1. The History
Hanging Flat mine is a small lead and fluorspar mine, just west of Stoney Middleton, in Derbyshire's White Peak region. Sitting 100 feet above Watergrove sough, for many years the mine appears to have been un-named before being given its current name.
In late 1800s Samuel Needham and his brother lived close by in Hanging Flat House. They worked the mine for lead. The ore was mined on incline and then raised by winch and kimble into the adit which could take half-tonne tubs. However, in the 1950s and early 60s the mine was worked for fluorspar before closing. In 1967 J.Garlick proposed re-opening the mine and it was subsequently worked throughout the 70s, apparently with little success, economically. In the 80s ex-Laporte man Roger Ridgeway then look over the mine and worked it with slightly more success, until it finally closed later in the decade circa 1987.
More recently, in 1992, the entrance section was used for filming a "cave rescue" scene for popular ITV Soap, A Peak Practice (starring Kevin Whately and Amanda Burton) in an episode aptly titled “'Light at the End of the Tunnel”. They left behind a number of big polystyrene 'boulders' throughout the mine.
In terms of the mine itself, the main adit runs northwards for 300 feet until it meets the east-west Needham Rake vein before spliting into two branches. The eastern branch to the right leads to the New Gates shaft, which most likely predates Hanging Flat. The internal shaft has timbers around it and is set on a false floor of steel sheet on girders. If you look down the shaft, you can see the lower level of the mine, 10m below.
To the left the passage has 6 cross-cut slits heading off to the right. These were driven into the vein from the parallel drive and all come to a dead end at a back-fill. Here the vein was drilled and blasted, nearly to surface, then the fluorspar was loaded out of the slits.
The mine retains the iron pipework that used to take compressed air to the rock drills. Brown pipes also run through the mine and were possibly part of the ventilation system while, smaller-diameter flexible pipes were most likely for water for dust suppression.
2. The Explore
This one hasn’t come up much bar a couple of nice reports by @paulpowers (see HERE and HERE) That’s quite surprising given it’s a cracking, photogenic little mine and access is relatively easy. Been doing a lot of walking and exploring around Stoney Middleton so when I heard about this place and that it was located close-by, I headed off for a shufty. The entrance is tucked away close to the road. It’s a bit of a tight scramble to get in but the mine soon opens out and thereafter is flat and pretty dry. We spent a good hour-and-a-half in here as although relatively small, it’s pretty nice. The right-hand branch goes further than the left passage, but it gets a bit sketchy around the shaft, with collapses and rotting beams. Getting out was a bit more difficult without the aid of gravity and we got a bit mucky in the process. All-in-all it was worth it and Hanging Flat mine is a cracking little place.
3. The Pictures
Here’s what we were looking for:
It was a bit of a squeeze…
The compressed air pipes:
Left or right first?
To the left:
Remains of an old cart:
Rusting mining gear:
Old compressed air cylinder:
Minerals leaching in the wall:
On we go:
One of the six cross-cut slits:
And back out we go:
On to the right-hand passage:
Close-up of the tipper:
Side passage to an elevated working:
Deeper in we go:
This is where it starts to get a bit sketchy:
That's all folks!
Hanging Flat mine is a small lead and fluorspar mine, just west of Stoney Middleton, in Derbyshire's White Peak region. Sitting 100 feet above Watergrove sough, for many years the mine appears to have been un-named before being given its current name.
In late 1800s Samuel Needham and his brother lived close by in Hanging Flat House. They worked the mine for lead. The ore was mined on incline and then raised by winch and kimble into the adit which could take half-tonne tubs. However, in the 1950s and early 60s the mine was worked for fluorspar before closing. In 1967 J.Garlick proposed re-opening the mine and it was subsequently worked throughout the 70s, apparently with little success, economically. In the 80s ex-Laporte man Roger Ridgeway then look over the mine and worked it with slightly more success, until it finally closed later in the decade circa 1987.
More recently, in 1992, the entrance section was used for filming a "cave rescue" scene for popular ITV Soap, A Peak Practice (starring Kevin Whately and Amanda Burton) in an episode aptly titled “'Light at the End of the Tunnel”. They left behind a number of big polystyrene 'boulders' throughout the mine.
In terms of the mine itself, the main adit runs northwards for 300 feet until it meets the east-west Needham Rake vein before spliting into two branches. The eastern branch to the right leads to the New Gates shaft, which most likely predates Hanging Flat. The internal shaft has timbers around it and is set on a false floor of steel sheet on girders. If you look down the shaft, you can see the lower level of the mine, 10m below.
To the left the passage has 6 cross-cut slits heading off to the right. These were driven into the vein from the parallel drive and all come to a dead end at a back-fill. Here the vein was drilled and blasted, nearly to surface, then the fluorspar was loaded out of the slits.
The mine retains the iron pipework that used to take compressed air to the rock drills. Brown pipes also run through the mine and were possibly part of the ventilation system while, smaller-diameter flexible pipes were most likely for water for dust suppression.
2. The Explore
This one hasn’t come up much bar a couple of nice reports by @paulpowers (see HERE and HERE) That’s quite surprising given it’s a cracking, photogenic little mine and access is relatively easy. Been doing a lot of walking and exploring around Stoney Middleton so when I heard about this place and that it was located close-by, I headed off for a shufty. The entrance is tucked away close to the road. It’s a bit of a tight scramble to get in but the mine soon opens out and thereafter is flat and pretty dry. We spent a good hour-and-a-half in here as although relatively small, it’s pretty nice. The right-hand branch goes further than the left passage, but it gets a bit sketchy around the shaft, with collapses and rotting beams. Getting out was a bit more difficult without the aid of gravity and we got a bit mucky in the process. All-in-all it was worth it and Hanging Flat mine is a cracking little place.
3. The Pictures
Here’s what we were looking for:
It was a bit of a squeeze…
The compressed air pipes:
Left or right first?
To the left:
Remains of an old cart:
Rusting mining gear:
Old compressed air cylinder:
Minerals leaching in the wall:
On we go:
One of the six cross-cut slits:
And back out we go:
On to the right-hand passage:
Close-up of the tipper:
Side passage to an elevated working:
Deeper in we go:
This is where it starts to get a bit sketchy:
That's all folks!
Last edited:
