There followed a traverse of the Derbyshire Dome, over
bleak heather and bilberry moors and into the deep valleys
of the Manifold and Dove. We stopped at Wetton Mill for
lunch, and were able to see where the Manifold river
disappears into its own bed and continues underground.
From here, for some distance downstream, the bed is dry
except in flood times. There must be many mysterious
caverns and pipes that the water flows through before
reappearing at the surface some way downstream.
Copper workings at Ecton (reached by a road that
follows an old railway track and includes a short tunnel)
were examined, and a few pieces of rock containing copper
ore were found by some lucky members.
Later in the afternoon, we reached Magpie Mine near
Sheldon. This old lead mine has been taken in hand by the
Peak District Mines Historical Society, and is being
preserved from further decay. Here we were met by a guide
from the Society, and were treated to some amusing anecdotes
and a lot of sound history about the mines and the appalling
conditions under which the miners worked. The buildings are
but shells (See illustration on page 17), almost all the
machinery is gone; some of the old shafts are being
deliberately filled with rubbish, but two are open. After
the rather flimsy covers where removed, some of the party
ventured to lie flat on their tummies and look down nearly
four hundred feet of nothingness into the pool of dark
water at the bottom of the shaft.
The spoil heaps were combed for fragments of Galena
(Lead Sulphide) and most people found a little to add to
their Derbyshire Mineral Collection.
We were told how, when the mine shaft had been sunk
more than 400 ft., it became uneconomical to pump the
water to the surface, and a drainage tunnel or sough was
driven from the banks above the River Wye a distance of
one mile from the bottom of the shaft, It took seven
years to make the sough, and, by the time it was completed,
the mine shaft had been deepened by a further 200 ft. We
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