Kirkmeadow Mine

Overview

Kirkmeadow Mine, the most southerly open shaft on Wheels Rake Vein, housed a hydraulic engine fed by a purpose-built reservoir; cavers laddered its roughly 200ft shaft twice in 1968 to survey the workings below.

History

Kirkmeadow Mine's shaft, on the Thornhill Sough on Wheels Rake, is recorded by the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record as also the site of a hydraulic engine. A fuller account from Laurence Hurt of the Nottingham Mines Research and Exploration Group notes that documentary evidence gives no definite name for the shaft, though references to a 'Kirkmeadow Shaft' describe one that housed an engine in the 1700s; locally, Kirkmeadow is the name of the field enclosure the shaft sits within, though the field of that name may once have been larger. The shaft, 10 feet in diameter and lined with gritstone through the shale to bedrock, was first laddered by the group in November 1968 to an estimated 200 feet; an arched level entering at 50 feet led to a reservoir some 150 yards south of the shaft, believed to have fed water to the engine, though the level itself had been sealed with a shale backfill a short way in. A second descent in December 1968, with 300 feet of ladders, reached the bottom, landing on an island in nine inches of water; a large open cavity behind the shaft's gritstone lining, initially thought to be the engine chamber, was found instead to be a collapse of miners' waste-rock packs. The group concluded the shaft most likely did house an engine, with the sealed level carrying water from the reservoir (an old mill dam) to power it.

Geology

Lead-bearing Wheels Rake Vein, worked through shale into limestone bedrock.

Workings

A 10ft-diameter, roughly 200ft-deep shaft with an arched level to a reservoir, believed to have fed a hydraulic pumping engine.

Closure

No closure date was found; the shaft was already an old, disused working when surveyed by cavers in 1968.

What remains

Accessible by descent (as surveyed in 1968); flooded at the bottom, with a collapsed level and a large cavity from collapsed waste-rock packs.

The shaft mound survives on the Stanton Estate; the mine's own name is not confirmed and is taken from the surrounding field, Kirkmeadow.

Nearby mines

• Wheels Rake Wheelhouse Shaft — 0.9 km NW
• Prospect Lead Mine — 1.0 km W
• Broadmeadow Lead Mine — 1.2 km W
• Guy Mine — 1.2 km W
• Mawstone Mine — 2.3 km W

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The shaft's own name is not confirmed by documentary evidence; it is known locally from the field enclosure it sits within, Kirkmeadow, and references to a 'Kirkmeadow Shaft' describe one housing an engine in the 1700s. (uncertain) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Kirkmeadows Mine shaft, on the Thornhill Sough on Wheels Rake, is also the site of a hydraulic engine. ¹
• The shaft's own name is not confirmed by documentary evidence; it is known locally from the field enclosure it sits within, Kirkmeadow, and references to a 'Kirkmeadow Shaft' describe one housing an engine in the 1700s. (uncertain) ²
• Cavers laddered the roughly 200ft shaft twice in November and December 1968, finding a sealed level believed to have carried water from a nearby reservoir to power a pumping engine, and a large cavity later identified as a collapse of miners' waste-rock packs rather than the engine chamber itself. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Kirkmeadows mine shaft and mound, Wheels Rake, Stanton in the Peak (MDR8540) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (secondary) Alport Mines and Soughs — Pegasus Caving Club

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