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Copper Mines and Skull Jewellery

Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of visiting an old copper mine at Alderley Edge National Trust and I just knew that a blog post was needed about it! Since finding out that around 89% of all the copper we’ve ever dug from the ground in the last 6000 years is still in circulation, I wanted to know where the copper in my skull jewellery could have come from originally.

We arrived at NT Alderley Edge on a bright but chilly Spring day all set for our trip down the Alderley Edge mines. I was so excited to see how copper was mined as this has been on my bucket list since I started making my skull jewellery. Of course, I could have travelled to an operating mine in some foreign country, but I wanted to see a historic one near me. Luckily for us, Derbyshire Caving Club (DCC) had organised an open day at Wood Mine at National Trust Alderley Edge!

History of the mines

The Alderley Edge mines in Cheshire were mined from the Bronze Age (c. 4000 years ago) until the early 20th century. Copper and lead mining is known from written records to have taken place at Alderley Edge since the 1690s.

We had the pleasure of visiting Wood Mine. At a depth of about 30m, there are about 1.5 miles of mainly 19th Century tunnels in a complex maze. Wood mine was worked between 1857 and 1877 with the main working taking place in the 1860s which fascinated me even more as I love the Victorian era. James Michell, a Cornish man with extensive smelting experience, worked Wood Mine and Engine Vein in the 1860s. His company lasted 21 years (the length of the lease) although Michell died in an accident in the mines in 1862. During this working period, nearly 200,000 tons of ore were removed yielding 3,500 tons of copper metal.

alderley edge mines map
Map of the mines and the area © Derbyshire CC

Although the mine was closed in 1878 due to productivity levels dropping below that which Victorians considered worth mining, its entrances were left unbarred until it was secured by blasting in 1964. DCC reopened the site in the autumn of 1970 and has since maintained access and they continue to explore and search for areas of mining that have been closed for centuries. 

wood mine adit entrance

The tour

We entered the mine via an “adit” (mine entrance) created by DCC and walked to the main junction. Most of the tour was standing but at points we had to duck down and even crawl on our hands and knees, but this just added to the fun! The tour lasted about 1.5 hours and saw lots of fascinating features including old areas of copper and lead ore that hadn’t been extracted, green waterfalls which are essentially streams of copper flowing through the earth, and other geological features such as fault lines. I was quite surprised to find it so mild down there at a steady 11 degrees Celsius all year round. Click the images below for more…

I can’t help thinking that being a miner was a really tough job and not one I would have wanted to do but if you fancy going underground Derbyshire Caving Club organises regular open days to visit the mines as you can’t go down them without assistance. I can’t fault them for their expertise, safety and general enthusiasm for the mine and its history. I would definitely recommend a visit. I know I’ll be going back! To find out more about the mine, open days and DCC please do pop over to their website and have a look.

Sources:

Derbyshire Caving Club

Did you know that copper gets melted back down

and reused again and again and again. 

Because it does not degrade during recycling, 

copper in use today could well have been made

into objects thousands of years ago!

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Sam Self

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Hi, I'm Sam!

I’m the creator and passion behind Rock & Rose Jewellery. Inspired by history and mystery, my jewellery is hand made for souls who want a little touch of the gothic with their everyday outfits.

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