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Wednesday 3 October 2012

Mines and Mansions

Another couple of photos here from our little foray into the Peak District over the summer... Towards the end of our long day of walking, we passed through the pretty little village of Sheldon and joined a footpath leading across the fields back to our campsite. Just outside the village and a field or so away from the path, we spotted these ruined buildings and I couldn't help but go and have a look...

magpiemine

A small sign on a nearby fence told us that this was the site of Magpie Mine, and that the remains here form one of the best preserved 19th century lead mines in the whole UK! Workings on this site are first recorded in 1740, and the different buildings here now represent almost every era from then up until the mine's closure in 1954.

magpiemine2

I had to put a cheesy antique effect on this photo because the quality was so bad but it almost works with the mood of the mine site. (My camera is dying - a new one is on my Christmas list! The first photo is taken on an iPad so it's ridiculous that it's better quality when it's not even really a camera!)

A bit of googling also uncovered an interesting story about the mine - apparently the mine was involved in several disputes with neighbouring mines over which tunnels belonged to who, and miners would light fires underground to smoke out their competitors (obviously modern health and safety regulation was lacking...). In 1833, 3 miners from a rival mine were suffocated. Eventually, all Magpie miners were acquitted, partly because it was difficult to identify individual culprits, and partly because of the aggravating antics of the rival miners. But it is said that the wives of the dead miners put a curse on Magpie Mine, which ultimately caused the mine to temporarily close for some time during the 1830s as a result of financial ruin.

Chatsworth in the rain...

chatsworth

From one historic site to another, the day after our walk we took it easy (our legs wouldn't let us do otherwise!), packing up at the campsite and driving into Bakewell for a super-long and leisurely lunch. We then headed out to Chatsworth, where unfortunately the weather turned and the heavens opened, lucky for you as you get to see me looking a bit special in my rain poncho! Haha. We'd visited the house and gardens before so as it's quite expensive, we decided to just walk around the surrounding parkland instead (although if you haven't been before/are not strapped for cash it's definitely worth the money). Even in the rain, it's such a beautiful place, if anything the weather made it even more atmospheric!

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