Silver Hillocks Mine

Overview

Silver Hillocks Mine, on Longstone Edge, keeps the only upstanding lead-working coe left in Derbyshire, its in-situ knockstone once used by women, working with flat-headed 'bucking hammers', to break down ore drawn fresh from the mine.

History

Silver Hillocks Mine, within the Longstone Moor lead rake, preserves a small lead-mining and ore-processing site centred on a group of three coes, a shaft and a dressing floor -- scheduled nationally, though more extensive mining remains survive beyond the scheduled area, disturbed by later reworking. One coe stands part-upstanding, a drystone structure some 7 by 5 metres built on a spoil heap, its walls surviving to around 1.2 metres and its entrance at the south-east corner; in its north-west corner is an in-situ knockstone, where lumps of ore drawn fresh from the mine were broken down by hand. According to a 1988 account by the mining historian Jim Rieuwerts, two knockstones at the rear of a small coe here served as anvils on which crude ore and rock were broken down by women, using flat-headed hammers called bucking hammers -- the only such examples left standing anywhere in Derbyshire. Two further ruined coes stand immediately north-east of the upstanding example, each around 5 metres square; the north wall of the northernmost extends some 20 metres west to the spoil ring around an isolated shaft, and together the coes and this wall form the north and east boundaries of a triangular ore-dressing floor, bounded on its remaining side by a track through the lead rake. A further coe to the north has a blocked internal shaft. Though coes are relatively common components of Derbyshire lead mines, upstanding examples are rare both regionally and nationally, and the survival of the knockstone in particular is considered to enhance the site's importance. Site monitoring in 2009 found the Scheduled Monument not under threat.

Geology

A small lead-mining and ore-processing site within the Longstone Moor lead rake.

Workings

Three coes (one part-upstanding, with an in-situ knockstone), a shaft and a triangular ore-dressing floor bounded by a coe wall and a trackway.

Closure

No reliable closure date has yet been located.

What remains

Scheduled as a nationally important monument; found not under threat when monitored in 2009. More extensive surrounding mining remains have been disturbed by modern reworking.

A part-upstanding coe with its knockstone, two further ruined coes, a blocked-shaft coe to the north, and a triangular dressing floor survive.

Nearby mines

• Brightside Lead Mine — 1.7 km E
• Cackle Mackle and Stadford Hollow Lead Mines — 2.3 km W
• Longstone Edge — 2.5 km SW
• Red Rake Mine — 2.7 km E
• Glebe 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.

• The monument includes a partly upstanding coe with an in-situ knockstone at its north-west corner, two further ruined coes and a dressing floor and shaft; the upstanding coe measures 7m by 5m, built on a spoil heap, with walls surviving to c.1.2m. ¹
• According to a 1988 account by Jim Rieuwerts, two knockstones at the rear of a small coe here were used as anvils on which crude ore and rock were broken down by women, using flat-headed hammers called bucking hammers -- the only such examples left in Derbyshire. ¹
• Although coes are relatively common components of Derbyshire lead mines, upstanding examples are rare both regionally and nationally, and the site's importance is further enhanced by the rare survival of its knockstone. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Longstone Edge Mine, Great Longstone (MDR7202) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) A group of three lead working coes, a shaft and a dressing floor on Longstone Edge, Rowland, Derbyshire — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)

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