Nickergrove Mine

Overview

A lead mine on the slopes west of Cucklet Delph, near Stoney Middleton and Eyam, worked from perhaps as early as the 1750s and known in the Middle Ages as Nicko Grove Mine, whose main level was driven with a deliberate eye for 'nicking' every small vein it crossed.

History

Nickergrove -- also recorded as Great Cucklet Mine, and known in the medieval period as Nicko Grove Mine -- takes its name from mining slang: a miner who staked a claim on a lead vein was said to have 'nicked' it. The main level was deliberately driven along a major joint in the limestone running at right angles to the local veins, so that each small vein encountered along the way could be nicked in turn, extending for over 700 feet to the north-west and intersecting a number of natural solution cavities enlarged along the way. The mine was worked via cross-cuts, small stopes and internal shafts along several scrins and pipe veins, with three entrances in total; a shaft in the floor of the main level drops to lower workings. Lead mining here likely began as early as the 1750s, peaked through the 17th and 18th centuries along with the wider Derbyshire lead field, and continued in a smaller way until around 1900. Archaeological digging in the 1990s, beyond an initial collapse in the workings, revealed further passage that came to a halt just short of White Rake -- the major vein worked at the neighbouring Glebe Mine, Eyam -- and a separate natural chamber that gave access into the stream cave running between Streaks Pot and Merlin's Mine.

Geology

Lead veins in Derbyshire limestone, worked via a main level driven along a major joint running at right angles to the mineral veins, intersecting natural solution cavities later enlarged by mining.

Workings

A main level over 700 feet long, driven along a limestone joint to intersect successive small veins, worked outward via cross-cuts, small stopes and internal shafts along several scrins and pipe veins; three entrances in total, with a shaft in the main level's floor reaching lower workings.

Closure

Working dwindled and ended around 1900.

What remains

Explored and reported on by cavers/mine explorers as recently as November 2021; an initial collapse in the workings was found in the 1990s to conceal further passage connecting toward neighbouring sites.

The adit mouth high on the hillside of Cucklet Delph and the lidded Palette and Didsbury shafts above it.

Related mines

• Glebe Mine — The two mines' underground passages connect via a natural chamber and stream cave.
• Merlin Mine — Nickergrove's natural passages connect to the stream cave between Streaks Pot and Merlin's Mine.

Recorded claims

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

• The mine's name comes from mining slang -- to 'nick' a vein meant to stake a claim on it -- and its main level was deliberately driven along a limestone joint at right angles to the local veins so that each successive small vein could be nicked in turn. ¹
• Archaeological work in the 1990s found passage beyond an initial collapse that ran just short of White Rake, the vein worked at the neighbouring Glebe Mine, and a natural chamber giving access to the stream cave between Streaks Pot and Merlin's Mine. ¹
• The Peak District Caving index places the adit entrance at SK 21546 75959, 220 metres up on the west side of Cucklet Delph, and gives the mine 579 metres of passage and 24 metres of depth, with the lidded Palette and Didsbury shafts above it; the site lies within a Site of Special Scientific Interest. ²
• An April 2022 exploration found a rift chamber about 10 metres high and 40 metres long with narrow-gauge tramway rails and sleepers still on its floor, a five-metre backfilled shaft and abandoned tools, and was stopped about 120 metres beyond the chamber by a collapse first dug through in 1995 that had fallen again. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Mines of Stoney Middleton — Stoney Middleton Heritage
2. (secondary) Nickergrove Mine, adit entrance (Peak District Caving index) — Peak District Caving
3. (observational) Nickergrove Lead Mine, Stoney Middleton, April 2022 (Derelict Places) — Derelict Places
4. (observational) Report — Nickergrove Leadmine, Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire, November 2021 — 28DaysLater.co.uk

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026