Perhaps colleagues from the lead mining districts could clarify this for us
but I suspect that when Derbyshire folk refer to buddle dams, they are not
talking about the same thing that we in the south-west, refer to as tailings
dams or ponds. Buddle dams were part of the concentrating process, from
which small quantities of ore were retrieved and not solely for the disposal
of waste. Tailings dams at tin mines and mica dams at china clay pits were,
as mentioned by a previous correspondent, designed primarily to settle the
gangue products of dressing out of the water before releasing it back into
the river to prevent pollution.
But it is confusing that the array of dams at Velvet Bottom - a lead mine -
are associated with several clusters of circular buddles running along the
valley (which incidentally all show up beautifully on Google Earth).
So, does the term 'buddle dam' come from their association with buddles, ie
for the further processing of waste from buddles, or was it because the
process of 'buddling' took place behind the dam?
Regards
Phil Newman
P.S. Under normal circumstances you can download an archaeological survey of
the Velvet Bottom dams from the CHERT website, but it doesn't seem to be
working at the moment.
-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
David Williams
Sent: 18 January 2011 18:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Buddle Dams
The buddle dams that Mike refers to are the result of a particular set of
circumstances.
Vol. 3 of Jim's book that Mike was reviewing is the section that stretches
from Youlgreave to Matlock (approx.) The veins in this part of the orefield
largely tend to be of a "sludgy" character and often did not require
crushing - hence, by and large, our horse crushers are to the north of the
River Wye. In addition, in this part of the orefield, there is quite a
considerable amount of what might be described as alluvial lead deposits.
These occur in both Ice Age and much older karst features. For example, in
Millclose Mine, you can still find water-worn galena nuggets in cave
sediments. Also many of the tips had been reworked previously (certainly in
the 17th century). This leads to the reworking of very low grade deposits
and the generation of these buddle dams particularly around Winster and
Wensley (but elsewhere). One of the interests of these is that all the water
to carry out the buddling has to be fetched from underground - there being
very little surface water. For this reason we have no hushing, as far as I'm
aware of, in Derbyshire.
Cheers, Dave Williams
-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Mike Gill
Sent: 15 January 2011 15:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Buddle Dams
While reviewing the latest volume of Jim Rieuwerts series on Derbyshire
Mining recently I was struck by a photograph of a landscape dominated by
buddle dams.These features are described as mainly mid C19th earth dams
into which the sludge etc from buddling was placed.
I cannot remember seeing a non-Derbyshire example, can anyone on the
list provide one please.
Mike Gill
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