Above: Magpie Mine was Derbyshire’s last working lead mine. It was also the scene of a triple murder in 1833.
Limestone was reduced to lime in these large kilns near Millers Dale Station (© Photo David Dukesell)
On these posts I’ll try to explain the history of the places associated with the Monsal Trail, including some of the many picturesque villages that are within easy reach.
Cressbrook Mill
Cressbrook Mill escaped the fearful reputation of Litton Mill. But an eight-year-old girl snatched from a Bristol workhouse wrote a searing account of how ‘Tom the Devil’ ruled with a rod of iron.
Litton Mill
Litton Mill earned a brutal reputation for the exploitation and ill treatment of pauper orphans taken by force from the streets of cities as far away as London to work long hours in dangerous conditions.
Headstone Viaduct
Victorian critic John Ruskin famously complained that Headstone Viaduct allowed “every fool in Buxton to be in Bakewell in half-an-hour”. Today we see it in a very different light.
Magpie Mine
Magpie Mine was Derbyshire’s last lead mine, finally closing in 1953. It was the site of three murders in 1833, and a widow’s curse which foretold yet more deaths and accidents to come.
The lost stones
A recent walk along Monk’s Dale set me wondering whether medieval monks really did once live and work in this wonderfully tranquil spot, seeking to escape the cares of the world.