Presented by
Dr Richard Shaw
Ecton Mine Educational Trust
Wednesday February 5th at 7.30 (doors open 7pm)
Warslow Village Hall, SK17 0JL
Our first speaker of 2025 is Dr Richard Shaw of the Ecton Mine Educational Trust. A retired geologist, Richard will tell us about the history of the mines in the Ecton area above the Manifold Valley Trail.
Mining for copper started on Ecton Hill during the Bronze Age, about 3500 years ago. There was some small scale lead mining during the Middle Ages but it was not until copper had been rediscovered in the mid seventeenth century that mining started in earnest. For most of the eighteenth century Deep Ecton Mine was profitable and Clayton Mine likewise into the early nineteenth century. For much of the main phase of workings these mines were worked by the Chatsworth Estate and the profits funded estate works such as the Capability Brown landscaping of Chatsworth Park and developments such as The Crescent in Buxton. Today the mines are used for educational purposes.
There are a number of other copper mines under Ecton Hill and Dale Lead Mine on the opposite side of the Manifold Valley which have been worked at various times until the late nineteenth century.
Doors will open at 7pm to give you time to have a drink, a cake and a chat! No need to book – just turn up. Entrance is just £4 including refreshments.