Alport Smelt Mill

Overview

Alport Smelt Mill's zig-zagging system of flues and condensing chambers, described in detail in an 1870 textbook as an example of contemporary best practice, is considered the most complex example of its kind to survive anywhere in England.

History

Alport Smelt Mill lies in a steep, wooded valley cut into the Derbyshire limestone plateau, some 500 metres north-east of Alport village, and was worked between 1845 and 1875. It served the nearby Alport Mines, a mining concern largely controlled by the Barker family, and Barker and Rose seem to have occupied the smelt mill throughout its working life until its closure in 1874 or 1875; the mines it served were apparently nearing the end of their profitable years by that time, and the metallurgist John Percy's 1870 description and plan of the site suggest it had by then also been adapted for smelting slag and linnet-ore. The cupola appears on an Ordnance Survey map of around 1845-1850 but is not listed in a trade directory of 1846, before being listed in others of 1857 and 1870. The mill included reverberatory smelting furnaces and Spanish slag hearths -- small blast furnaces used to reprocess slag for further lead -- together with a complex system of flues, condensers and a chimney; the whole site was described in detail by Percy in his 1870 textbook 'Metallurgy of Lead' as an example of contemporary best practice, giving Alport an unusually thorough documentary record for a 19th-century industrial site. The smelt mill building itself occupied the western end of the site, surviving today as slight masonry remains with earthwork platforms and a head-race running from the river; a slag tip survives beside the river to the north-east as an earthwork some 40 metres long and 10 metres wide. The remainder of the site is occupied by an unusually complex system of arched, lintelled and tunnelled flues zig-zagging along the hillside and linking to several condensing chambers in varying states of survival, terminating in a large, stubby chimney on the hillside to the south-east. Scheduled as a nationally important monument in September 1996, Alport Smelt Mill is valued above all for its condensing system, considered the most complex example surviving anywhere in England and unusually well preserved, its importance further enhanced by metallurgical residues still adhering to the flue linings and by the site's detailed treatment in Percy's contemporary account.

Geology

A reverberatory lead-smelting site serving the nearby Alport Mines, not itself an extraction working.

Workings

Masonry remains of the smelt mill building, a head-race, a 40m slag tip, and an unusually complex zig-zagging system of flues and condensing chambers terminating in a large chimney.

Closure

Occupied by Barker and Rose throughout its working life; closed in 1874 or 1875 as the Alport Mines it served neared the end of their profitable years.

What remains

Scheduled as a nationally important monument since September 1996; the condensing system is considered the most complex surviving example of its kind in England.

Slight masonry remains of the smelt mill building, a head-race, a 40m slag-tip earthwork, and a substantially complete system of arched, lintelled and tunnelled flues with condensing chambers and a chimney survive.

Related mines

• Alport Mines — Named directly in this record's own HER description as the mining concern the smelt mill served, largely a Barker family operation.

Nearby mines

• Broadmeadow Lead Mine — 0.4 km SW
• Guy Mine — 0.4 km SW
• Wheels Rake Wheelhouse Shaft — 0.4 km E
• Prospect Lead Mine — 0.8 km S
• Kirkmeadow Mine — 1.2 km SE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Barker and Rose seem to have occupied the mill throughout its existence until its closure in 1874 or 1875; the siting was presumably to serve the Alport Mines which were largely a Barker family concern, and Percy's description and plan of the site suggests it was soon adapted to slag and linnet-ore smelting also. ¹
• Alport smelt mill includes the remains of reverberatory smelting furnaces and Spanish slag hearths together with a complex system of flues, condensers and chimney; the whole site was described in detail in 1870 as an example of contemporary best practice, with the condensing system considered the most complex example surviving in England. ²
• The remainder of the area is occupied by a very complex system of arched, lintelled and tunnelled flues zig-zagging along the hillside and communicating with several condensing chambers in varying states of survival, terminating in a large stubby chimney on the hillside south east of the smelt mill site. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Alport Smelt Mill, 157m north-north-east of The Mill, Harthill (MDR3843) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Alport smelt mill, Youlgreave, Derbyshire — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)

Record created: 17 September 2026 · Last researched: 17 September 2026