Linacre Wood Smelt Mill

Overview

Linacre Over Mill, leased out for lead-smelting by the Linacre family in 1596 and last mentioned in 1613, is among the very earliest documented lead smelt mills in England of which any physical remains are known to survive.

History

The Linacre smelt mill, known historically as Linacre Over Mill, survives as earthworks in woodland on the south side of Linacre Brook. Its first firm documentary mention comes in 1596, when James and Gilbert Linacre leased the Over lead-mill to Thomas Burton of Cartledge for five years; since James Linacre had already been accused in 1584 of infringing a rival smelter's patented process, one of the Linacre family's smelting mills may well have been operating even before that first recorded lease. In 1604 Gilbert Linacre renewed the lease of Over Mill to Roger Newton and William Stafford, both of Bakewell, for a further 21 years; the final documentary reference comes in 1613, when Richard Wild of Great Longstone was bound to deliver three pieces of lead to Robert White at Linacre Mill. The mill does not appear on William Senior's 1630 map of Linacre, suggesting it had gone out of use by then. The site's earthwork remains are unusually complete for their early date. At the west end, an earthwork dam up to 3 metres high runs north-south across the valley floor, breached at its northern end by the modern course of Linacre Brook and carrying an overflow spillway at its southern end. The smelt mill's wheelpit survives clearly as a hollow east of the dam's southern end, with the site of the mill building itself surviving as flat ground immediately north of it, scattered with building debris including bricks and roofing stones. Slag tips extend east from the building platform, running along the north side of a tail-race some 4 metres wide and up to 2 metres deep, carrying water back to Linacre Brook. Linacre Wood was scheduled as a nationally important monument in October 1996, valued as a well-preserved and undisturbed set of earthworks representing the complete layout of an early ore hearth smelting complex -- a degree of preservation considered rare nationally, and one of the earliest documented lead-smelting sites in England of which any physical remains are known to survive.

Geology

An early ore-hearth lead-smelting site on Linacre Brook, processing ore from the wider Derbyshire orefield rather than an extraction working itself.

Workings

An earthwork dam up to 3m high, a wheelpit, the flattened site of the mill building with building debris, slag tips, and a tail-race about 4m wide and up to 2m deep running back to Linacre Brook.

Closure

Last documented in 1613; absent from a 1630 map of the area, suggesting it had gone out of use by then.

What remains

Scheduled as a nationally important monument since October 1996; site monitoring in 2002 found tree growth on the earthworks but the site otherwise stable.

An earthwork dam, an overflow spillway, a wheelpit, the flattened site of the mill building with scattered building debris, slag tips and a tail-race survive.

Nearby mines

• Nether Loads Farm Red Lead Mill — 3.4 km SW
• Boythorpe Colliery — 4.7 km SE
• Ramsley Moor Lead Smelting Site — 5.5 km NW
• Stone Edge Smelt Mill — 5.6 km S
• Bar Brook Lead Mill — 6.9 km W

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 first firm reference to Linacre Over Mill is when James and Gilbert Linacre leased the Over lead-mill to Thomas Burton of Cartledge for five years in 1596; in 1604 the lease of Over Mill was renewed by Gilbert Linacre to Roger Newton and William Stafford, both of Bakewell, for 21 years, and the final reference to the mill is from 1613. ¹
• The smelt mill wheelpit is clearly visible as a hollow east of the south end of the dam, and the site of the smelt mill itself survives as a flat area immediately north of the wheelpit, with a scatter of building debris; slag tips extend east from the building platform on the north side of a tail-race running east to Linacre Brook. ²
• The Linacre smelt mill is a well preserved and undisturbed set of earthworks representing the complete layout of an early ore hearth smelting complex, a degree of preservation considered rare nationally, and it is one of the earliest documented sites in England of which any remains are known to survive. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Lead smelt mill, Linacre Wood, Lower Linacre Reservoir Dam, Brampton (MDR7514) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Lead smelt mill in Linacre Wood, 160m east of Lower Linacre Reservoir dam, Brampton, Derbyshire — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)

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