Arbourseats Veins and Nay Green Mine

Overview

Arbourseats and Nay Green mines, worked along Tansley Dale from at least the 1830s, fed a rare concentration of ore-washing ponds via a stone-lined channel from Wardlow Sough -- one of the best-preserved multi-period mining landscapes in the district precisely because it was never reworked in the 20th century.

History

The mines of Tansley Dale, which joins Cressbrook Dale at its eastern end, all lie within Litton Liberty -- though during the 17th century most Litton miners actually worked mines in the neighbouring Tideswell and Hucklow liberties, and references to mines in Litton itself are rare. A 1630 dispute over 'Backdale Side Rake' may be the earliest documentary trace of working here, if, as suspected but not proven, Backdale was an older name for Tansley Dale. The earliest firm reference is from 1834, when Arbour Seats Mine was recorded as having been worked to a depth of 40 fathoms; a document of 1856 noted that the mine, by then worked by a company, was unremunerative. Nay Green Mine -- which included Weather Slack Vein, Bramwell Scrin and two unnamed veins -- is first documented in 1732, in a dispute about 'Sellors Grove on Knea Green', and was probably worked mainly in the 1840s-50s, contemporary with Arbourseats. Wardlow Sough, which drains the valley, was already measuring ore by 1729, with one level extending 2,700 feet along its vein. At the west end of Tansley Dale is a belland yard with a run-in shaft, gin circle and a coe built later over the old horse walk; further east, a smaller belland yard holds a flat-topped dressing floor hillock with a ruined coe, a blocked shaft, a water-storage pond and a probable ore-dressing pit. Along the valley bottom, at grid reference SK1708874745, is Arbourseats Mine itself, recorded on the 1880 Ordnance Survey map as simply 'Old Lead Mine'. Further east, near the confluence with Cressbrook Dale, a line of closely spaced, denuded shaft hillocks has been interpreted as air shafts on a very early sough. Roughly mid-way along the valley is Wardlow Sough's own outlet, its stone-lined channel feeding a rare, large complex of ore-washing ponds at Nay Green, where square-section iron rails, probably dating from the 1830s-50s, confirm the level there -- known in recent times as 'Neptune Level' -- functioned as a haulage way. On the opposite side of the valley, a run-in Arbourseats sough tail and open cuts along Arbourseats and Hading veins have shed spoil that partly blocks the valley bottom, forming the dam for the Nay Green ponds. Because only a limited area was ever reworked, the site preserves an unusually complete range of 18th- and 19th-century features that have been lost to later disturbance at many comparable Derbyshire mines, and the Nay Green washing ponds are considered a rare survival in their own right.

Geology

Lead-bearing veins (Arbourseats Vein, Hading Vein, Seedlow Rake and others) along Tansley Dale, drained by Wardlow Sough.

Workings

Arbourseats Mine and Sough, and Nay Green Mine, with belland yards, ruined coes, open cuts, a haulage level with surviving iron rails, and a rare complex of ore-washing ponds fed by Wardlow Sough.

Closure

Arbourseats was noted as unremunerative in an 1856 document; both it and Nay Green were chiefly worked in the 1830s-50s.

What remains

Scheduled in March 2013 as a nationally important monument; unusually well preserved because only a limited area was ever reworked.

Belland yards, ruined coes, a gin circle, open cuts, a blocked sough tail, and the rare large Nay Green ore-washing ponds all survive.

Nearby mines

• Cackle Mackle and Stadford Hollow Lead Mines — 2.1 km E
• Lees and Dove Rakes — 2.4 km SW
• Maury Mine and Sough — 3.0 km SW
• Putwell Hill Mine — 3.0 km S
• Milldam Mine — 3.5 km N

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.

• The earliest known documentary reference to mining in Tansley Dale is from 1834, when Arbour Seats Mine was recorded as worked to a depth of 40 fathoms; an 1856 document noted the mine, worked by a company, was unremunerative. A 1630 dispute over 'Backdale Side Rake' may be an earlier reference, if Backdale was an old name for the dale. ¹
• Nay Green Mine, including Weather Slack Vein, Bramwell Scrin and two unnamed veins, is first documented in 1732 in a dispute about 'Sellors Grove on Knea Green', and was probably worked mainly in the 1840s-50s; Wardlow Sough was already measuring ore by 1729, with one level extending 2,700ft along its vein. ¹
• The large Nay Green ore-washing ponds, fed by a stone-lined goit from Wardlow Sough, are a rare feature; the site's limited later reworking has preserved an unusually complete range of 18th- and 19th-century mining features lost at many comparable Derbyshire sites. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Arbourseats Veins and Sough and Nay Green Mine, Tansley Dale, Wardlow and Litton (MDR2153) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Arbourseats Veins and Sough, Wardlow Sough, Nay Green Mine and Washing Floors, Hading Vein and Seedlow Rake, Wardlow, Derbyshire — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)

Record created: 16 September 2026 · Last researched: 16 September 2026