Chariot Mine

Overview

A disused lead mine at Griffe Grange near Brassington, named with its neighbour Golconda for the fabled Indian diamond city after unusually rich ore was struck. White's Directory of 1857 records that the Griffe Grange mines had been worked to great advantage in the previous century, Golconda and Chariot above all.

History

Chariot lies in the limestone country at Griffe Grange in the parish of Hopton, on the ground between Brassington and Carsington that was one of the richer parts of the Derbyshire orefield. It shares its extravagant name with its neighbour Golconda: both were called after the fabled Indian diamond city when unusually rich ore was struck. The Derbyshire Historic Environment Record classes it as a lead mine of the Stuart to Victorian period, roughly 1700 to 1900, and its evidence is chiefly cartographic: 'Chariot Mine (Lead) (Disused)' is marked on the first edition twenty-five inch Ordnance Survey of about 1880, with 'Old Shafts' marked around it, in the middle of a wood that carries the mine's name — Chariot Wood. It was already disused by the time that map was made. The written record is thinner but pointed. White's Directory of 1857 says of Griffe Grange that 'the lead mines were during the last century worked to great advantage, particularly the Golconda and Chariot mines' — putting Chariot's best years in the eighteenth century, well before the survey that recorded its abandonment. Golconda beside it went on far longer, turning from lead to barytes and working until 1953.

Geology

The mine worked lead veins in the Carboniferous limestone of the southern Derbyshire orefield, on the ground around Brassington, Carsington and Hopton where the ore bodies carry barytes and calcite alongside the galena. It is the same field as neighbouring Golconda, whose later working turned from lead to barytes as the market changed.

Geological setting: Veins and Lodes (well documented example)

Workings

Nothing of the layout is recorded in the sources read. The first edition Ordnance Survey marks 'Old Shafts' around the mine, so the working was by shafts from the surface rather than by level or adit, which is what the shallow limestone ground here would suggest.

Closure

Already disused when the first edition twenty-five inch Ordnance Survey was made about 1880. No closure date has been established; White's Directory of 1857 puts the mine's productive years in the eighteenth century.

What remains

Disused, in coniferous woodland called Chariot Wood, with old shafts in the ground around it. The Historic Environment Record notes no protected status or designation for the site.

None identified in the sources consulted beyond the shafts on the map.

Redevelopment

None recorded in the sources consulted.

Related mines

• Golconda Mine — Adjacent mines on the same ground at Griffe Grange, named together for the Indian city of diamonds after rich ore was struck, and named together again in White's Directory of 1857 as the two that had been worked to greatest advantage there.

Nearby mines

• Golconda Mine — 0.2 km W
• Good Luck Mine — 2.3 km NE
• Via Gellia Lead Mines — 2.3 km NE
• Hopton Wood Quarries and Middleton Mine — 2.4 km E
• Bage Mine — 3.9 km E

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.

• 'Chariot Mine (Lead) (Disused)' is marked on the first edition twenty-five inch Ordnance Survey of about 1880, surrounded by mainly coniferous woodland named Chariot Wood, with 'Old Shafts' also marked. ¹
• White's Directory of 1857 records that at Griffe Grange 'the lead mines were during the last century worked to great advantage, particularly the Golconda and Chariot mines'. ¹
• The Derbyshire Historic Environment Record classes the site as a lead mine of the Stuart to Victorian period, 1700 to 1900, with no protected status or designation recorded. ¹
• Golconda, the mine named alongside Chariot in the 1857 directory and lying on the same ground at Griffe Grange, has its own county record and went on far longer, turning from lead to barytes and working until 1953. ^2,1

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Chariot Mine (MDR12619) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Golconda Mine (MDR9593) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record

Record created: 8 September 2026 · Last researched: 9 September 2026