Cobalt Mine

Overview

Forgotten so completely that it never appeared on the miners' own 1878 abandonment plan, the Cobalt Mine was rediscovered by cavers dropping down an old well shaft -- and in 2021 nearly doubled in length again when a fresh shaft opened up in a nearby field.

History

The Cobalt Mine's origins are believed to lie in the early 19th century: absent from the miners' own 1878 abandonment plan, and with cobalt itself apparently unknown at Alderley Edge before about 1808, the mine is thought to date from the work of a company of Stockport men active between 1804 and 1810. Exploration across the Edge suggests the cobalt ore here was concentrated along a north-south series of faults, with similar ores also found at Saddlebole, where the Cobalt Mine itself crosses near Macclesfield Road by Bradford Lane, and in Finlow Wood. The findings were significant enough in 1811 to be described in contemporary magazines, including an article by R. Bakewell in the Gentleman's Magazine, but the cobalt trade was short-lived: mainland European sources of the mineral became available again once the Napoleonic Wars ended, and by the 1850s one of the mine's shafts had been built over and the workings appear to have been forgotten entirely. Late in its working life, one section of the mine found a new purpose as a water source for the nearby Wizard tea rooms, water pumped from a shaft dropping through the hanging wall, across the vein and into the footwall -- a well still marked today by its pump wheel, with some of the original pumping apparatus still present underground. When the Derbyshire Caving Club first entered the mine, by dropping down this well and through a narrow connection into the main workings, they initially called it Wizard's Well Mine, renaming it the Cobalt Mine once the mineralisation there was found to be cobalt-bearing. In March 2021, a shaft unexpectedly appeared in a field near the mine's known extent; excavated by club members, it revealed a further set of workings that nearly doubled the mine's known length and proved to be connected to the older section, a find significant enough to prompt a joint press release with the National Trust in July 2022. Five entrances are known today: the old well beside the Wizard car park, a shaft inside the mining museum known as Tom's Shaft, a shaft opposite the Wizard Tea Rooms, Holly Shaft in trees south of the Wizard Restaurant, and a shaft in the field discovered in 2021. All five connect underground within a compact mine worked at several shallow levels along a single north-south fault, part of a wider series of unconnected shallow cobalt workings running from Saddlebole in the north to Finlow Wood in the south. Graffiti in one section, dated to 1810, is believed authentic. The mine's known length runs to about 600 metres, with a maximum depth below surface of about 20 metres.

Geology

A shallow cobalt-bearing working on a north-south fault at Alderley Edge, part of a wider series of unconnected shallow cobalt workings from Saddlebole to Finlow Wood.

Workings

Five connected entrances (an old well, Tom's Shaft, Holly Shaft, and two further shafts including one discovered in 2021), worked at several shallow levels along a single fault, about 600m long and up to 20m deep.

Closure

Cobalt working collapsed once mainland European sources became available again after the Napoleonic Wars; by the 1850s the mine appears to have been forgotten, one shaft built over.

What remains

Owned by the National Trust; not open to the public, though museum visitors can look down the lit Tom's Shaft. A 2021 discovery nearly doubled the mine's known extent.

Five entrance shafts (including a well with a surviving pump wheel and pumping apparatus), and underground, a compact network of shallow fault workings with authenticated 1810 graffiti, survive.

Related mines

• Alderley Edge Mines — One of the named workings within the wider Alderley Edge Mines complex, worked for cobalt during the early 19th-century Napoleonic-era boom.
• Saddlebole Mine — Part of the same north-south fault system exploited for cobalt in the early 19th century, per the Derbyshire Caving Club's own account.

Nearby mines

• Brynlow Mine — 0.2 km NE
• Saddlebole Mine — 0.2 km N
• West Mine — 0.2 km NW
• Alderley Edge Mines — 0.3 km NE
• Engine Vein — 0.3 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 mine was apparently forgotten by the miners in the late 19th century as it is not shown on their abandonment plan, but as cobalt has been found in the veins in the mine, and cobalt was apparently unknown at Alderley Edge before about 1808, we believe that this mine dates from the work by the Company of men from Stockport between 1804 and 1810. ¹
• In March 2021, a shaft appeared in a field near the known extent of the Cobalt Mine and this was excavated by Club members and revealed another set of workings nearly doubling the length of the mine and eventually proving to be connected with the 'old' section; the find aroused considerable interest with the National Trust and a press release was issued in July 2022. ¹
• The cobalt mining rights on Alderley Edge were leased by Sir John Stanley to a Yorkshire company for an annual rent of £1,000 in 1807; by early 1808, Tomlinson and Company of the Ferrybridge Pottery were leasing the mines at an annual rent of £2,000 plus a £400 share for Lord Stanley, and the ore extracted was taken in tubs to Ferrybridge where it was made into cobalt glass, or smalt, a blue pigment. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire Caving Club: The Cobalt Mine (Alderley Edge mines pages) — Derbyshire Caving Club (leaseholders and surveyors of the Alderley Edge mines for the National Trust)
2. (secondary) Alderley Edge Mines — Wikipedia

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