Coe

A small stone cabin built by Derbyshire lead miners over or near a shaft, used to store tools and spare clothing; the ordinary miner's equivalent of the grander Count House kept by a mine's management.

Historical usage

Coes are recorded across the Derbyshire orefield wherever lead was mined, from at least the post-medieval period through the industry's 19th-century decline, as a basic, practical piece of site infrastructure at even small and short-lived workings.

Regional variation

The term and the structure are specific to the Derbyshire lead field; ruined or footings-only coe remains are among the more common surviving field monuments at smaller Peak District mine sites.

Related terminology

Miners' Barracks

Mines associated with this term

5 examples chosen from 29 linked records — the term page is not an index.

• Snake Mine — Derbyshire (well documented example)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the history: “…some 100 feet by 70 feet, containing the main shaft, a ruined coe, an ore buddle, a climbing shaft and the centre stone of a horse-gin…”
• Arbourseats Veins and Nay Green Mine — Derbyshire (well documented example)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the history: “…Tansley Dale is a belland yard with a run-in shaft, gin circle and a coe built later over the old horse walk; further east, a smaller belland…”
• Pike Law Mine — County Durham (well documented example)
  Named twice in this record, first in the workings: “…horse gins thought typical of 17th-century working. Two stone coes, a flagged and revetted floor, a stone-lined pit and scores of small…”
• Beans and Bacon Mine — Derbyshire (well documented example)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the history: “…recorded working ran from 1920 to 1925. The site's five surviving coes (stone surface sheds), one of which contains the founder shaft, sit…”
• Bondog Hole Mine — Derbyshire (well documented example)
  Named 6 times in this record, first in the history: “…good compact site, in good condition', it includes a gin circle, coe, ore house, winding shaft and a possible powder house -- a feature…”

Disasters associated with this term

Included only where MineArchive's own research gives a reasonable evidential basis, with the nature of the relationship stated — not every disaster where this term might plausibly apply.

• Walton Colliery explosion, 1959 (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “…cable in the poorly ventilated 5's Unit. The overman Lawrence Coe and the four men with him died; eight rescuers were taken to…”

Sources

1. (secondary) A Brief History of Derbyshire Lead Mining — Derbyshire Heritage
2. (secondary) Barmote court — Wikipedia

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