Wills Founder Mine

Overview

A lead mine at Winster, part of the Peak District's extensive 18th- and 19th-century orefield workings, notable above all for a rediscovered Trevithick-type hydraulic pumping engine -- one of the oldest surviving engines of its kind in the world -- brought up from 360 feet down the shaft in 1976.

History

Winster boomed in the late 17th century on the back of lead mining, briefly becoming one of the largest towns in Derbyshire, and its ground was worked by extensive 18th- and 19th-century mines with several coffin levels, of which Wills Founder Shaft was one. The shaft's defining feature is a hydraulic pumping engine of a type designed by Richard Trevithick in Cornwall around 1790 -- probably only the third engine of its kind installed in Derbyshire. Built at Coalbrookdale in 1819, the engine was originally installed at Broadmeadow Shaft, where it worked until about 1827 when it was replaced by a larger engine, and was then moved to Wills Founder Shaft around 1835 and re-erected in a chamber 360 feet below ground. Water to drive it was carried down a 140-foot column of cast iron pipes from the Winster Sough, discharging afterwards into the Yatestoop Sough. The engine lay forgotten underground until 1976, when members of the North Staffordshire Mining Club found it during an exploration of the shaft; its recovery that summer took sixteen days, and a second expedition in 1978 retrieved one of two associated pump sets from a wooden cistern a further 120 feet below the engine chamber, working in what has been described as awful conditions of sand ingress and a partially collapsed headgear -- the second pump set remains underground to this day. The recovered engine, one of the oldest surviving of its type anywhere in the world, is now on display at the Peak District Lead Mining Museum in Matlock Bath.

Workings

Extensive 18th- and 19th-century workings with several coffin levels, drained via the Winster Sough and the Yatestoop Sough; the Trevithick-type hydraulic pumping engine sat in a chamber 360 feet down, fed by a 140-foot column of cast iron pipes.

What remains

No reliable current-condition survey has yet been located beyond the 1976-78 recovery expeditions; the historic pumping engine itself survives, restored, at the Peak District Lead Mining Museum, Matlock Bath.

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.

• The hydraulic pumping engine recovered from Wills Founder Shaft in 1976 was of a type designed by Richard Trevithick in Cornwall around 1790, built at Coalbrookdale in 1819, and installed first at Broadmeadow Shaft before being moved to Wills Founder Shaft around 1835 and re-erected in a chamber 360 feet below ground. ¹
• The engine was rediscovered by members of the North Staffordshire Mining Club in 1976 and recovered over sixteen days; a second expedition in 1978 retrieved one of two pump sets from a wooden cistern 120 feet further down, working in poor conditions including sand ingress and a partially collapsed headgear -- the second pump set remains underground. ¹
• The engine now holds centre stage at the Peak District Lead Mining Museum, Matlock Bath, where an interactive audio exhibit (produced by Audio Trails) features a simulated interview between Trevithick and a reporter while different parts of the engine are illuminated. ²

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Derbyshire lead mines - Wills Founder Shaft Winster — Peak District Mines Historical Society
2. (secondary) Peak District Lead Mining Museum audio trail: the Wills Founder engine — Audio Trails

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 30 August 2026