Windlass

A simple hand-cranked winch -- a wooden drum on supports, turned by an iron handle -- set up over a mine shaft to lower tools and miners and to raise ore to the surface in a kibble or basket; also called a stow in Derbyshire dialect.

Historical usage

Windlasses were the ordinary means of raising ore from small and shallow lead-mine shafts across the Derbyshire orefield, used from the earliest recorded mining through to the point a mine grew large or deep enough to justify a horse-powered whim or, later, a steam winding engine. At Stadford Hollow on Longstone Moor, worked from the very early 16th century to the mid-19th, four well-preserved shaft mounds still carry their original windlass stones in position, supporting a series of shafts descending in steps known locally as 'Giants Steps' -- one of very few such small vertical mines left intact anywhere in Derbyshire.

How it worked

The windlass drum sat across the mouth of the shaft on two stone or timber supports, with a rope or chain wound around it; turning the attached iron crank handle raised or lowered a kibble, wicket basket or, when needed, a miner sitting in a loop of rope. Miners also planted miniature model versions of the same device, called stows, at the ends of their claimed ground to physically mark out the boundary of a meer under Barmote custom.

Why it was used

A windlass needed no motive power beyond a single miner's arm and no capital outlay beyond the timber and iron to build it, making it the obvious choice for a small mine, a shallow shaft, or the early, speculative working of a newly freed meer before anyone knew whether it would prove rich enough to justify anything grander.

Risks & limitations

Hand-winding limited a windlass to comparatively shallow depths and light loads; as a shaft deepened or a mine's output grew, the same job increasingly called for the greater lifting power of a horse-worked whim, and eventually steam. The physical effort also meant winding was slow and exhausting work, on top of whatever labour had gone into filling the kibble underground.

Regional variation

The Derbyshire dialect name for the device, and for the miniature claim-marker version of it, was 'stow' or 'stows'; the same basic hand-winch was in general use at small mines nationally under its ordinary English name.

Mines associated with this term

5 examples chosen from 7 linked records — the term page is not an index.

• Little Garth Mine — Cardiff (well documented example)
  Named twice in this record, first in the history: “…power and the liberal use of black powder, with a horse-powered windlass raising ore and spoil from the depths and packhorses carrying it…”
• Bincliff Lead Mines — Staffordshire (well documented example)
  Named in this record’s history: “…company initially drained its workings using a bucket wound up on a windlass, before connecting the shafts to an adit for natural drainage; a…”
• Cackle Mackle and Stadford Hollow Lead Mines — Derbyshire (well documented example)
  Named twice in this record, first in the history: “…shafts descending in a series known as 'Giants Steps', with windlass stones still in position; underground, short cross-cuts link the…”
• Denner Hill Quarries — Buckinghamshire (well documented example)
  Named twice in this record, first in the history: “…irregularly lobed pits, with simple scaffolding, sheer-legs and windlasses used to lower workers in and raise stone out. Boulders were first…”
• Hangman's Wood Deneholes — Essex (well documented example)
  Named in this record’s workings: “…from its base; chalk was hauled back up the shaft, most likely by windlass and basket, for spreading directly on nearby fields as marl.”

Sources

1. (primary) Derbyshire HER: Cackle Mackle and Stadford Hollow lead mines, Longstone Moor, Great Longstone (MDR2106) — Derbyshire Historic Environment Record
2. (secondary) Derbyshire lead mining history — Wikipedia

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