Meerbrook Sough Mine

Overview

Meerbrook Sough Mine, Wirksworth, was drained by the largest sough entrance in Derbyshire, whose completion in the 1830s took so much water from the rival Cromford Sough that it put Cromford's water-powered mills out of business; its winding engine, moved twice before reaching its final home, is the earliest surviving example of its kind in the county.

History

Meerbrook Sough Mine is a late 18th- to mid-19th-century lead mine whose surviving engine house is the earliest of the remaining winding houses in Derbyshire. The engine itself was originally made in May 1844 by Thornewill & Co of Burton-on-Trent and first sited at the Great Shaft on Wirksworth Moor, 624 feet deep, where it drew up material excavated in driving the sough. As the sough's driving moved westward, the engine and its engine house were dismantled and re-erected in 1849 at the Hallam Shaft, Bolehill; they were dismantled and rebuilt a second time in 1853 at their present site on Sough Lane, where the shaft was 240 feet deep and the engine also worked a grinder and pump rods via a tee-bob and connecting rod. The engine was finally removed around 1870. The mine's coe survives beside the engine house, low, rubble-built and blue-tile roofed -- the last such coe remaining more or less intact in the area -- along with the limestone blocks that supported the winding drum and two rare surviving beehive-capped shafts. The sough itself, whose beautifully built and dated portal lies at Lea Shaw, bears the inscribed keystone 'FH 1772', for Francis Hunt, the sough's proprietor at the time; the tunnel was driven over a long period from 1772 to around 1841, and remains the largest sough entrance in Derbyshire. Its completion, at a lower level than the rival Cromford Sough, drained away most of Cromford Sough's water and put the Cromford Mills out of business for water-powered use. The site lies within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, and a mid-18th-century account by Benjamin Martin recorded that a nearby furnace 'for smelting Lead, is converted into a large Coppel, where the Lead is now made, and also a great Quantity of Red-lead', alongside 'many Lead-mines and Veins of Antimony' near the town.

Geology

A major lead mine drained by Meerbrook Sough, whose portal and tunnel, driven 1772-c.1841, is the largest sough entrance in Derbyshire.

Workings

A winding-engine shaft (240ft deep) with a surviving Grade II listed engine house -- the earliest remaining winding house in Derbyshire -- and a substantially intact miner's coe.

Closure

The winding engine, twice relocated since its 1844 manufacture, was finally removed around 1870; no later working date for the mine itself was found in the sources read.

What remains

The engine house and coe survive largely intact; the sough portal at Lea Shaw, within a water supply station's grounds, retains its dated, initialled arch in good condition.

The engine house, an adjacent coe, the limestone blocks that supported the winding drum, two beehive-capped shafts, and the dated 1772 sough portal all survive.

Related mines

• Stone Edge Smelt Mill — Named directly in this record's own HER description as acquired by the same Milnes family in the 1840s, around the time Stone Edge is thought to have closed.

Nearby mines

• Twentylands Mine — 0.3 km W
• Bage Mine — 0.5 km N
• Nether Ratchwood and Rantor Lead Mines — 0.6 km NW
• Gang Mine — 1.2 km N
• Hopton Wood Quarries and Middleton Mine — 1.7 km NW

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 Meerbrook Sough engine was made in May 1844 by Thornewill & Co of Burton-on-Trent, first sited at the 624ft-deep Great Shaft on Wirksworth Moor, moved in 1849 to the Hallam Shaft at Bolehill, and moved again in 1853 to its present engine house at Sough Lane, where the shaft was 240ft deep; the engine was removed c.1870. ¹
• The mine's coe survives beside the engine house as the last such coe remaining more or less intact in the area, along with the limestone blocks that supported the winding drum and two rare beehive-capped shafts. ¹
• Meerbrook Sough's portal, at Lea Shaw, bears the keystone inscription 'FH 1772' for Francis Hunt, its proprietor; the tunnel was driven from 1772 to around 1841 and is the largest sough entrance in Derbyshire, its completion draining away most of the rival Cromford Sough's water and putting the Cromford Mills out of business for water-powered use. ²
• The engine house is associated with the driving of the Meerbrook Sough for draining the Meerbrook lead mine and is the earliest of the remaining winding houses in Derbyshire; the engine was taken out around 1870. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Merebrooksough Lead Mine, Wirksworth (MDR3461) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Meerbrook Sough Portal, Lea Shaw, Wirksworth (MDR4844) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
3. (primary) Meerbrook Sough Engine House, Wirksworth, Derbyshire (Listed Building) — British Listed Buildings (mirroring the Historic England listing)

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