Snailbeach Countryside Site is an industrial archeology site in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

. It is located three south of the village of

Pontesbury Pontesbury is a village and civil parish in Shropshire and is approximately eight miles southwest of Shrewsbury. In the 2011 census, the village had a population of 1,873 and the parish had a population of 3,227. The village of Minsterley is ju ...

and around from the county town of Shrewsbury. At peak of production during the 19th century, it was reputed to be extracting the largest volume of

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 cu ...

per acre in Europe.

History and importance

Once the biggest lead mine in the county of Shropshire, the site is conserved as a

scheduled 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 ...

.Shropshire Council.(Unknown
"Snailbeach Countryside Site"
. Last accessed 4 July 2013.

Snailbeach new smeltmill

Lead mining may have taken place around Snailbeach since

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

and, at peak of production in the 1840s and '50s, it is reputed to have extracted the largest volume of lead per acre in Europe. Lead mining ceased at the site in 1955.Snailbeach Lead Mine.(Unknown)
"History"
Date retrieved 11 July 2013. Barite, calcite, fluorspar,

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

were also mined in smaller amounts. The remains of the 17th century Snailbeach new smeltmill are identified by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

as being of national importance as one of best preserved of the remaining sites where

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ...

was developed in the switch from wood to coal at the start of the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. The smeltmill is on

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

due to its 'very bad' condition due to invasive vegetation.

Snailbeach Mining Disaster

On the morning of 6 March 1895, seven men died after the cable lowering their cage down the mine snapped, plunging them to the shaft floor.Margaret Corfield.(April 1955
"Mineral Mining: The 1985 Snailbeach Mining disaster"
Date retrieved 11 July 2013. It was reported that such was the force of the impact, that the steel cage was reduced from over in height to just , however, a watch from one of the miners was found still ticking at the scene.

Snailbeach Lead Mine Heritage Project

The council's outdoor recreation service and Shropshire Mines Trusts manage and preserve the site and have been awarded a £20,000 management grant from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

to restore the Black Tom mine shaft headgear and some of the buildings. Their plans include assembling a building to store a mining jigger that was removed for restoration more than a decade ago. There are restored mining buildings to explore in the site, including a locomotive shed, winding engine house, blacksmith's shop, compressor house and Cornish engine. A circular walk links them, but some areas may be restricted to protect residents’ privacy. Stiperstones nature reserve can be accessed from this site.

External links

Natural England description of the site
*

References

{{authority control Industrial processes Museums in Shropshire Tourist attractions in Shropshire Industrial archaeology Industrial Revolution History of Shropshire Open-air museums in England Archaeological museums in England Industrial archaeological sites in Shropshire