Stone Edge Smelt Mill

Overview

Stone Edge Cupola's square chimney, raised around 1770, is thought to be the oldest surviving free-standing industrial chimney in England -- landmark of one of the best-preserved lead smelt mills anywhere in the country.

History

Stone Edge smelt mill, on Belland Lane near Ashover, used reverberatory or 'cupola' furnaces to smelt lead ore -- heating it from a separate fire within the furnace and drawing air by natural draught through a chimney, rather than by mechanical blast, so that no water power was needed for the smelting itself. The site's tall, square-built chimney, probably raised around 1770 at the time the works were built, is thought to be the oldest surviving free-standing industrial chimney in England, and remains a well-known local landmark. A millpond and dam at the southern end of the site held water to power the bellows of a later slag hearth -- a shaft furnace used to resmelt slag from the cupola furnaces and recover the lead still contained within it, since even cupola-smelted slag retained appreciable quantities of lead extracted by crushing, washing and then resmelting. Documentary and map evidence traces a detailed occupation history: the cupola was built before 1780 by Twigg and Winchester, then occupied by Barker and Company until 1807 and by Sykes, Milnes and Company until 1830, with the slag mill and dam probably added soon after that takeover. By 1831 the site belonged to William and Charles Milnes, and it probably closed once the Milnes family acquired the nearby Meerbrook Sough operation in the 1840s -- the mill was certainly closed by 1852. A 'Spanish' slag hearth, an improved type of shaft furnace added by around 1850, was the earliest of its kind in England, loaded via a masonry-revetted ramp that survives on site; excavation around the chimney base during repairs in the early 1980s found its flue arrangement did not match what documentary sources described, raising unresolved questions about whether an even earlier set of furnaces once stood on the site before 1811. The site today preserves the layout of smelt mill, slag hearth, condensing flue system and chimney, together with tips of furnace slag and the earthwork remains of the tanks used to crush and wash it for its residual lead. Scheduled as a nationally important monument in 1973 and its scheduling reviewed and reaffirmed in 2002, Stone Edge is considered one of the best-preserved reverberatory smelt mills anywhere in England, valued for its amenity as a prominent roadside landmark crossed by a public footpath as much as for its archaeology.

Geology

A lead-ore smelting site (not itself a mine working), processing ore drawn from the wider Ashover/Derbyshire orefield.

Workings

A reverberatory 'cupola' smelt mill, a condensing flue system and chimney (c.1770), a millpond and dam, a slag hearth with a masonry-revetted loading ramp, and slag-washing tanks.

Closure

Occupied in succession by Twigg and Winchester (pre-1780), Barker and Company (to 1807), and Sykes, Milnes and Company (to 1830); owned by William and Charles Milnes by 1831; definitely closed by 1852.

What remains

Scheduled as a nationally important monument since 1973, its scheduling reviewed and reaffirmed in 2002; considered one of the best-preserved reverberatory smelt mills in England.

The chimney, an underground flue system, extensive smelt-mill ruins, a millpond and dam, a slag-hearth loading ramp, and slag tips and washing-tank earthworks survive.

Related mines

• Meerbrook Sough Mine — Named directly in this record's own HER description as acquired by the same Milnes family in the 1840s, around the time Stone Edge is thought to have closed.

Nearby mines

• Nether Loads Farm Red Lead Mill — 2.6 km N
• Boythorpe Colliery — 5.5 km NE
• Linacre Wood Smelt Mill — 5.6 km N
• Avenue Colliery — 5.9 km E
• Clay Cross Colliery — 6.8 km SE

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 chimney of Stonedge Cupola is a well-known local landmark, probably built at the time of the works about 1770, making it the oldest industrial chimney in Britain; the dam was probably built subsequent to the works, to power a bellows used for a small blast furnace to resmelt slag produced in the cupola. ¹
• The cupola was built pre-1780 by Twigg and Winchester, then occupied by Barker and Company until 1807 and Sykes Milnes and Company until 1830; in 1831 it is listed as belonging to William and Charles Milnes, and it probably closed when Milnes acquired Meerbrook in the 1840s, definitely closed by 1852. ¹
• Stone Edge smelt mill is one of the best preserved examples in England of a reverberatory smelt mill, retaining the overall layout of smelt mill, slag hearth, condensing flue and chimney, and slag-washing area, with a 'Spanish' slag hearth added by 1850 being the earliest of its kind in England. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Stone Edge smelt mill, Belland Lane, Ashover (MDR4983) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Stone Edge smelt mill at Moss Farm, Ashover, Derbyshire — AncientMonuments.uk (mirroring the Historic England scheduling record)

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