Gregory Mine

Overview

The richest lead mine of the Ashover orefield, worked as the Gregory partnership from 1758 to 1806, which raised about 511 tons of ore a year and cleared £100,000 for its shareholders; its crenellated engine chimney still stands at Ravensnest.

History

The Gregory vein at Ashover was being worked at least fifty years before 1758, when a partnership of the Banks-Hodgkinson family, the ironmaster Isaac Wilkinson and others began the mine under the Gregory name, taken from the Gregory family of Ravensnest near Overton. Francis Thompson installed a pumping engine in 1774, and in 1782 the company made heavy payments to both Thompson and Boulton & Watt, probably for a new engine and pump shaft. Several steam engines were worked by the Thompson family, and the shaft north-west of Ravensnest House was 120 yards deep.

Between 1758 and 1806 the mine raised an average of 511 tons of ore a year, and its shareholders made a clear profit of £100,000 after spending £23,000 prospecting for a new vein. It closed in 1806. Its waste heaps, known locally as the White Hillocks, later carried a fluorspar treatment plant, which the Peak District Mines Historical Society bought, recorded and dismantled in 1999-2000 for storage underground at Middleton.

Geology

The Gregory vein, a lead vein of the Ashover orefield.

Workings

Shafts on the Gregory vein, one 120 yards deep, pumped by several steam engines; a sough ran from the mine to the River Amber.

Closure

The mine closed in 1806.

What remains

A square crenellated gritstone chimney, listed at Grade II, waste heaps known as the White Hillocks and the pools of run-in shafts mark the site.

The engine-house chimney with an inclined flue, waste heaps and collapsed shafts.

Redevelopment

A fluorspar treatment plant later stood on the White Hillocks; it was dismantled in 1999-2000.

Recorded claims

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

• The mine dates under the Gregory name from 1758, when a partnership of the Banks-Hodgkinson family, Isaac Wilkinson and others was formed; the Gregory vein had been worked at least fifty years earlier. ¹
• Between 1758 and 1806 the mine yielded an average of 511 tons of ore a year, and shareholders made a clear profit of £100,000. ¹
• Francis Thompson installed a pumping engine in 1774, and in 1782 the company paid heavily to Thompson and to Boulton & Watt, probably for a new engine and pump shaft. ^1,2
• The Gregory Mine closed in 1806. ¹
• The engine-house chimney of the Gregory Mine at Ravensnest is listed at Grade II as the major mining monument of the Ashover orefield. ^1,3
• A section of the strata at Gregory's Mine, Ashover, is among the deposited mine plans. ⁴

Sources

1. (secondary) MDR5080 Gregory Mine, Ravensnest Cottages, Ashover — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (secondary) Gregory Lead Mine — Grace's Guide
3. (secondary) Chimney at Ravensnest, Ashover (Historic England list entry 1291915) — British Listed Buildings
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Section of the strata at Gregory's Mine, Ashover — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 19 October 2026 · Last researched: 19 October 2026