Ecton, Staffordshire
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Ecton is a hamlet in the
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...
(). It is on the Manifold Way, an walk and cycle path that follows the line of the former Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway. Population details as at the 2011 census can be found under Ilam.


Copper and lead mining at Ecton Hill

The village is overlooked by Ecton Hill, which has probably been mined for
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
and
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 ...
since the sixteenth century. It was leased by the owner the
Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has be ...
until, in 1760, the fourth duke decided to work it on his own account. Within fifty years, it became the richest individual copper mine in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
producing over sixty thousands tons of ore. Until 1769, when the fifth Duke, William Cavendish, opened his own works at nearby Whiston in the
Churnet Valley The River Churnet is a river in Staffordshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Dove. Etymology The origins of the name "Churnet" are unknown, though it is thought to derive from the pre-English, British name for the river. Course ...
, the ore was carried to
Denby Denby is a village in the England, English county of Derbyshire that is notable as the birthplace of John Flamsteed, England's first Astronomer Royal, and the location of the Denby Pottery Company. The population at the 2001 Census was 1,827, in ...
by
packhorse A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...
for smelting. Much of the copper was used for making
brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
, but over three hundred tons was supplied to the Navy to protect the hulls of its ships against boring worms, after being rolled at the works of Thomas Evans in
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
. By 1790, the mine was employing 400 men, women and children and producing 4,000 tons a year. By 1800, the ore had almost been worked out and the Duke relinquished his interest, with the mine finally closing in 1891. The Duke's profits had been almost a third of a million pounds and enabled him, so it is said, to build The Crescent at Buxton. Lead was smelted on the spot and sent initially to Derby by packhorse, but later by the
Cromford Canal The Cromford Canal ran from Cromford to the Erewash Canal in Derbyshire, England with a branch to Pinxton. Built by William Jessop with the assistance of Benjamin Outram, its alignment included four tunnels and 14 locks. From Cromford it ran ...
''en route'' for the lead market at
Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...
.Cooper, B., (1983) ''Transformation of a Valley: The Derbyshire Derwent,'' Heinemann, republished 1991 Cromford: Scarthin Books
Arthur Ratcliffe Arthur Ratcliffe (17 February 1882 – 3 May 1963) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Leek division of Staffordshire from 1931 to 1935. Ratcliffe stood for Parliament only once, at t ...
MP built a house, modelled on a medieval castle, complete with battlements, next to the former lead mine in 1932.


Railway station

Ecton was once served by a
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
, which was opened by the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway on 27 June 1904; it was operated entirely by the
North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based i ...
. The line was closed in 1934 and, since 1937, the route has been a foot and cycle path called the Manifold Way.


Ecton Creamery

The Express Dairies
creamery A creamery is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has had some cream re ...
at Ecton created most of the freight traffic on the Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway line, with most of its product destined via dedicated milk trains for London. In 1911, were brought in from the L&MVLR, growing to in 1922. Initially, all the milk was carried in
milk churn A milk churn is a tall, conical or cylindrical container for the transportation of milk. It is sometimes referred to as a milk can. History The usage of the word 'churn' was retained for describing these containers, although they were not thems ...
s, which had to be manhandled across the railway platforms at Waterhouses. After the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the churns were loaded into standard-gauge vans taken to and from Ecton on the
transporter wagon A transporter wagon, in railway terminology, is a wagon ( UIC) or railroad car (US) designed to carry other railway equipment. Normally, it is used to transport equipment of a different rail gauge. In most cases, a transporter wagon is a na ...
s. Eventually milk tankers were also used, again being transferred between Ecton and Waterhouses on the transporters. The importance of the milk traffic was such that between 1919 and 1926, a special milk trains ran direct between Waterhouses and London, rather than the vans being shunted between various trains until the milk reached its ultimate destination. In 1932, Express Dairies closed its Ecton creamery, concentrating on its new
Rowsley Rowsley () is a village on the A6 road in the English county of Derbyshire. The population as at the 2011 census was 507. It is at the point where the River Wye flows into the River Derwent and prospered from mills on both. The border of the P ...
creamery, re-routing milk collection in the area to road transport. The loss of this milk trade removed most of the goods traffic from the line. Two years after the closure of the creamery, in 1934, the L&MVLR closed.


See also

*
Ecton Mines A group of mines on Ecton Hill, Staffordshire, are unusual for the Peak District in producing predominantly copper rather than lead and zinc. The most important, Deep Ecton mine, has been mined since the Bronze Age, and in the 18th century was a ...
*
Butterton Butterton is a small village in the Staffordshire Peak District of England (). It overlooks the Manifold Valley and Ecton Hill, which rises 1,212 feet above sea level. Butterton lies 5 miles east of Leek and roughly 8 miles from Alton Towers th ...
* Grindon * Hulme End * Thors Cave *
Warslow Warslow is a small village in Staffordshire, England. It is located in the Peak District National Park about north of Ashbourne. Although in the county of Staffordshire, the village lies close to the Derbyshire border, and has a Stockport pos ...


References

{{authority control Villages in Staffordshire Towns and villages of the Peak District Staffordshire Moorlands Hamlets in Staffordshire