Coalpithole Rake

Overview

Coalpithole Rake, worked from at least 1705, was fitted with a Newcomen fire-engine by 1783 and, after nearly a century of poor returns, was revived by Sheffield businessmen in 1858 -- using a second-hand steam engine bought from Brightside Mine, Hassop, for £188.

History

The earliest known record of mining at Coalpithole is from 1705, when the sum of £17 11s 6d was lost at 'Cole Pit Hole', though working along such a major rake vein was very likely already under way well before that. Output was never large: across the twenty-six years from 1752 to 1777, annual production ranged only from 54 to 240 loads, some 3,535 loads of ore in total -- a small to medium operation by Derbyshire standards -- despite which the proprietors believed richer reserves lay further south-west, down-dip. A Newcomen fire-engine had been installed by 1783, but proved too small for the job, and by 1784 water power -- two 24-foot waterwheels -- was being tried instead to solve the mine's persistent drainage problems; the dam that served those wheels survives and has recently refilled with water. Despite this investment, output stayed poor: only 42 loads and 2 dishes of ore were measured across the 61 years from 1796 to 1857. The Peak Forest Mining Company, formed in 1858 and owned mainly by a consortium of Sheffield businessmen, reopened and widened the old shafts, sank a further new shaft at the vein's westernmost end, and installed a dual-purpose winding and pumping engine there. A blacksmith's shop went up on the surface the same year, and further land was taken the following year for mine buildings and an Ore House. Ore production was negligible at first, but large outputs were achieved between 1865 and 1875, before declining again from 1875; the mine finally closed in 1880. The Company's steam winding engine, a horizontal engine by Bray & Co of Leeds originally built for Brightside Mine, Hassop, was bought second-hand for £188 in 1870. A rise in lead prices in the late 1930s prompted enquiries, from 1935, into reopening the mine using electrical pumping apparatus to overcome its water problems, but the scheme was dropped by early 1937, probably for want of the capital it would have needed. In 1951 and 1952 the British Speleological Association carried out a systematic exploratory survey of the rake's shafts, descending the 320-foot Rake Shaft by hand-winched cable and rope ladder and recording six side openings on the way down.

Geology

A major lead-bearing rake vein extending north-west beneath a shale cover into ground that remained unexploited at closure.

Workings

Engine shafts up to 400ft deep, drained in turn by a Newcomen fire-engine (1783), waterwheel pumps (from 1784), and a dual-purpose Sheffield-era winding/pumping engine bought second-hand from Brightside Mine in 1870.

Closure

Closed in 1880 after the Peak Forest Mining Company's output declined from 1875; a 1935-37 attempt to reopen the mine using electrical pumps was dropped for want of capital.

What remains

Scheduled as a nationally important monument; surveyed by the British Speleological Association in 1951-52 and surface-recorded on multiple later occasions.

Belland yard walls, numerous shafts (some grilled), gin circles, dressing floors, water storage and settling ponds, extensive hillocks, an open cut and lengths of trackway survive, along with the foundations of a late-19th-century engine/boiler house and chimney base.

Related mines

• Brightside Lead Mine — Coalpithole's 1870 winding/pumping engine was bought second-hand from Brightside Mine, Hassop, where it had originally been installed.
• Gautries Rake — Neighbouring rakes on and around Gautries Hill, both scheduled in March 2013 and documented through the same Peak Forest Mining Company records.

Nearby mines

• Gautries Rake — 0.3 km SE
• Eldon Hill Crushing Circle — 1.8 km E
• Peakshill or Oden Sough — 2.6 km NE
• Slitherstone and Linacre Lead Mines — 2.8 km E
• Oxlow Rake Lead Mines — 3.0 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.

• The earliest known record of mining at Coalpithole is from 1705; across 1752-1777 annual production ranged from 54 to 240 loads, some 3,535 loads in total, and a Newcomen fire-engine installed by 1783 proved too small, leading to waterwheel pumping from 1784. Only 42 loads and 2 dishes of ore were measured across the 61 years from 1796 to 1857. ¹
• The Peak Forest Mining Company, formed 1858 by Sheffield businessmen, bought a second-hand horizontal winding/pumping engine originally built for Brightside Mine, Hassop, in 1870 for £188; the mine achieved large outputs 1865-75 before closing in 1880. A 1935-37 attempt to reopen it using electrical pumps was dropped for lack of capital. ¹
• In 1951 and 1952 the British Speleological Association carried out a systematic exploratory survey of Coalpithole Rake's shafts, descending the 320ft Rake Shaft by hand-winched cable and rope ladder and recording six side openings during the descent. ¹
• Coalpithole Rake is a linear Scheduled Monument extending some 1.5km, with intermediate concentrations of activity at shafts nos. 8 and 10, and includes vestiges of a late-19th-century horizontal steam engine and boiler house believed to survive as low upstanding ruins. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Coalpithole rake, north of Gautries Hill, Peak Forest and Chapel-en-le-Frith (MDR541) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Coalpithole Rake, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)

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