Millclose Mine at Darley Dale.

By the late 1850’s Millclose was on the verge of being worked out but was re-opened in 1859 by E M Wass, who also owned Lea Lead Works, and the pipe vein was worked northwards into a new ore rich area providing many more productive years. Then in 1938 the workings broke into an enormous water table, either an underground lake or river and the mine flooded. After great efforts to overcome this deluge the mine finally closed in 1940 as despite all their efforts the water still poured in – said to be at 2,000 litres per minute. The mine finally closed just before the Second World War due to no new ore sources being found, the low market price of lead and the immense costs of pumping water to enable further access.
Millclose mine yielded well over half a million tons of lead ore and almost 100,000 tons of zinc ore in its century of life. About half of the lead tonnage was actually produced in the 1920s with a further 140,000 tons by re-working the spoil heaps in the 1930s and 40s.

Millclose Mine – Watt’s Engine House – Surface features include the ruins of the Watt’s Shaft Cornish pumping engine house, the foundations of a winding house possibly also incorporating a boiler for this to the north, and a larger boiler house between with three short flues to a chimney base.

There are also foundations of another building, slope-retaining walls, and the site of a capstan. The shaft gives access to one small section of extensive and important pipe workings.

Very extensive hillocks have been largely removed/reworked and thus are not included in the defined area of interest.