High Rake Mine

Overview

A Peak District lead mine near Windmill, worked since at least the 13th century, remembered chiefly for the High Rake Mining Company's ambitious and ultimately ruinous 1834-53 attempt to drive a shaft through the hard toadstone layer beneath the exhausted upper vein to reach the lead ore thought to lie below it.

History

High Rake has been worked since at least the 13th century, and by about 1750 miners had removed all the ore-rich deposits above the toadstone -- a hard volcanic rock met at a depth of 276 feet. Early miners John Tucker and Francis Hunt are recorded working the vein from 1757. The High Rake Mining Company was formed on 15 September 1834 as one of the Peak District's most ambitious mining schemes, planning to use the latest pumping technology to drive a shaft through the toadstone to reach large deposits of lead ore believed to lie beneath it. An existing 1768 shaft was made good down to the standing water level between 1834 and 1836, but work then stopped for several years. In 1842-3 a massive Cornish-type two-cylinder 70/36-inch pumping engine, built by Messrs Graham and Co. at the Milton Iron Works, Elsecar, was installed -- the largest of its type ever made outside Cornwall -- at a cost of £1,360, alongside a steam whim bought from the Magpie Mining Company for £300. Mining engineer F.C. Gillatt acted as consultant from 1850 to 1852 as the shaft was driven ever deeper, reaching 604 feet in 1846 and 720 feet by 1850 -- still entirely within the toadstone. The company gave up the attempt at this depth, tried briefly to recoup its costs by mining the vein within the toadstone itself, and was wound up in March 1853, having spent £19,387 without ever reaching the hoped-for ore. The toadstone was never bottomed. The pumping engine, valued at £1,147.12.0d, and the rest of the equipment were sold to the Mixon Mining Company for £1,987.10.0.

Workings

A vein up to 40 feet wide in places, worked from early shafts of 8-10 fathoms depth through to the 1834-53 company's single deep shaft, ultimately reaching 720 feet -- the engine shaft of 1784 alone having already reached 68 fathoms before the company's own efforts began.

Closure

Wound up in March 1853 after the toadstone was never bottomed; equipment sold on to the Mixon Mining Company.

What remains

Given Scheduled Monument status in 2013. The bases of the pumping engine house and winding engine house and chimney survive, along with remnants of the crushing and ore preparation processes and the fully excavated remains of the 1842-3 Cornish pumping engine house, its boiler house, flue and chimney.

Engine house and winding house bases, a chimney, and ore-dressing floor remains, conserved by the Peak District Mines Historical Society and now a Scheduled Monument.

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.

• The High Rake Mining Company, formed 15 September 1834, installed a Cornish-type two-cylinder 70/36-inch pumping engine in 1842-3 -- built at the Milton Iron Works, Elsecar, and the largest of its type ever made outside Cornwall -- in an attempt to drive a shaft through the toadstone to reach lead ore believed to lie beneath it. ^1,2
• The shaft reached 604 feet by 1846 and 720 feet by 1850, still entirely within the toadstone; the company abandoned the attempt at this depth and was wound up in March 1853 having spent £19,387 without ever bottoming the toadstone. ²
• High Rake Mine was designated a Scheduled Monument in 2013, preserving the fully excavated remains of the 1842-3 Cornish pumping engine house, its boiler house, flue and chimney. ³

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) High Rake Mine heritage site, Windmill — Peak District Mines Historical Society
2. (secondary) Peak District history, High Rake lead mine — Peak District Mines Historical Society
3. (primary) High Rake Mine, Little Hucklow - list entry 1412940 — Historic England

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 30 August 2026