Above : The restored horse gin used to haul tubs up and down the shaft .
Below : The restored sough portal draining underground water in to the Wye .
disputes developed into outright quarrels , culminating to the time when Magpie miners broke into what the Maypitt miners called their own . There seems to have been more than a little skulduggery on the part of the wily then owner of Magpie Mine , a man by the name of Brittlebank . Somehow or other he managed to persuade the local Barmote Jury that he had prior rights .
As can be imagined , feelings ran high between the various sets of miners and matters came to a head in 1833 . On the pretence of lighting fires underground in order to break up the surrounding rock , a common practice at the time , one was lit by Magpie miners in a section adjoining Redsoil Mine . If a warning had been given is unclear , but Redsoil miners continued to work close by until the inevitable happened and three of their number were overcome by sulphurous fumes . Twenty-four Magpie miners were arraigned on a murder charge at Derby Assizes six months later . It was then that the crafty Brittlebank produced a statement claiming that the Redsoil agent had sent his men underground knowing the mine would be full of gas .
The Magpie miners were acquitted , but not before the widows of the dead men laid a curse on the mine , which apparently still stands .
Underground water was a constant problem as work went deeper and so around the 1840s a ‘ Cornish Engine ’ was installed in order to lift water 684 feet from the lowest workings . The tower in which this 40-inch diameter monster was installed still dominates the site , but it was unable to cope with the ever constant flow of water . Despite a 70-inch replacement , pump water continued to flood the mine , so work began to drive a sough or drainage channel from the mine and into the River Wye . It took over eight years to complete the passage and in fact the last section became a race between men and the pent-up waters of the mine , but on 18 th August 1881 water began to flow into the Wye . Even in modern times Magpie Sough has not been without excitement . In 1966 debris blocked the sough close by its exit . The subsequent pressure caused an explosion which created a massive crater which can still be traced above the restored sough portal . Five million gallons of water still flow through it every day .
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