Odin Mine is a disused

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

mine in the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, whe ...

National Park, situated at grid reference . It lies on a site of 25 hectareswww.peakdistrict.gov.uk.
Gives area of site as 25 hectares. near the village of Castleton, England. It is the oldest documented mine in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and is thought to be one of the oldest lead mines in England. The mine is a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

and has biological and geological significance within the Castleton

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

History

The origins of Odin Mine are unclear; many Peak District guidebooks and sources say that the mine was first worked by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and subsequently by the

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

and the

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

. Trevor D. Ford states "It was probably worked in Roman times, again in the Dark Ages and in Norman times"."Rocks and Scenery of the Peak District" Pages 80 (This quotation). However, there is no historical evidence to back this up. The use of the name “Odin” is often cited as evidence that the mine was named by the Danes after their chief god. This is backed up by evidence that prior to the 19th century the mine was commonly called Oden in mining records, which is more in common with the traditional Danish spelling."Odin Mine" Page 7 (Origin of name "Oden"). The first mention of the mine in official records was in 1280 when a poacher John of Bellhag was put on trial for hunting at Bactor Wood in Castleton and at the entrance to Odin Mine.Information Board at Site (Gives info on John of Bellhag). In the early days before explosives, the rock was weakened by fire setting: this involved heating the rock overnight by leaving fires lit and then cooling the rock with water the next morning causing the rock to shatter.Information Board at Site (Gives info on Fire Setting also called Firing). Odin Cave, Castleton

The Romans had great need for lead, especially for the plumbing systems in their dwellings. They mined the ore

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cr ...

extensively during their time in Britain, so it is possible that Odin Mine does have Roman origins. The mine is not mentioned again in documents until 1663. In the early 18th century Richard Bagshawe, later to become High Sheriff of Derbyshire, had a considerable stake in the mine. The Bagshawe family retained their interests at Odin until the 1850s. The mine was worked continuously throughout the 18th century with annual ore extraction varying between 100 and 800 tonnes per annum. In April 1706 a rich vein of lead was struck: 41 men and eight women were working at the site and the mine reached 500 metres into the hillside beneath

Mam Tor Mam Tor is a hill near Castleton in the High Peak of Derbyshire, England. Its name means "mother hill", so called because frequent landslips on its eastern face have resulted in a multitude of "mini-hills" beneath it. These landslips, which ...

. Drainage problems in the mine meant that a proposal to build a low-level

sough A sough (pronounced /saʊ/ or /sʌf/) is an underground channel for draining water out of a mine. Ideally the bottom of the mine would be higher than the outlet, but where the mine sump is lower, water must be pumped up to the sough. Derbyshire ...

was put forward in 1772 but this was not completed for many years, probably not until the 1840s. It was driven up from Hollowford Brook at Trickett Bridge in Castleton to the workings. The mine produced extensive spoil and this was used by the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

Turnpike company in 1802 when constructing a new road between the two places. The spoil contained

fluorspar Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs scal ...

calcite Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...

, and

barite Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate ( Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), ...

which was extracted in later years when their value became known. There was a gap in production between 1848 and 1852 and the Bagshawe family withdrew their interests from the mine in September 1856, handing over ownership to Robert How Ashton of Losehill Hall. Lead production at the mine stopped in 1869, although some working took place in 1908 and 1909 when considerable amounts of fluorspar and barite were excavated from the Mam Engine Shaft."Odin Mine" Pages 7 to 31 (Chapter "The History of Odin Mine". Gives rest of history here).

Geology

The veins of lead in the Castleton area formed 280 million years ago when a fault in the local

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

allowed mineralising fluids to flow into fissures in the rock, pushed up by great pressure from beneath the Earth's surface. Lead and

sulphate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ar ...

combined to form the lead ore

. In its heyday, the mine was a complex system of levels and shafts that extended for approximately 1500 metres into the Edale shales beneath the nearby Mam Tor. In the early days the mining was open cast, forming a gorge in the hillside with the water diverted by a

leat A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Other ...

to the north to keep the workings dry. Later the miners followed the vein of lead underground. The vein is exposed on the surface in a small limestone outcrop at the entrance to the mine and then continues underground just south of due west in the limestone under the Edale shales of Mam Tor. The 1769 plans of the mine show that there were several branch veins leading from the main lead workings. There are several small pipe caverns contained within the mine; the most prominent of these is Odin Cave (called Gank Hole by the miners) which was formed by groundwater opening out a void between limestone boulders. There is no evidence that Blue John was ever mined at Odin although the adjacent

Treak Cliff Cavern Treak Cliff Cavern is a show cave near Castleton in Derbyshire, England. It is part of the Castleton Site of Special Scientific Interest and one of only two sites where the ornamental mineral Blue John is still excavated (the other is the n ...

regularly mines the rock in areas not open to visitors."Odin Mine" Pages 34 to 36 (Chapter "The Geology of Odin Mine". Gives rest of info here).

The site today

The site of Odin Mine is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. It consists of a limestone gorge, the original early workings before they went underground to follow the veins of ore. It looks like a natural limestone ravine with the workings now disguised by natural vegetation. To the left of the gorge is the two-metre-wide Odin Cave, which goes about 10 metres underground. The remaining spoil heaps are a protected archaeological site and support a wide variety of plants including

Birdsfoot Trefoil ''Lotus corniculatus'' is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae, native to grasslands in temperate Eurasia and North Africa. Common names include common bird's-foot trefoil, eggs and bacon, birdsfoot deervetch, and just bird's-foot trefoi ...

Eyebright ''Euphrasia'', or eyebright, is a genus of about 450 species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae (formerly included in the Scrophulariaceae), with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are semi-parasitic on grasses and other ...

Wild thyme ''Thymus serpyllum'', known by the common names of Breckland thyme, Breckland wild thyme, wild thyme, creeping thyme, or elfin thyme, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to most of Europe and North Africa. It is ...

and the

Common spotted orchid ''Dactylorhiza fuchsii'', the common spotted orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae. ''Dactylorhiza fuchsii'' is one of Europe's commonest wild orchids. It is widespread across much of Europe, with the range ext ...

. Some plants called

metallophyte A metallophyte is a plant that can tolerate high levels of Heavy metal (chemistry), heavy metals such as lead. Such plants range between "obligate metallophytes" (which can only survive in the presence of these metals), and "facultative metallophyte ...

s can tolerate the high levels of metal in the soil: these include Spring

Sandwort Sandwort is the common name of several flowering plants in the carnation family, which may be members of the following genera: *'' Arenaria'' *''Minuartia'' *''Moehringia ''Moehringia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllacea ...

and Alpine Scurvy-grass.Information Board at Site (Gives info on flora and biology). A

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for pa ...

crushing wheel, 1.75 metres in diameter with its iron tyre and circular iron track, used to crush the ore, can still be seen at the site. The crusher was built in 1823 at a cost of £40."Odin Mine" Page 2 (Gives info on Crusher).

References

* Odin Mine, Trevor D. Ford and J.H. Rieuwerts, ''Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society'' * ''Lead Mining in the Peak District'', Trevor D. Ford and J.H. Rieuwerts, * ''Rocks & Scenery of the Peak District'', Trevor D. Ford, * Information board at the mine site.
Derbyshire Guide page on Odin Mine

Footnotes {{Derbyshire Places of interest Lead mines in England Caves of Derbyshire Tourist attractions in Derbyshire Tourist attractions of the Peak District Scheduled monuments in Derbyshire Underground mines in England Mines in Derbyshire

History

Geology

The site today

See also

References