Placket Mine

Overview

Placket Mine, at Winster, was a deep engine shaft giving access to extensive pipe and vein workings, held by the Placket Partners by 1766 and still being worked with a new forefield shaft on its Harpur and Stanhope Vein in 1842.

History

Placket Mine lies on Water Lane in Winster, one of a cluster of interlinked 18th- and 19th-century lead workings -- Portoway, Placket, Yatestoop, Stoop, Limekiln and Drake -- shown together on a 1769 plan of the Winster mines surveyed by John Nuttall for a partnership of investors that included the Duke of Devonshire and the local Thornhill and Nightingale families. Placket's own workings are described as a deep engine shaft giving access to very extensive pipe and vein workings, with a long underground buddle recorded among its infrastructure. Documentary evidence traces its Harpur and Stanhope Vein workings back to the 1768 Nuttall plan, and the mine continued in production into the Victorian period: a letter in the Derbyshire Record Office, dated 15 October 1842, records that the whole Placket workforce was engaged at that date in sinking a new forefield shaft -- later distinguished by local record-keepers from the deeper, more ancient underground workings of 'proper Placket'. Its veins were held by the Placket Partners by June 1766, the date of a plan of the mines and veins of lead ore in their possession, and on Joseph Gratton's plan of 1843 the new shaft appears as the 'Harpur and Stanhope or Boring Shaft'. Placket formed an extensive underground system with the neighbouring Horsecroft, Orchard and Old Wesson mines, and in 1856 its owners fell out with Orchard's over mineral ground roughly below the churchyard: when a jury appointed by the Barmaster came to inspect the Orchard workings they found them locked against it, and Orchard's owner, Ralph Staley, was fined. Placket's south-eastern workings are recorded together with Winster Sough, also recorded under the names Portway Yate Sough and Lousey Level Brancher, for which formal agreement was reached in June 1687 to drain three neighbouring workings -- Portaway Grove, Grissill Grove and Lickpenny Grove. The sough's passage first ran through shale before following the ground toward Will Founder Vein, and the first ore won by its drainage was recorded in February 1694. By 1714 the level had become a coffin level connecting through to Portaway Pipe, said to terminate at Whitelow Rake around 900 feet along the Newhaven road.

Geology

Lead-bearing pipe and vein workings on Harpur and Stanhope Vein, part of the wider Winster orefield drained by Winster Sough.

Workings

A deep engine shaft with extensive pipe and vein workings, a long underground buddle, and a 19th-century forefield shaft (Boring Shaft) sunk from the Placket workforce in 1842.

Closure

No closure date is recorded in either source read; the mine was still being actively worked, with a new shaft under sinking, in October 1842.

What remains

No mine buildings survive; as elsewhere around Winster, the former lead-mining sites are marked mainly by capped shafts.

Capped shafts; no significant mining structures are recorded.

Related mines

• Portway Lead Mine — Both part of the same wider Winster mining concern shown on the 1769 Nuttall survey plan, and Portaway Grove was one of three areas drained by Winster Sough alongside Placket's own workings; physically separate sites over a mile apart.

Nearby mines

• Wills Founder Mine — 0.3 km N
• Winster Mines — 0.5 km E
• Portway Lead Mine — 0.8 km NW
• Winster Pitts and Drummer's Venture — 1.0 km E
• Rainslow Scrins — 1.6 km W

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

People

• Joseph Gratton · surveyor, 1843 — Surveyed the 1843 plan of the Placket and Orchard workings showing the Harpur and Stanhope or Boring Shaft.

Recorded claims

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

• Placket Mine is a deep engine shaft which gives access to very extensive pipe and vein workings of great potential interest; a long underground buddle has also been recorded. Winster Sough (also called Portway Yate Sough and Lousey Level Brancher) was agreed in June 1687 to unwater Portaway Grove, Grissill Grove and Lickpenny Grove, with the first ore recorded in February 1694, and by 1714 formed a coffin level to Portaway Pipe. ¹
• A shaft plotted onto the 1768 Nuttal plan places it on Harpur and Stanhope Vein, part of the Placket Title; a letter in the Derbyshire Record Office dated 15 October 1842 states that the whole Placket work force were at present involved in sinking this new forefield shaft, distinct from the more ancient underground workings of 'proper Placket'. ²
• The 1769 'Plan of the lead mines and veins of the Partners and Proprietors of Portoway Placket Yate Stoop Limekiln and Drake, Winster' was surveyed by John Nuttall for a partnership of investors including the Duke of Devonshire and the Thornhill and Nightingale families. ³
• The national mine plans catalogue holds 'A plan of the mines and veins of lead ore in possession of Placket Partners as on 26th June 1766'. ⁴
• In 1856 the owners of Plackett and Orchard disputed rights to mineral ground roughly below the churchyard; a Barmaster's jury found Orchard locked against them and its owner, Ralph Staley, was fined. ⁵
• Plackett, Horsecroft, Orchard and the Old Wesson mines, near the village centre, form an extensive system with much documentary evidence. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Winster Sough and Placket Lead Mine (MDR8374) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (secondary) Boring Shaft, Winster. The Harper-Stanhope Saga — Pegasus Caving Club (North Staffordshire Mining Club successor)
3. (secondary) Map of Winster, Derbyshire (Plan of the lead mines and veins of the Partners and Proprietors of Portoway, Placket, Yate, Stoop, Limekiln and Drake, 1769) — Friends of the National Libraries
4. (primary) BGS mine plans catalogue: A plan of the mines and veins of lead ore in possession of Placket Partners as on 26th June 1766 — British Geological Survey
5. (secondary) Winster Local History Group Newsletter No. 6, March 1997: Winster Underground (talk by Tony Wood) — Winster Local History Group

Record created: 16 September 2026 · Last researched: 17 September 2026