Putwell Hill Mine

Overview

Putwell Hill Mine, worked for lead in the late 16th and 17th centuries, was reworked from the 1880s as Monsaldale Lead and Spar Mine -- a rare Derbyshire example of a lead vein converted wholesale to fluorspar production, complete with its own embanked sidings to the Midland Railway.

History

Putwell Hill Mine's vein was worked for lead in the late 16th and 17th centuries, documented at least as early as the late 1500s -- among the earlier securely dated workings in this part of the Wye valley. At the eastern end of an opencut on the long rake, Monsaldale Lead and Spar Mine started as a lead working before converting to spar mining; between 1880 and 1922 the site expanded into a much larger complex, with embanked sidings running down to the Midland Railway line in Monsal Dale below. A steam engine was installed underground in the 19th century and later removed; the mine's chimney, standing to about 7 metres, most likely dates to the early 20th-century spar-working phase rather than the earlier lead period. The vein is marked on the surface by two lengths of open cut: a longer, wide section climbing the steep hillside from Monsaldale Mine, and a shorter, narrower section running some 50 metres along the hilltop to the west. An eastern opencut has been capped with concrete beams, and the entrance to a blocked stope survives as a vertical fissure in the rock face beside the old railway embankment, its upper part stacked with waste rock supported on a wedged stone. Further west, a stone-walled belland yard encloses an area of hillocks and shaft hollows, including a possible meerstone marking a mining boundary. Ruined 19th- and 20th-century mine buildings survive in stone, brick and concrete, together with the lower half of the chimney and impressive underground stopes; a separate, earlier group of ruined buildings further uphill may be agricultural rather than mining in origin, as they do not follow the usual plan of a Derbyshire lead working. Putwell Hill Mine was scheduled as a nationally important monument in March 2013, valued for its chronological depth -- from the apparently older hilltop workings to the continued reworking of the hillside vein -- and for its group value alongside the neighbouring Lees and Dove Rakes.

Geology

A lead-bearing vein running across Putwell Hill and down into Monsal Dale, later worked for fluorspar (calcite/spar) rather than lead.

Workings

Two lengths of open cut, a blocked stope, a belland yard with hillocks and shaft hollows, and the later Monsaldale Lead and Spar Mine complex with embanked sidings to the Midland Railway.

Closure

Worked for lead in the late 16th and 17th centuries; reworked for calcite/fluorspar from the late 19th century until 1931.

What remains

Scheduled as a nationally important monument since March 2013; ruined 19th/20th-century mine buildings, the lower chimney and underground stopes survive.

Two open cuts, a capped eastern opencut, a blocked stope entrance, a belland yard, ruined stone/brick/concrete buildings, the lower half of a chimney (c.7m), and embanked sidings towards the old Midland Railway line survive.

Related mines

• Lees and Dove Rakes — Neighbouring Scheduled Monuments on the same rake system, explicitly linked for group value in Putwell Hill Mine's own scheduling record.

Nearby mines

• Lees and Dove Rakes — 1.9 km NW
• Seedlow Lead Mine — 2.0 km SE
• Cackle Mackle and Stadford Hollow Lead Mines — 2.8 km NE
• Longstone Edge — 2.9 km E
• Arbourseats Veins and Nay Green Mine — 3.0 km N

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.

• Putwell Hill, an early 20th-century lead mine reworked as Monsaldale Lead and Spar Mine, is reported to have started as a lead working before converting to spar mining; between 1880 and 1922 the site expanded to a much larger complex with embanked sidings leading towards the Midland Railway line. ¹
• The scheduled area includes the vein as it runs across Putwell Hill down to the old railway line in Monsal Dale, with a blocked stope entrance visible as a vertical fissure in the rock face on the west side of the old railway embankment, its upper part stacked with waste material supported on a wedged rock. ²
• Putwell Hill Mine is scheduled for its survival displaying chronological depth from the apparently older hilltop workings to the continued working of the hillside minerals, for documentary evidence of working at least as early as the late 16th century, and for its group value alongside Lees and Dove Rakes to the north. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Putwell Hill Mine / Monsaldale Spar Mine, Brushfield (MDR2152) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Putwell Hill Mine, Little Longstone, Derbyshire — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)

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