Prospect Lead Mine

Overview

Prospect Mine, one of the workings of the Alport Mining Company near Alport, was the company's last mine worked before closure; its gritstone-lined shaft was surveyed to the bottom, some 370 feet down, by cavers in the 1960s or 70s.

History

Prospect Mine, on Cliff Lane, Alport, is recorded by the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record among the High Priority Lead Mining Sites of the Peak District, valued today chiefly for its ecological interest across a small area of surviving hillocks; no working date is given. A detailed account of its exploration survives from Laurence Hurt of the Nottingham Mines Research and Exploration Group, whose group carried out over twenty years of research and exploration around Alport, mainly in the 1960s and 1970s. A miner working the spoil heaps at Millfield Farm for fluorite, Albert Rocharc, asked the group's Doug Nash to report on the condition of the Prospect mine shaft and any mineralisation within it; having secured permission from the farmer, Tom Ormerod, and Haddon Estates, Hurt made the first descent himself. The shaft, about 8 feet in diameter and lined through the shale for 80 feet, narrowed to 6 feet and continued for over 100 feet further, with water ingress increasing with depth; a level entering the shaft at around 180 feet was not explored, judged too dangerous to approach because of rotting timbers supporting its roof. Further down, sulphurous bad air was noted in one stretch. After another 90 feet a second, larger level was reached, and the shaft bottomed out around 370 feet down, where water drained away through a rubble floor with no definite route onward. On the way back up, the level passed over on the descent was explored, revealing the remains of a wooden ladder and a possible climbing shaft to the level above; it was here that a later dig from Shining Sough level broke through. The Alport Mining Company used a nearby building at Broadmeadow as its office while Prospect was being worked -- the company's last mine (see Broadmeadow Lead Mine).

Geology

A lead-bearing gritstone-lined shaft driven through shale into limestone bedrock, part of the wider Alport Mining Company's workings.

Workings

An 8ft-diameter gritstone-lined shaft over 370ft deep, with two side levels, worked by the Alport Mining Company as its last mine before closure.

Closure

No closure date is recorded; the company's own office use nearby (at Broadmeadow) suggests Prospect was its last working mine.

What remains

A small area of surviving hillocks, of chiefly ecological interest today; the shaft was re-covered and left safe after its 1960s/70s survey.

A powder house survives near the main shaft, in the wooded area at the top of the field, along with the site of the shaft top itself.

Related mines

• Broadmeadow Lead Mine — Both worked by the Alport Mining Company; the company used a building opposite Broadmeadow as its office while working Prospect, its last mine.

Nearby mines

• Broadmeadow Lead Mine — 0.4 km NW
• Guy Mine — 0.4 km N
• Wheels Rake Wheelhouse Shaft — 0.9 km NE
• Kirkmeadow Mine — 1.0 km E
• Mawstone Mine — 1.3 km SW

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

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The Alport Mining Company used a nearby building at Broadmeadow as its office while working Prospect Mine, its last mine before closure. (uncertain) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Prospect Mine (south) has been included in the list of High Priority Lead Mining Sites, mainly for its ecological interest at a small area of surviving hillocks. ¹
• Laurence Hurt of the Nottingham Mines Research and Exploration Group made the first descent of Prospect Mine's shaft after a local miner, Albert Rocharc, asked the group to report on its condition; the gritstone-lined shaft was surveyed to a depth of around 370 feet. ²
• A level entering the shaft at around 180 feet was not explored owing to rotting timbers supporting its roof, and sulphurous bad air was noted further down before a second, larger level and the shaft bottom were reached. ²
• The Alport Mining Company used a nearby building at Broadmeadow as its office while working Prospect Mine, its last mine before closure. (uncertain) ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Prospect Lead Mine, Cliff Lane, Alport (MDR14075) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (secondary) Alport Mines and Soughs — Pegasus Caving Club

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