Clive,
I have visited this site a few times, and remain confused. Firstly, I
think David Bick published something in one of his books, I don't have
it immediately to hand, but IIRC it showed quite clearly a tramway
running down the hill. Now, I have just checked on old.maps.co.uk, it
looks as if the map there is of slightly different vintage, because it
shows dotted lines where I thought David Bick's map showed tramways.
The tramway, or strictly, inclined plane, ran virtually straight down,
from the shaft just west of the farm, very slightly west of south, to
some structures about halfway between the end of the woods and the road
bridge. there is not much to see there on the ground, this is some way
east of the main group of buildings. A branch at the top went to the
other pair of shafts at the east side of the farm.
I don't know anything about how this operated, it must have used some
kind of mechanical apparatus, maybe a waterwheel at the botton, for
winding, as no horse would pull an empty tub up that gradient, or
restrain a full one on the way down. I have walked up there through the
field a number of times times, it is not too easy, and it looks as if
there must have been a change of gradient halfway. It looks from the map
and on the ground (although I was last there 3 years ago, my memory is
not quite clear) that the lower footpath in the woods follows the line
of a leat which fed the waterwheel. Actually, as I write I am looking at
the map, upstream it is definitely labelled "Mill Race", and at a higher
level, "Old Mill Race". They can both be discerned on the ground in
places today. The weir is, I think, under the dam.
I have always assumed that there was no connection between the two sets
of buildings at the bottom, one being for lead, the other for barytes.
There is certainly no trace of any tramway or road on the ground, only
the leats. But, another curious thing that you may have seen, if it is
still there, is a sign, IIRC at a bend on the easy path to the top,
pointing to the "spoli adit", which looks as if it must have been by the
waterwheel. I have looked for the adit a few times without success, the
only one I found is the obvious one with grille to prevent access, by
the main buildings. But, there is a very wet patch near where I guessed
the so-called spoil adit might be.
I strongly suspect that this site is very confused by being called a
lead mine, when it was mainly barytes. There is a leaflet available
locally, e.g. from tha cafe above the dam, which contains some
information, much of it dubious. The "preservation" by the DoE in the
1960s (or 1950s?) may well have obliterated important features, it
certainly looks nice as far as the general public are concerned, but I
would have preferred it as it was.
Where did you find the bridge rails, were they at the main group of
buildings, or downstream, or by the farm?
I hope this minor amount of info is of some use. I think the site is
worth a proper investigation.
Alan
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