Op Mole searched for Bullestree sough tail in the late 1950's. We found what we thought to be the tail just down river below Cromford Bridge on the east bank of the River Derwent. From memory one of our members crawled up from the tail a slight way but it became inaccessible at the point where it passed beneath the Cromford/Crich road and under the very old house with mullioned windows (which was/is a children's nursery) on the corner of the Starkhomes road (opposite Willesley Castle entrance). It appeared to be a cut and cover sough tail.

Thrutch - the very large mine hillock and shaft on the right driving up from Willesley to Starkholmes is one of the main Bullestree mine shafts. We were told this when we had permission to explore Riber Mine when it was being worked in 1955. I can remember Howard Finch the mine manager telling us that as well as pumping Riber they were pumping Bullestree as well, in fact they were lowering the water table right across that side of the River Derwent, a very expensive undertaking for Derbyshire Stone. I deposited my copy of the Riber Mine document along with my other papers at Derbyshire Record Office. That goes into much greater detail.

Bullestree sough's location is indicated on Figure 17 of Jim Riewerts book and there are two locations for Bullestree sough given:-

"BULLESTREE SOUGH, 301.572, open
The original sough was driven from the Derwent north westwardly in shale for about 350-400 feet to Fillpurse Vein. The date of this work is unknown. The level was then probably continued north westwardly to intersect the Moletrap Vein very close to the shale/limestone contact. In March 1840 it was agreed to cut a branch north easwardly to the Moletrap workings, a further 650 feet all in shale. This latter work was undertaken in order to use the sough as a pumpway for a pumping enigne. A second engine was installed in 1848. The sough may have been extended yet further eastwardly for 1,250 feet to the site of a Cornish pumping engine. This engine was sold in 1868 and presumably the level was then rendered redundant.

BULLESTREE SOUGH, open, but fallen a short distance inside.
The Cornish engine may have been served by a separate pumpway commencing on the east side of the railway bridge. An undated Barmaster's tracing marks "Water Level" at the position of the tail, but the line of the level is not shown. This level would have been excavated entirely in shale and if driven directly to the Engine Shaft some 950 feet in length.

Thanks for the info Sougher, by your description I now realise I did see the old sough tail - It's walled up with a pipe coming out of it for drainage, and isn't all that deep below the road so I thought it was just a storm/land drain. If the sough was cut and cover, there'd likely be some air shafts so if the house opposite is still a nursery I hope they've been properly capped/filled!

Also, on checking up it turns out that the Harveydale tubes are listed in COPD, but by John Beck's description further quarrying has put the entrances halfway up the quarry face - illicit exploration would be difficult to do without being noticed......

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AR. Re Harvey Dale tubes - correct! Just checked my copy of the COPD (forgot I had it). It's about fifty years since Op Mole explored them and they were then on a ledge just above the quarry floor.

Will be emailing you hopefully later today, will also send you a scan of Fig. 17 out of Jim's book which you will find extremely useful, I've also promised to send Iclok a copy too.

p.s. I bet there's an abundance of flowers out up in your area now, cowslips, yellow pansies on the lead spoil heaps, buttercups, orchids, bluebells over Mawstone quarry way, Queen Anne's Lace along the grass verges of the lanes (especially Bonsall Moor) and of course the May Blossom (Hawthorne). Thinking of them is making me very homesick!

I am interested in the remarks about Bullacetree. As a mining historian, this was always my favourite mine and I have researched it intensively. The dispute with the railway company that AR mentions did occur in the 1840s and I was told by someone that there were details in the Brooke Taylor Collection in the DRO but I was never able to locate this. Jim Rieuwerts made a very determined attempt to find the relevant records in the archives of the existing railway company but had little co-operation and no joy.
I have details of the Op Mole exploration of Bullacetree from a published report by Doug Nash. They went up the sough (blocked) and down the shaft. Conditions were grim but there is a big drive off to the north running a great distance towards Starkholmes. This was driven in about 1870 and is a spacious level. However, there is a serious problem with GAS and water and deep mud. This is the only mine in the Matlock area where explosions of firedamp were recorded in its workings. Gas is still present, I understand. EXPLORATION OF BULLACETREE IS A SERIOUS BUSINESS – too much for me.

The workings in Matlock Bath Station Quarry were the top end of coffin gate from Jackdaw Vein but I never heard of anyone getting far from that end.

There are several potential discoveries similar to the Ringing Rake/Youd’s Level waiting to be made in the Matlock area. However, access permissions are difficult to obtain and most digs prove a bit of a nightmare. A few years ago, I borrowed a pick of Lynn Willies and investigated the tail of the Blackstone Level on Slit Rake where it runs down to the river north of High Tor but decided it was too big a job for me.

During our 1979 exploration of Bullestree we did indeed get into the big drivage. It was a much different size and shape to the other workings. From memory, it began after passing the infill cone of debris from the roadside shaft? It was chest deep in some of the worst mud we had ever seen. you could only progress by 'swimming' flat out on top to minimize ground pressure. If you broke the surface crust it was very difficult to get out again. The drivage had air fangs still in place though some had fallen on top of the mud. We did not progress very far up that branch as the air was 'heavy'. In those days we did not have a gas analyser.
As getting into the mine involved ducking under water/sewage, we didn't take a safety lamp either.
We always intended to go back better equipped but as so often happens, we never have!

Bullestree is dropping down my list of mines I'd like a look in at a rate of knots..... having seen someone get stuck in the mud at the far end of Side mine (while I was beyond them at the collapse!) chest-deep mud doesn't appeal, especially not if there's a fine mix of flammable and toxic gases in the air! the description makes Odin mine seem pleasant and inviting.......

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And I was just thinking of suggesting it as a Thursday night trip..............

Can't make Thursday - I'm re-organising my sock drawer..... 🙂

Could the 1950's pumping have given rise the the 1960's story that it was possible to enter workings on one side of the river and emerge on the other? Or did this have an earlier origin, was it speculation re. the workings that lie under the river connect or just wishfull thinking/romanticism?
Good to have all this information come together here and good to think that there are more discoveries to be made yet.

Given the extent of the workings under the river bed in Lathkilldale, I wouldn't have been surprised if any of the mines whose workings went below river level followed their veins under the river bed. I don't however know if the river was used as a convenient marker point for mine titles leaving a "no man's land" of unworked ground under the Derwent. Over to you, Historytrog.....

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AR - You're really making me stretch my memory now! I can remember walking down the Riber Mine adit incline to the bottom level of the mine, where a new shaft was being driven in the floor, from here it seemed only a short distance to the face of the level. It had steel trap doors over it and it was with trepidation we watched Doug drive a dumper over it, needless to say he survived. We didn't stay down there long as there was a very strong smell of "bad eggs" ie. Sulphur dioxide gas. Again from memory, we retraced our steps back up the incline into a vein on the right hand side of the passage (containing a reasonable sized lead vein) which we traversed and this brought us into Side Mine with it's stopes and slickensides, out of which we exited by an adit at the back of the Dye Works. As the Dye Works used Side Mine to blow their fumes into, you can image the state of us when we walked back covered in red dye through Matlock Bath to our transport. The looks we got from the tourists 😮 Once, two of our club's members jumped into the River Derwent to wash the dye off, and turned the river red, so we didn't repeat that again.

Seems to me that any possible exploration of Bullestree/Moletrap mines means getting involved in sewerage contamination, levels driven through the shales, gas, water etc.- not a pleasant proposition! Similar to exploring Hillcarr Sough!!! At least we were lucky to be allowed to explore the mine, as those workings are now once more under the water table.

Ahh, the curse of Side mine - everything covered in bright red mud! Last time I went in (through the dyeworks adit you mention) we hosed all our kit off in the yard afterwards. Unfortunately, some lumps of oxide had fallen down the back of my neck and I didn't find out until I sat on the bed at home and took my t-shirt off, at which point the bits of red ochre fell out and landed on the pale-coloured egyptian cotton sheets, for which I got a right ear-bashing from my wife!

I was also told about a "pollution" incident in Carlswark where a load of red smears appeared overnight, it turned out that someone had been in Side mine, but not washed their oversuit before going on their next trip......

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To go back to Bullacetree, the exploration of the northern drive by Op Mole in 1958 ended about 500 feet from the forefield, according to their report. Doug Nash noted it as having been “blown in”. The last 400 feet explored had been in shales. It seems that Op Mole did not reach the intersection with the Station Quarry Veins (the original Moletrap Veins). There were several cross gates which would have been on Brooks Vein, Junction Vein, and others ranging towards Willersley Farm. In one of them, Doug found “hundreds of ‘gunpowder straws’ “[fuses].

As to the comments made about workings crossing under the river at Matlock Bath, those on Ringing Rake may well have done so. In several places, miners tried to follow veins under the river but always with the river eventually breaking into the workings.

The Blackstone Level on Slit Rake is of particular interest because of the idea of George Buxton Tissington in 1815 to divert water from the river down it so that it flowed into Side Mine, turned underground waterwheels, and out via Hard Rake Level. There was no evidence that the plan was implemented but I would have liked to get into Blackstone Level. It was evidently still open in 1904, and where its tail was the river is now eating back into the riverbank. This exposes an alluvium layer with mining debris above. Jim Rieuwerts had never visited the sough tail and he did not realise that the debris contained much fragments of toadstone (the miners “blackstone”), indicating that the level had indeed penetrated the lava flow. I found a fragment with a narrow shothole in it, suggesting 18th century workings. It would be interesting to see how the miners cut through such hard rock at that early date. The problem with digging it is the width of Slit Rake in that area – about 9 feet wide where it goes through the cliffs at the top of the valley. One cannot discern an obvious point to start digging at the sough tail (incidentally, deepening of the river bed means that the level would be perhaps as much as 10 feet above the present river level). The rake was of massive fluorspar and, being so wide, any workings could be unstable. I was hoping to locate an air flow but after several hours digging got nothing and could not see if I was on the exact line of the level at all. The water flow in Blackstone Level would have been cut off by later soughing activities to the south. The tail seems to have been buried by debris from mining activity higher up the hillside.

It's a shame there's currently no access to Side mine, it'd be interesting to get a diver into the lower workings to see how far they extended. There's also the sump in the Long Tor Grotto adit that I've wondered about in the past, though I can't imagine anyone wanting to dive into that...... :lol:

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Bagshaws had some land for sale at Starkholmes, just behind High Tor grounds, Artist's Corner down towards the colour works - just remembered and checked - should have sold at auction on 20th May but still on the website. Nice location and had it's own mine shaft ("disused").
There appeared to be a mine level on the East bank of the river, upstream of the colour works and just upstream of a railway tunnel opening - is this one that has been mentioned? Other odd openings below Long Tor Grotto - and looking at this thread, quite a few more that I have not noticed! As teenagers in the 60's we should have spent more time researching, as others ahead of us had, rather than crawling into everything we could see - but it was fun at the time!

There are some photographs of Side Mine on the PDMHS website, go to:-

http://www.pdmhs.com/pg_SideMine_001.asp 

also Trevor Ford's article "The Geology of the Matlock Mines: A Review" (which mentions Riber and Side mines) appeared in PDMHS's Mining History, Vol. 14, No. 6, Winter 2001, pp 1-34, this can be downloaded from the website.
(N.B. Fig. 15 on p.15 shews a plan and section of Riber Mine and the Paint Mill Adit - [after Greenough, 1967]). Go to:-

http://www.pdmhs.com/PDFs/ScannedBulletinArticles/Bulletin  14-6 -The Geology of the Matlock Mines-A Review

"The Riber Mine 1950-1959" Report was compiled by G. B. Greenough and printed by Derbyshire Stone Ltd. 1967. My copy of this is with my records at the DRO Matlock.

From memory as I can't remember the exact date 1980's/90's?, didn't a bungalow's garden at Starkholmes subside into mine workings on Riber mine/Side mine area? I seem to remember the bungalow being advertised for sale.

The bungalow garden slid into an old shaft that gave way. The shaft was behind the arching a short way into Riber entrance and concealed. The problem was caused by the owner of the bungalow 'landscaping' the plot by dumping tons of earth to level off the ground without doing anything about the existing land drains. They were damaged and the water found its way to the shaft and created a big soggy mess that gave way.
The owner did a lot of screaming at everybody but really it was a self inflicted wound.

I think I have mentioned this before - I worked with a man who had been the Fitter at Oxclose Mine and also at Riber Mine. With regard to Riber Mine he told me that miners had seen loose material dropping from the roof, which the Foreman, against their advice, insisted should be removed with the use of exposives. The loose material was coming from an old, backfilled shaft and the consequence was that a garden in Starkholmes suddenly had a hole in it ("it cost Derbyshire Stone a lot of money"). As stated here, there has been a more recent event too. There is a shaft, which drops into the Riber Mine adit in a garden in Starkholmes and I believe that regular inspections are carried out. The shaft has a population of Frogs (the bouncy ones found at the bottom of shafts and potholes) which the owner does not like rescued as they kill his Goldfish (my good deed for the day failed). Obviously access is restricted and there is not much down there anyway. It would be nice for most of us to have a mine in the garden but not this one and we must have sympathy for the house owner ("self inflicted wound aside?").

Another news item which relates to this thread - Halldale Quarry, Matlock is up for (building) redevelopment, application to be discussed next Tuesday. Various ecological reports have been submitted but the newspaper report did not mention others.

So that is two quarries conected with this thread, Harveydale or an extension of it on the A6 and Halldale, Snitterton Lane being developed.

http://www.mine-explorer.co.uk/mines/High-tors_1282/High-tors_15403.pdf .
In case anyone is interested, I shall just add a few more details about some of the lost mine systems in the High Tor area.

The shafts on Slit Rake were worked extensively for fluorspar. Accounts vary, one stating that the shaft was 178 feet deep, another that the workings were about 300 feet deep. There is dense undergrowth now along the line of Slit Rake and I could not see any open shafts. Some appear to have been buried beneath domestic rubbish. I do not know that these have been accessed in my time.

Somewhere east of Slit Rake (i.e. going towards the north end of the railway tunnel) was a title called Bennett Hole that ran down to the river on a less important vein ranging southward in that title for 16 meers (29 yards to a meer). The word “hole” in the name always indicates a natural cave-like entrance e.g. Jug Hole, Owlet Hole, etc. This made me interested in locating Bennett Hole and a few years ago, I scrambled along the cliff-face eastwards from Slit Rake but could find no trace of a vein or entrance. On reflection, it is likely that the “hole” would be on a small pipe vein, perhaps similar to that in High Tor Grotto (at the back of the paint works). The most likely place for this is either on top of or just underneath the lava flow that outcrops on the hillside. If it was a pipe, that would explain why I could not find any trace in the cliff face. Pipe vein entrances can be very inconspicuous, perhaps just a bit of calcite lying about. There is no historical evidence of a drainage level here and Bennett Hole had about zero recorded lead ore production but it still interested me.

Roughly 300 feet west of Slit Rake and its Blackstone Level site, High Tor Rake comes down to the river. In 1976, Lynn Willies and I dug open a short series of workings here on several branching rakes but progress was soon stopped by blockages although there was a strong airflow. I surveyed it with Andy Hayes. I do not know if anyone has dug any further but the entrance was open a few years ago when I walked along the path round the base of High Tor. There was a drainage level here southwards on High Tor Rake, which has never been rediscovered. The workings that I found were at path level, too high for a drainage level and they had irregular floors.

On the north side of the river from High Tor Rake is Ringing Rake (Youd’s Level). Further to the east, Slit Rake crosses the river and continues north still being known as Slit Rake where it forms one of the seven veins in the Seven Rakes complex. Somewhere in between Slit Rake and Ringing Rake, is the important (Seven Rakes) Great Rake which comes south down to the river at Dick Eye Mine with its pumping engine. This could be as little as about fifty yards east of Ringing Rake Level entrance. No one has ever located an entrance into Dick Eye Mine, as far as I know. The Seven Rakes Great Rake merges southwardly into High Tor Rake.

There are still so many mine systems to be rediscovered in this area but none of it is likely to be easy and people do not seem to be that interested. Perhaps nothing will ever be achieved. Certainly, it has been very disappointing since the 1970s. I just mention the above as possible leads but of course, most digs prove to be a complete waste of time. I am always interested to hear what folks are up to around the Matlock mines and I keep updating the draft of my book, where possible.

Seeing Andrew Hayes name mentioned reminded me that another useful book on the Matlock Bath area is:-

"The Caverns and Mines of Matlock Bath
1 The Nestus Mines: RUTLAND AND MASSON
CAVERNS" by Roger Flindall and Andrew
Hayes, published 1976 by Moorland
Publishing Company.

(n.b. If anyone is interested Amazon.co.uk have a few copies for sale from £3.99 upwards plus £2.75 postage - I did look on your book site Mike first!)

On page 10, Fig. 1 there is a geological map of the Matlock Bath area which shews the line of the major veins and rakes of the area. Unless there is a separate Seven Rakes Great Rake, I always understood that the Bacon Rake running west to east from Low Mine in Bonsall Liberty, known from the mining liberty boundary across Masson Hill to the River Derwent as Bacon Rake, and continuing eastward across the river as Hard Rake, was also known as the Great Rake. Seven Rakes is to the north. I understood that one was walking the line of the Bacon/Great Rake when one walked down the small rift to the entrance of Masson Cavern. I also know that many mines were given the same name e.g.one mine on Bonsall Moor is called the Great Rake too. I would love to read more details about Seven Rakes Great Rake. Can I ask when the possibility of you publishing your book is likely to be historytrog? It will certainly help add more to the present information available of this particular area, and I am sure there are quite a few of us looking forward to it's publication.

As AR and me have mentioned before in previous postings on different subjects on this forum, the Barmaster's maps can only be generalised upon as a rough guide to locating mines, shafts etc., they only indicate one in the direction of a mine, they do not give the exact location. Nellie Kirkham always insisted on this fact, I remember her carrying her big rolls of the 25inch OS map, which she had walked the Wapentake of Wirksworth and the High Peak Hundred parts of the King's/Queen's Field with John Mort who was then the Barmaster, they had walked miles together, drawing on the maps the possible lines of rakes, pipes and veins of the lead field. She'd unroll her maps place them on the ground, kneel down and point out the possible locations of various mines etc., on them, but she always stressed that they were not accurate, they were only to be treated as a guide. She used to quote "Lead and Lead Mining in Derbyshire" by Arthur H. Stokes F.G.S.- which he wrote during the years of 1880/83 as a series of lectures for the Chesterfield and Derbyshire Institute of Mining, Civil and Mechanical Engineers (PDMHS Special Publication No.2 1964) to me repeatedly, in fact she gave me her copy which has lots of printing underlined in red biro, which she considered to be very important. For anyone wanting to know more about rakes, pipe veins, flat work etc., reading pages 13-27 of this publication would find it very interesting.