... where fortunes were lost and murder took place
The Magpie shaft , the tower that once housed the pumps and the round Cornish chimney
Visiting Magpie Mine today
Following careful restoration and preservation of the surface remains along with capping shafts , the site can be easily explored . The main features that are immediately seen are the cottage , two chimneys , headgear dating from the 1950s and a tall partly ruined engine house . Starting from the cottage now used as a field centre by the Peak District Mines Historical Society ( PDMHS ), a clockwise tour reaches all these easily recognisable features .
The mine agent lived at the cottage that dates from around 1840 . It was only a two-up and two-down affair as the adjoining building was used as a smithy . Next is the square ‘ Derbyshire ’ chimney built around the time of the cottage in order to serve a boiler driving a simple winding engine , or ‘ whimsey ’. The remains of a horse operated ore crushing circle can still be seen a little to its left , but the oddest feature is over to the left of the square chimney and towards the 1950s era winding gear . This is the black corrugated iron shed which housed the winding engine ; it can claim to be the only Grade II listed corrugated building in Britain .
Dominating the skyline beyond the winding wheel is the tower that once housed the 40-inch and later 70-inch pumping engines prior to the sough . Only the foundations of a boiler house remain , but its circular chimney still defies the elements . Its circular design follows those powering Cornish mines and was built by a team of Cornish miners who settled in Sheldon . Square chimneys are traditionally Derbyshire design .
Moving on from the engine tower , the small circular stone structure about a hundred yards in the direction of Sheldon was used to store explosives . Its shape and deliberately weak roof meant that any accidental explosion would be directed safely upwards . If you follow the wall going to your right away from the powder store , it leads past narrow climbing shafts to a reconstructed wooden horse gin , a winding mechanism built above the site of the Redsoil ‘ murders ’.
Even though the climbing and winding shafts are safely capped , care must be taken when walking around this complex of the Peak District ’ s mining heritage .
CountryImagesMagazine . co . uk | 15