Ramsley Moor Lead Smelting Site

Overview

Ramsley Moor was not where lead was smelted, but where the leftover slag from a nearby hilltop bole was broken up, washed and resmelted a second time -- an intact medieval process site with no known parallel of similar quality anywhere in England.

History

The lead production site on Ramsley Moor lies along the west bank of a headwater of Millthorpe Brook, traversed by a small leat that leaves the stream at the site's south end and contours northwards along the shallow valley slope. Most of its visible remains are linear earthwork mounds and spreads of broken lead slag lying between the leat and the stream, alongside further earthwork features including one interpreted as a wheelpit. The site is believed to be of late medieval date, and to represent an area where slag from a nearby bole -- the wind-powered hilltop smelting fire typical of medieval lead production -- was broken up, washed and resmelted in order to recover lead that the bole's single, relatively crude burn had left behind in the waste. Medieval boles themselves used the wind for draught, built as open-sided stone structures on exposed south-west-facing hilltops or ridges, with molten lead run off through channels into a casting pit; their slag still held considerable amounts of unrecovered lead, some of which could be extracted simply by crushing and washing it, with the remainder recoverable by resmelting it in a smaller, enclosed hearth known as a slag hearth or 'blackwork oven', fired by charcoal with an air blast from hand- or foot-operated bellows -- producing a black, glassy slag distinct from the grey or yellow slag of the bole itself. Around 200 bole sites are thought to have existed nationally, known mostly from place-name evidence alone; sites like Ramsley Moor, retaining informative slag distributions, intact tips or visible structural remains, are very rare survivals. Ramsley Moor was scheduled as a nationally important monument in September 1996, valued as an intact and undisturbed complex of an unusual type with no known parallel of similar quality anywhere in England, its enhanced amenity value coming from its location on National Park property within a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Geology

A medieval slag-reprocessing site, not itself a primary smelting or extraction site, associated with a nearby (unidentified) bole lead smelter.

Workings

Linear earthwork mounds, spreads of broken lead slag, a leat, and an earthwork feature interpreted as a wheelpit.

Closure

No reliable closure date has yet been located; believed to belong to the late medieval period.

What remains

Scheduled as a nationally important monument since September 1996; lies within a Site of Special Scientific Interest on National Park property.

Linear earthwork mounds, extensive spreads of broken lead slag, a leat and a probable wheelpit earthwork survive.

Nearby mines

• Bar Brook Lead Mill — 2.8 km SW
• Froggatt Wood Smelt Mill — 4.9 km W
• Linacre Wood Smelt Mill — 5.5 km SE
• Red Rake Mine — 5.7 km W
• Bolehill Quarry — 5.9 km NW

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.

• Most of the visible features are linear earthwork mounds and spreads of broken lead slag between a leat and the stream, with other earthwork features including one interpreted as a wheelpit; it is thought that the site represents an area where slags from a nearby bole lead smelter were broken and resmelted to extract the remaining lead. ¹
• The Ramsley Moor monument forms an intact and undisturbed complex of an unusual type with no known parallels of similar quality, retaining a good diversity of features including visible earthworks, intact slag tips, and slag distributions over a wide area, all unusual survivals on sites of this early date. ²
• Boles used the wind to provide draught and were located on exposed summits or ridges, normally facing south west, with molten lead run out by channels into a casting pit or area; the slags produced retained considerable quantities of lead, part recoverable by crushing and washing and the remainder by resmelting in a slag hearth or 'blackwork oven'. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Lead Smelting Site, Ramsley Moor (MDR7431) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Lead smelting site on Ramsley Moor, 600m south west of Foxlane Farm, Holmesfield, Derbyshire — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)

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