Bar Brook Lead Mill

Overview

Bar Brook's lead-smelting mill, built by Robert Mower in 1618 together with a smelter's cottage, kept working for over 150 years -- and even after closure around 1770, a second, separate slag mill downstream continued reworking its waste to recover the lead left behind.

History

In an area of wooded gritstone boulders on the north bank of the Bar Brook, the remains survive of a 17th- and 18th-century lead smelt mill, together with those of a second mill downstream built specifically to rework its waste. The smelting mill and a cottage for its smelter were built by Robert Mower in 1618 and continued working until closure around 1770; Farey, writing in 1811, recorded a slag mill on the site in the possession of Thomas and John Barker. The core of the site is a ruined two-cell building lying east-west, with the remains of a chimney in its west wall and its interior largely buried under rubble. To its east lies a dam, breached but largely intact; to the north, a hollow way leads north-west past a small associated building, while fragments of walling extend south from the mill to the brook itself. A gritstone mould once used for casting pigs of lead was recorded as having come from the ruins, though it is no longer visible on site. About 300 metres downstream, amid dense birch woodland, lie the separate and particularly interesting remains of a slag mill -- already abandoned by 1835, when the area was first mapped -- linked to the upstream mill by its own trackway and leat. Water reached it via a narrow leat feeding a now-dry header pond, beyond which survive the ruins of a long, rectangular smelting building terraced into the slope, its waterwheel for the bellows apparently housed within, and a circular chimney base built into its western end wall. Extensive areas of bare, lead-contaminated ground mark where smelting-hearth cinders lie exposed near a small yard above the building, beside the ruins of a second small structure, probably a store or workshop. Though previously thought to be the slag mill for an 18th-century cupola built further down the valley, the lack of any trackway running toward that cupola's site makes it more likely this mill instead reworked slag from the upstream 17th/18th-century ore hearth mill. The Bar Brook site was scheduled as a nationally important monument in September 1996, valued as a good example of a small, early Derbyshire ore hearth smelt mill that survives well, retaining an unusually large amount of standing masonry undisturbed by later development.

Geology

A lead ore-hearth smelting site on the Bar Brook, with a separate downstream slag mill reworking its waste, both processing ore/slag rather than extracting it.

Workings

A ruined two-cell smelt-mill building with a chimney base and dam, plus a separate downstream slag mill with a header pond, waterwheel pit, chimney base and associated store building.

Closure

The main smelting mill closed around 1770; the downstream slag mill was already abandoned by 1835, when the area was first mapped.

What remains

Scheduled as a nationally important monument since September 1996; the main mill building's walls survive to about 1.5m, though threatened by tree-root damage.

A ruined two-cell mill building with chimney remains and a breached dam, plus a separate downstream slag mill with header pond, wheelpit, chimney base and store-building ruins, survive.

Nearby mines

• Ramsley Moor Lead Smelting Site — 2.8 km NE
• Red Rake Mine — 3.4 km W
• Froggatt Wood Smelt Mill — 4.2 km NW
• Brightside Lead Mine — 4.3 km W
• Nickergrove Mine — 5.2 km NW

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 lead mill, which lies in an area of wooded gritstone boulders on the north bank of the Bar Brook, consists of the remains of a 17th-18th century smelt mill; the mill was built in 1618 and closed around 1770, and a gritstone mould for casting pigs of lead is recorded as having come from the ruins, though it is not now visible. ¹
• The smelting mill, together with a cottage for the person doing the smelting, was built by Robert Mower in 1618; Farey, in 1811, listed a slag mill in possession of Thomas and John Barker. ²
• About 300 metres downstream of the upper mill, amid dense birch woodland, lie the ruins of a separate slag mill, already abandoned by 1835; though previously interpreted as the slag mill for an 18th-century cupola further down the valley, the lack of tracks running toward that site makes it more likely the ruins represent a slag works associated with the upstream 17th/18th-century ore hearth smelting site instead. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Lead mill on north bank of Bar Brook, 80m east of confluence with Sandyford Brook, Baslow and Bubnell, Derbyshire — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)
2. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Barbrook slag mill, Blackstone Edge, Curbar (MDR7534) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record

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