloughs still drain the old workings, and hidden shafts create danger for the unwary.
Everywhere you look in the White Peak, there is evidence of previous industrial activity, from the mysterious bumps and hollows which scar many fields and mark old lead workings, to the long lines of tree-lined ‘rakes’ which show where the major veins were excavated in some cases from Roman times.
Perhaps the most impressive remains are at Magpie Mine, near Sheldon, which was worked continuously for over two centuries from the 1740’s. Today it is a field centre for the Peak District Mines Historical Society. Odin Mine, near Castleton, is reputed to be one of the oldest lead mines in the area, due to its Nordic-sounding name. The horse drawn wheel used to crush lead ore is still to be seen here in the shadow of Mam Tor.
Industry in the dales was not confined to lead mining either, and the early magnates of the Industrial Revolution, like Arkwright and Strutt, were quick to utilise the fast-flowing Peakland rivers to power their cotton-mills.
Copyright © 1988/96 Peak National Park