Mount Pleasant Lead Mines

Overview

Mount Pleasant, south of Wensley, worked natural cave systems for both ore and drainage before a dedicated sough was begun in 1767 -- and shows an unusually direct overlap between its lead rakes and the medieval cultivation terraces they were later cut through.

History

Mount Pleasant's mines lie immediately south of Wensley village, on the south side of a small valley. A stemple run -- a climbing shaft fitted with wooden rungs -- gives access to ancient workings that made use of partly networked natural caverns, originally used for both ore washing and drainage, with the lower workings still comparatively easy to open today. The site's southern part preserves numerous well-preserved shaft mounds and two large rakes running roughly north-south, up to 2.5 metres deep with spoil heaps on either side, worked in both opencut and shaft form; field evidence suggests the veins were worked over a long period and by differing methods, alongside a number of shallower opencut workings nearby. East of the rakes, a series of cultivation terraces, or lynchets, survive -- in places overlain by mining earthworks, and in others cut through by shafts on a different alignment to the main rakes, an unusually direct physical association between the valley's agricultural and industrial pasts. As the mines' natural cave drainage proved insufficient, a dedicated sough, the Basrobin Sough, was begun by 1767 lower down the slope, on the way to the stream at the foot of the valley. The Mount Pleasant mines lie only a few hundred metres from the separately scheduled Northern Dale mines to the east.

Geology

Lead-bearing veins worked via natural cave systems and two large north-south rakes up to 2.5m deep, drained from 1767 by the dedicated Basrobin Sough.

Workings

A stemple-run climbing shaft into networked natural caverns, two large rakes with associated shaft mounds, and a dedicated drainage sough (Basrobin Sough) begun in 1767.

Closure

No reliable closure date has yet been located.

What remains

Scheduled as a nationally important monument; buried remains, including further dressing areas, are believed to survive alongside the visible earthworks.

Well-preserved shaft mounds, two large rakes up to 2.5m deep, medieval cultivation terraces cut through by later shafts, and the Basrobin Sough survive.

Related mines

• Northern Dale Lead Mines — Named directly in this record's own scheduling text as an immediately adjacent, separately scheduled and complementary lead-mining site.

Nearby mines

• Northern Dale Lead Mines — 0.6 km SE
• Millclose Mine — 1.1 km NW
• Slack, Mount Pleasant and Barmasters Grove Lead Mines — 1.4 km S
• Winster Pitts and Drummer's Venture — 1.6 km W
• Gorseydale Lead Mines — 1.7 km SW

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.

• A stemple-run climbing shaft at Mount Pleasant leads to ancient workings using partly networked natural caverns, originally used for ore washing and drainage, with the lower workings still comparatively easy to open. ¹
• The site's two large north-south rakes, up to 2.5m deep, are cut through in places by cultivation terraces (lynchets) of medieval or post-medieval date, an unusually direct association between industrial and agricultural remains. ²
• As natural cave drainage proved insufficient, a dedicated sough, the Basrobin Sough, was begun by 1767 lower down the valley slope; the Mount Pleasant mines lie only a few hundred metres from the separately scheduled Northern Dale mines. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Mount Pleasant Mine, Wensley Dale, South Darley (MDR8439) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Mount Pleasant lead mines, immediately south of Wensley, South Darley, Derbyshire — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)

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