Saddlebole Mine

Overview

Saddlebole marks one end of the north-south fault that Alderley Edge's brief but lucrative Napoleonic-era cobalt rush followed -- and even today keeps turning up new shafts, one found only in recent years by the author Alan Garner.

History

Saddlebole is among the earliest-documented working sites at Alderley Edge: from 1693 onward, various prospectors explored the Edge for copper, with recorded work at Saddlebole itself alongside Stormy Point, Engine Vein and Brynlow. Field evidence also points to a later phase of activity here during the early 19th-century cobalt boom, when a company that included the Derbyshire miner James Ashton worked a series of mines along a north-south fault running from Saddlebole to Findlow Hill Wood -- prospecting that briefly became valuable when cobalt demand spiked during the Napoleonic blockade of European supplies, before the trade collapsed at the end of 1810 as cobalt prices fell.

Several entrances are known at Saddlebole, though only one has been open in recent history, leading into a low chamber that was at one time used as a badger den; a further, lower passage connects through a small hole in its floor. Signs point to other passages and shafts surviving in the surrounding area, and one such shaft was rediscovered only in recent years by the author Alan Garner -- who separately, in 1993, rediscovered and helped carbon-date the Bronze Age wooden shovel that transformed understanding of ancient mining across the wider Alderley Edge site.

Saddlebole is not open to the public. Like the rest of the Alderley Edge workings it belongs to the National Trust, for whom the Derbyshire Caving Club monitors the mine.

Geology

A copper-bearing working at the southern end of a north-south fault at Alderley Edge, briefly exploited for cobalt during the early 19th century.

Workings

Several known entrances (one historically open), a low chamber, a lower connecting passage, and further probable unexplored passages and shafts.

Closure

The closure date is not known; the site's cobalt-era working ended with the collapse of the cobalt trade at the end of 1810.

What remains

Owned by the National Trust; not officially open to the public, with safety monitored by the Derbyshire Caving Club.

One historically open entrance leading to a low chamber, a lower connecting passage, and evidence of further unexplored passages and shafts survive.

Related mines

• Alderley Edge Mines — One of the named workings within the wider Alderley Edge Mines complex, at the southern end of the fault worked for cobalt in the early 19th century.
• Cobalt Mine — Part of the same north-south fault system exploited for cobalt in the early 19th century, per the Derbyshire Caving Club's own account.

Recorded claims

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

• There were several entrances but only one has been open in recent history, leading into a low chamber used as a badger den at one time; another lower passage connects through a small hole in the floor, and there are signs of other passages and shafts in the area, one shaft found in the last few years by the author Alan Garner. ¹
• From 1693 to the mid-19th century, various people are reported to have explored the Edge for copper and work was done at Saddlebole, Stormy Point, Engine Vein and Brinlow. ²
• Evidence in the field points to the working of a series of mines on a north-south fault running from Saddlebole to Findlow Hill Wood; the mining ceased at the end of 1810 when the price of cobalt fell. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire Caving Club: Other Mines (Doc Mine entry, Alderley Edge mines pages) — Derbyshire Caving Club (leaseholders and surveyors of the Alderley Edge mines for the National Trust)
2. (secondary) Alderley Edge Mines — Wikipedia

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 17 September 2026