Odin Mine haulage adit, Castleton, Edale

Summary

The haulage-adit, called the Cartgate, was begun in the mid 18th century, probably as an improvement upon earlier versions and giving direct horizontal access from the mine workings beneath and behind Odin Gorge to the processing area.

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Description

Near the bottom of Mam Tor, on the south, is the very ancient mine of Odin, which is reputed to have been worked in Saxon, if not Roman times. The first recorded evidence of a mine named Odin is about 1280, which makes it the oldest record of a named mine in Derbyshire. By 1663 the workings had apparently extended far enough for there to be a dispute about ownership. It was worked almost continuously throughout the 18th century, with annual production of 100 to 800 tons of lead ore. Peak periods were in the 1720's,1770's and about 1800, (Ford,T.D & Rieuwerts,J.H. 1983 17-61). Noble (1833) states the mine employed nearly 140 persons, men, women and children. Noble describes the mine as "consisting of two levels, running horizontally into the mountain, the upper, a cart-gate by which ore is brought from the mine, the lower one a water level, to drain the works, which have been carried more than a mile from the entrance. The vein of ore runs from east to west, hading or underlying to the south, and has in some places been followed sixty yards below the horizontal entrance, and in others as much above it, the thickness of the vein is various. The quality of the ore differs in different parts of the mine, the best kind yields about 3 ounces of silver to the ton weight of lead. Elastic bitumen, blende, barytes, manganese, fluorspar, sulphuret of iron, and various other substances are obtained from this mine". Contd ....

The haulage-adit, called the Cartgate, was begun in the mid 18th century, probably as an improvement upon earlier versions and giving direct horizontal access from the mine workings beneath and behind Odin Gorge to the processing area. The adit was floored with boards along which four wheeled tubs full of ore or waste were dragged from the working face. The rock-hewn entry to the arched Cartgate lies close to Odin Cave but is now buried beneath the debris of a spar-washing plant which occupied the area adjacent to the mine-entrance, ie to the west of the road, in the 1940-50's. The carts passed though a tunnel under the road to reach the crushing circle. The east entrance to this tunnel has also been concealed, but more recently, by the construction of a turning circle for buses at the present terminal of the road.

The area of Odin mine to the east of Mam Tor road was surveyed by Tent and Peak Archaeological Trust in 1989 at scale of 1:100 however the remaining area of Odin Mine has not been surveyed, a situation which must change.

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