ive dug out my old 1950s orpheus caving club newsletters one of which mentions the brandy bottle vein lead mine at wheston which has a sough that comes out in tideswell,i know where the sough comes out but has anyone got any info on the mine itself as i can find almost nothing on it.

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rings a bell from my early caving days in about 1970. I will dig out my old Caves of Derbs and have a look.

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I seem to recall there was a bit on the surface workings at Brandy Bottle in a PDMHS newsletter a while ago but it could take some finding! The sough is still there, and I've seen photos of it but I don't know what access is like these days. I've also got a vague recollection of seeing entries for Brandy Bottle title in a barmaster's book for Tideswell liberty but I doubt I took any notes....

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Reminded me of that amusing snippet in the The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent newspaper of Saturday, September 21, 1889; pg. 6:
“The owner of the Wheston Estate, Tideswell, has recently put down machinery for the purpose of supplying the village with water from an old disused lead mine, called “The Brandy Bottle Mine.” A sample of the water was sent to be analysed, but on account of the bottle having previously contained whisky, no report could be given."

the sough was fallen at the first shaft about 30ft in in 1955 as my father crawled up it so i dont think anyones got up it since but as it came out almost in my grandmothers back garden it has always interested me.

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I understand you can get into the sough through a shaft further inbye. The Edge Rake mine complex at Wheston is mentioned in the Lead Legacy (remains of horizontal engine house & gin circles) but I'm not sure whether the sough is heading for this mine or another one.

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A rather optimistic report on these mines compiled in 1858 mentions the following:
The Providence and Edge Rake Shafts are sunk on a very rich vein, supposed to be a continuation of one of the celebrated Eyam Edge veins. … The present workings of the Brandy Bottle are at the junction of the Golden Ball, the Near Edge, and the Far Edge veins, and that the work done hitherto has been only for discovery, consequently the workings are reached only by narrow contracted gates.”
The veins were believed to yield 18cwts per fathom and workings were below the toadstone.

the sough was fallen at the first shaft about 30ft in in 1955 as my father crawled up it so i dont think anyones got up it since but as it came out almost in my grandmothers back garden it has always interested me.

Out of interest, whereabouts in Tidza did it come out - a couple of my PDMHS mates live in the village and I'd be interested to know if the tail's still visible in any way shape or form.

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it came out between the big house called the gables and the barn on manchester rd,if you check google maps you can follow the line of shafts to the road at roughly 53.286803,-1.783478 havnt been for 20 years so memories getting foggy. 😞

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Thanks for that, I'll have to go up and take a look at some point, might also make enquiries about having a look in the sough - I've seen photos of it at a PDMHS slide show in the past.

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looking at an old orpheous cc publication dated 1959 it mentions going down a shaft rather than the sough as it was heavilly silted and "only fit for the slightest of build",its quite possible this is the shaft you refer to though.

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It was my understanding that you got into the accessible section of sough through a short shaft fitted with fixed ladders as the landowner used it as a water source, but I can't remeber much more about it than that offhand.

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Had a dig through my old PDMHS newsletters and turned this up from short notes no.12:

Edge Rake Sough, Tideswell, Derbyshire SK1442 7662
This sough, enterable via an air shaft with fixed ladder which is about 7.5m deep, has been driven following a thin bed of rotted toadstone (or possibly a clay wayboard). At the base of the shaft it is about 1m thick and its removal has given the sough a flat limestone roof with no sign of a vein. From the base of the shaft, which was entered by the Orpheus Caving Club in 1960 after digging out and repairing the shaft, the passage heading towards the tail is silted but it is possible to crawl along this at least as far as a further air shaft, now capped at surface, about half way to the tail. Progress in the other direction, towards the eastern end of Edge Rake, is easier as the silt here has been removed by Derek Stables. The clay bed rapidly decreases in thickness until it is less than 10cm and the sough is driven through limestone below, while the flat limestone bed immediately above the clay forms the roof. The passage is somewhat sinuous and there are shotholes of 18th/19th century type. The accessible passage ends at a point where its upper part stops abruptly at what is best described as a ‘forefield’. However, at floor level there is a small flooded hole continuing horizontally, now silted and too small to enter. Whether the sough intersected a pre-existing working, or a natural passage as Derek Staples has suggested (Eldon Potholing Club Journal, no. 5, pp 29-31), could not be assessed. It is estimated that the ‘forefield’ is about 75m from the tail.
Present: John Barnatt, Paul Chandler and other PDMHS members.

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