Wheels Rake Wheelhouse Shaft

Overview

Wheels Rake, near Alport, was drained by a masonry wheelhouse housing a water wheel that pumped its 192-foot shaft, and by the Shining Sough -- driven from 1756, one of the earliest drainage soughs in the Alport lead field before it was superseded by Hillcarr Sough in the 1790s.

History

Wheels Rake runs north-west to south-east close to the Lawn's Lane junction near Alport. Its masonry-lined wheelhouse, in reasonable condition today, housed a water wheel that raised water from a 192-foot shaft below and discharged it into a level running via Thornhill Sough into Hillcarr Sough; a pump rod is still in place in the shaft beneath it. Working here is thought to have stopped in 1851, though on the rake's northward extension across the river, work continued into the 1880s. The Shining Sough, which drains the mine generally, was started in 1756 by the Shining Sough Company -- one of the principal companies working the area before the 1839 consolidation into the Alport Mining Company -- and there is no record of it being driven after March 1776; the veins in the sough's tithe began producing ore from 1769. Driven mainly through solid limestone, with some coffin levels and hand-dressed pick marks, it was rendered ineffective as the main drainage level once Hillcarr Sough was completed around 1787-90, though it may still have been in occasional use as late as 1839. Cavers from the Nottingham Mines Research and Exploration Group and, later, the Pegasus Caving Club dug through a series of collapses in the Shining Sough over several years, eventually breaking through into the workings of the neighbouring Broadmeadow Mine.

Geology

Lead-bearing Wheels Rake vein, drained by the Shining Sough through solid limestone.

Workings

A water-wheel-pumped shaft 192ft deep, and the Shining Sough, an early coffin-level drainage sough started in 1756 and later superseded by Hillcarr Sough.

Closure

Pumping at the wheelhouse shaft is thought to have stopped around 1851, though working on the rake's extension across the river continued into the 1880s; the Shining Sough itself had been effectively superseded by Hillcarr Sough by about 1790.

What remains

The masonry wheelhouse survives in reasonable condition, with its pump rod still in situ in the shaft beneath; the Shining Sough was reopened by cavers after decades of collapse-digging in the late 20th century.

The mound and arched opening of the wheelhouse shaft are still visible on Wheels Rake, along with a head-race leat and part of a reservoir dam across the river.

Related mines

• Broadmeadow Lead Mine — The Shining Sough, draining Wheels Rake, was dug through by cavers until it broke into Broadmeadow Mine's own workings near its main shaft.

Nearby mines

• Broadmeadow Lead Mine — 0.7 km SW
• Guy Mine — 0.7 km SW
• Kirkmeadow Mine — 0.9 km SE
• Prospect Lead Mine — 0.9 km SW
• Alport Mines — 1.8 km W

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 Wheels Rake wheelhouse, a masonry-lined structure in reasonable condition, housed a water wheel pumping a 192ft shaft; work here is thought to have stopped in 1851, though the rake's northward extension across the river continued to be worked into the 1880s. ¹
• The Shining Sough was started in 1756 by the Shining Sough Company, one of the principal companies working the area before the 1839 consolidation into the Alport Mining Company; there is no record of it being driven after March 1776, and it was rendered ineffective as a drainage level by Hillcarr Sough around 1790. ¹
• Cavers dug through a series of collapses in the Shining Sough over several years, eventually breaking through into the workings of the neighbouring Broadmeadow Mine near its main shaft. ²
• A Peak District Mines Historical Society plan of Wheels Rake Vein, at a scale of 8 fathoms to the inch, is held by the British Geological Survey. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Wheels Rake wheel house and Shining Sough drainage level, Harthill Hall (MDR3835) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (secondary) Alport Mines and Soughs — Pegasus Caving Club
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: Plan of Wheels Rake Vein (PDMHS plan ref C111) — British Geological Survey / Peak District Mines Historical Society

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