Dirty Red Soil Mine

Overview

The fourth of the five lead mines -- alongside Magpie, Great Red Soil, Maypit and Horsesteps -- sharing a single scheduled walled enclosure near Sheldon, becoming active in the second half of the 18th century.

History

Dirty Red Soil Mine lies within the same walled enclosure as Magpie, Great Red Soil, Maypit and Horsesteps mines and a limekiln, some 700 metres south of Sheldon, on a limestone plateau at around 310 metres above sea level, all protected together as a single Scheduled Monument. It became active during the second half of the 18th century, alongside the wider Sheldon lead-mining district's own growth through that period. The enclosure's mines shared a well-documented pattern of underground boundary disputes through the early 19th century -- most infamously the 1833 incident between Magpie and Maypit over the separate Great Redsoil vein (see the Maypit Mine record and its linked disaster) -- though no source found during this research specifically implicates Dirty Red Soil itself in that particular dispute, as distinct from sharing the enclosure's general history of contested underground boundaries.

Workings

No workings detail specific to Dirty Red Soil, as distinct from its four neighbours within the shared enclosure, has yet been located.

Closure

No reliable specific closure date for Dirty Red Soil itself has been located.

What remains

Surface remains lie within the same protected walled enclosure as Magpie, Great Red Soil, Maypit and Horsesteps, managed together as a Scheduled Monument.

Surface remains within the shared walled enclosure; no detail distinguishing Dirty Red Soil's own specific structures from its neighbours has yet been located.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Dirty Red Soil is one of five lead mines -- Magpie, Great Red Soil, Maypit, Horsesteps and Dirty Red Soil itself -- enclosed within a single Scheduled Monument near Sheldon, becoming active in the second half of the 18th century. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Sources

1. (secondary) Magpie Mine History — Peak District Mines Historical Society
2. (primary) Magpie, Dirty Red Soil, Maypit, Horsesteps and Great Red Soil lead mines and a limekiln (List Entry 1019490) — Historic England

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 1 September 2026