Sallet Hole Mine

Overview

One of Britain's leading underground fluorspar mines by the late 20th century, reached through a level originally driven simply to drain lead workings on Longstone Edge.

History

Sallet Hole began as a sough — an underground drainage channel — to the lead workings under Longstone Edge, with mineral veins in the area worked since at least the 17th century. It was converted into a haulage level around 1840-42, and a 32ft waterwheel was installed to power ore-crushing rollers, though all trace of the wheel was later destroyed by subsequent mining. Twentieth-century fluorspar production followed in two phases, first from 1926 to 1930, then resuming in 1965 under Laporte Minerals, working the Deep Rake deposit beneath the Longstone Edge opencast. Output peaked around 1990 at roughly 73,000 tonnes a year, making Sallet Hole one of Britain's leading underground fluorspar mines, before cheaper imported fluorspar made it uneconomic and the mine closed in 1998. It later served as an underground connection to the neighbouring Watersaw Mine (Sallet Hole No. 2) until that mine closed too, in 2009.

Geology

The mine worked mineral veins associated with Longstone Edge, including the Deep Rake fluorspar deposit that lay beneath the area's opencast workings.

Workings

Access follows the original sough/haulage level to a 130m level, with a further 40m of workings above reached by iron ladders; extensive galleries and side workings run off both.

What remains

Long closed and considered one of the most collapsed and unstable mines in Derbyshire — recent explorers describe crumbling rock, multiple roof falls blocking sections of the mine, and hidden sub-levels lost to collapse. Water still flows from the entrance today. The accessible levels remain explorable with caution as of 2025, though parts are flooded and the site is treated as genuinely hazardous rather than a casual walk-in.

The entrance adit survives, along with surface disturbance from the associated Longstone Edge opencast workings.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• A June 2025 exploration report described Sallet Hole as 'a fantastic mine, but given the past collapses, one to treat with caution' — three iron ladders to the 130m level, five more to a 40m level above, an 'absolute death trap' blind incline, and a muddy, part-flooded lower level. ¹

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Images

Sources

1. (observational) Sallet Hole No.1 Mine, Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire, June 2025 — 28DaysLater
2. (primary) Sallet Hole Mine Plan (BGS/Mining Remediation Authority, KP842) — British Geological Survey
3. (secondary) Sallet Hole Mine

Record created: 22 August 2026 · Last researched: 22 August 2026