Mine in the hill

One of the entrances to the old Dale Mine - a 200 year old lead-& zinc-ore mine.  It lies in the wild Peak District; and faces the better known Ecton copper mines, which are on the hill on the other side of the river.
It is astonishing that it still survives so well.

Traces of 300 year old sweat

Much of the Peak District National Park in Staffordshire is now untouched countryside... so it's strange to think this was actually once an industrial heartland.  It is dotted with old diggings.

In the picture are the remains of the Dale Mine near Warslow.  Labourers started mining for lead there as far back as three hundred years ago.  You can just see in this photo (top right), the side of the spoil tip.
Odd to think that this solitary and quiet place was once the scene of much sweating and groaning by many men!

Abandoned 'ramparts'

These 'raddlepits' rise like grim, abandoned castle walls out of a ridge near Wootton in the Weaver Hills in east Staffordshire. Up there, I only saw sheep and what appeared to be semi-wild horses, so these ruins are not visited much.

In fact, they are what remains of the lead mines hereabout; I guess that they are giant kilns built into the hillside over deep shafts.

The term raddlepit is used also at a Derbyshire lead-mine, so I thought a raddle-pit might actually be a denotation for a lead mine, but I haven't yet found any evidence of that.