Long Rake Spar Mine

Overview

A fluorspar, calcite and lead mine on one of Derbyshire's longest rakes, whose underground workings closed in 1981 but whose surface processing operation, under the same company name, continues to this day.

History

W.G. Cooke and Co. opened Long Rake in 1867, with production underway by 1872. Landowner Thomas Shimwell bought the mine around 1877 and renamed the business the Long Rake Spar Mining Company in 1881, shifting its focus to calcite — sold commercially as 'Derbyshire Spar' — alongside lead and fluorspar. James Moores bought the mine in 1910, though records suggest he may not have actively worked it. Output peaked in the 1920s under Captain Percy Potter, with around twelve miners raising some 12,000 tonnes of fluorspar and 100 tonnes of lead ore a year; electric haulage, with locomotives and wagons from Greenwood and Batley of Leeds, was introduced in 1936. By 1904 Long Rake Spar was the only mine still working in what had once been Youlgreave's busy lead-mining parish. Underground extraction finally stopped in 1981 once falling spar prices made it uneconomic, but the company's surface processing operation has continued ever since.

Geology

Long Rake is one of the longest mineral rakes in Derbyshire, with impressively wide open sections at surface; huge blocks of chert form part of the rake's walls.

Workings

Underground working reached three levels, at 300, 375 and 420 feet, connected by ring-arched tramway levels, timber ore chutes and an engine shaft; a horizontal winding engine and later headgear served the shaft from the surface.

What remains

The underground workings are long abandoned and only partly accessible — cavers report multiple roof collapses blocking sections of the mine, and unstable ground near the main access route. The surface site remains a working aggregate business under the same company name.

Surface structures include 20th-century headgear and a horizontal winding engine house.

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.

• James Moores bought the mine in 1910, though surviving records suggest he may not have actively worked it. ¹
• A July 2025 exploration report found multiple accessible levels (300ft and 375ft) but noted collapses blocking several passages, an unstable entry route, and a muddy 375ft level judged too risky to push further. ²

Photographs & further reading

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

Images

Sources

1. (primary) Long Rake Mine, Youlgreave — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (observational) Long Rake Spar Mine, nr Bakewell, Derbyshire, July 2025 — 28DaysLater
3. (primary) Long Rake Mine Plans (Mining Remediation Authority, catalogue OM17932 / OM15330) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (secondary) Long Rake Spar Mine

Record created: 22 August 2026 · Last researched: 22 August 2026