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- Title
Coal Mining Near Buxton: Dane, Blackclough and Knotbury Collieries.
- Authors
Barnatt, John
- Abstract
In the heart of the western moorlands of the Peak District there are exceptionally well preserved coal mining remains. This paper describes one particular area where the Ringinglow Seam was mined close to the boundaries between Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire, primarily at the Dane, Blackclough and Knotbury collieries. The surface remains are described, with these comprising many close-spaced shafts with upcast heaps, as well as small opencast pits, level entrances, buildings and access causeways. There are also rarer features such as a steam engine site with a remaining engine bed and fine intact chimney at Dane Colliery. Elsewhere there are water management features, including water channels, leats and now-collapsed level/sough entrances, one probably associated with a late 18th century underground canal where there is a water channel outside the entrance, interpreted as a probable water-storage reservoir. The historical documentation for these coal workings is reviewed and this tells us that mining started in the 17th century at latest and continued into the first half of the 20th century. While Dane Colliery was the main local producer, this was not on a par with mines a short distance further north-east at Thatch Marsh and Goyt's Moss where output was significantly greater. Taking a broader perspective, all the mining above Buxton was small in scale compared with the 18th to 20th century mining that took place in the Peak foothills to the west, centred on valleys to the north around places like Whaley Bridge. However, while much surface evidence for mining on the lower ground of the foothills and valleys has been swept away, the surface survivals in the heart of the upland are exceptional, as for example at those described here. Taking archaeological remains and documentation together for the collieries described here, the character of the mining methods through time are interpreted.
- Subjects
PEAK District (England); BUXTON (Derbyshire, England); ENGLAND; COAL mining; MINES &; mineral resources; MOORS (Wetlands); WATER management; MINING methodology
- Publication
Mining History, 2019, Vol 20, Issue 4, p57
- ISSN
1366-2511
- Publication type
Article