Adventurers in the Lead Trade - being an account of the Mining Interests of the Thornhill family of Stanton Hall, Nr Bakewell, Derbyshire - £25.00 + P&P

Jim Rieuwerts, HB, 162pp, 255 x 155 luxury lead-grey clothbound only 300 copies produced in full colour.

This is a superbly produced and well written book and one I fully recommend (Mike)

http://www.moorebooks.co.uk/Adventurers-in-the-Lead-Trade-being-an-account-of-the-Mining-Interests-of-the-Thornhill-family-of-Stanton-Hall-Nr-Bakewell-Derbyshire.html 

(publishers review)
The book features rare original maps, charts and illustrations from the Stanton Archive and Dr. Rieuwerts' private collection, photographs taken by Philip Wolstenholme, additional photographs by Paul Deakin and vintage photographs of Millclose Mine and its miners. Commissioned by the Davie-Thornhill Estate of Stanton Hall in Derbyshire, the limited edition book details the history of the Thornhill family's involvement in lead-mining between the 17th and 19th centuries, and their enthusiastic investment of venture capital into pioneering technical solutions for de-watering the orefield, and in many cases producing huge returns on their investments.

They co-funded some of the longest, deepest and most famous soughs in Derbyshire, and installed multiple Newcomen water-pumping engines deep underground in the pursuit of more lead. Many of the sites photographed in the book are rarely visited and/or poorly documented, and include Odin Mine, Blue John Caverns/Waterhull Mine, Mandale Mine, Yatestoop Sough and Drake Mine in Winster

Just to confirm that the book, which has been well over a year in the making, is well worth the bargain price, and features some rather interesting photos of various sites, and virtually all taken especially for the book. This also explains why I haven't posted much new stuff here recently, as they've all been shot for the book selections (which were often ruthless in their specifications, and causing some occasional quiet sobs on my part).

Peter Miles at Hucklow Publishing has done a superb job on the layout, giving the finished product a distinctly 'fresh' look for an archive publication.

Some sites were particularly tricky to access, so I'd like to thank John Wood of PDHMS for arranging and leading our visits to the Winster mines in the book, and also Graham Ollerenshaw for access to Blue John Cavern and to Dave Nixon for showing me the off-showcave workings and natural passages beyond. I'd particularly like to thank my friends and colleagues, both privately and at the TSG/PDMHS who joined me on the explorations and helping with the photos.

Copies are also available direct from myself: [email protected] or 0114 255 9976 and also from Dr. Jim Rieuwerts on 0114 237 6988.

There's more info on my website here:

http://www.pwhole.com/adventurers.htm 

I'll also start slowly posting galleries of the various shoots on here, but not until we've shifted some copies 😉

Received my copy last week, can confirm it's an excellent book. Well written, good photos and well worth the price.

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