Whetton Mill

April 13th, 2016.

An Ampersand Walk – Wetton Mill, Ecton, Ecton Hill, Dale Farm, Wetton Mill, Manor House, Wetton Hill, Wetton, Thor's cave, Manifold valley , Wetton Mill

Distance: Nine miles.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Weather: Beautiful April day blue skies, sunshine 

Walkers: Tom Cunliffe, Colin Davison, Laurie Fairman, Graham Hadfield, Ron Buck and George Whaites.

S.O.B. Walkers: No report.

Apologies: George Dearsley (in Turkey), Alan Hart (police interview), Colin Davison and John Jones (boat moving), Peter Beal (Holidays)

Leader: Fairman. Diarist: Fairman

Starting point: Car park at side of river Wetton Mill.

Starting time: 10.15am. Finishing time: 3.10pm.

This walk was a most enjoyable visit to the Derbyshire dales in glorious April sunshine – but it also illustrated the indomitable spirit of the Wednesday Wanderers. Our motto “determined in purposeflexible in execution” was sorely tried after the leader made two (three?) important mistakes.

The purpose was to walk up the Manifold Valley cross the green hills and arrive at an OPEN public house for a couple of beers- this we achieved. Thanks to the forbearance of the company and the determination of the leader

The long journey to Wetton Mill proved a trial for some Laurie arrived about 9.30 and waited alone till George who had driven to the village arrived at 9.55- no sign of Tom, apparently traffic was bad and no   one in the car could master his Sat nav. George manfully drove off to look for them and found them in the village. All united we set off at 10.15 crossed the bridge over the Manifold sparkling in the sunshine and headed north up the valley, turning left at Dale Farm and following the bridle track to Ecton Bridge. Here we passed an adit into the hillside the iron gate was open but without Colin no-one explored the dingy darkness. The leader proclaimed that this was a lead mine of which there are lots in this area; only to be shown up when we found it was a copper mine.

The period of time between 1760 and 1790 was the heyday of this famous Peak District mine. The 5th Duke of Devonshire was the lucky owner when a vast deposit of high grade copper ore was discovered. The ore yielded as much as 60% copper, very high grade indeed, many copper ores that are mined today yield only 2 - 3%. This lasted for 30 years and was the source of money used to build Buxton’s Crescent and Stable Block (the latter was later to become the Devonshire Royal Hospital). 

In some places this rich ore body was 50m wide. Deeper in the mine, the copper was increasingly replaced by zinc. The shape of the ore body was described by a Dr. Joseph Watson as being a saddle deposit, this being the name that miners gave to locations where ore bodies had been folded by anticline/syncline formations. Samples of the ores from Ecton mine are held both at Chatsworth house in the Peak District and at the British museum in London. The grotto at Chatsworth is lined with chalcopyrites and calcite from the mine.

Ecton is unusual in the Peak District as it is the only source of copper mineralisation. Some lead and zinc ore has been extracted from this mine also.(Well I was right) The mine is the deepest in the Peak District and may have been the deepest in the world at the time (at least 1800 feet deep in 1788). A reason for this record is the nature of the deposits - vertical ‘pipes’. Contemporary writers visiting the mine were obviously impressed by the beauty of the ores - yellow, gold, topaz, violet and azure all being mentioned. The ores responsible for this multifarious appearance were (mainly) chalcopyrites with oxides and carbonates. 

Some of the surface features survive today, there are a number of shafts, both vertical and adit, the main mine buildings close to the river Manifold and the engine house high on the hillside, now an agricultural building. 

The Hollow Hill containing Ecton mine which was one of several that contributed to Britain’s position as the number one supplier of copper in the 18th century. The main copper deposits in the UK were in Cornwall with significant deposits on Anglesey.

Just past the adit we turned right following the marked footpath to Ecton house a weird structure which appears to be a church tower a church steeple all enclosed in a dwelling.

A very strange place on one wall is inscribed 1891 long after the mine closed but It may also contain a mine entrance  we stopped here for coffee at 11.00 enjoying splendid views across the valley. The house with some different walkers is pictured below

Turning left we ascended Ecton hill a steep climb to 1150 ft here we enjoyed glorious views over the tops of the dales: south to Ilam and the Manifold gorge, west to the Staffordshire moorlands, north to Chrome hill and east to Hartington

A fine cheerful body of men!

This is where it started to go wrong –typical of Staffordshire there were 4 ways down the hill none of them signposted

Sadly the leader took the path in the right direction but wrong side if the slope; confused by an unlabelled farm with the one he was expecting he detected his mistake under the Sugarloaf hill at the first signpost. To add to his misery apart from a 500ft climb back the only way was down.

This took us through a wood and a lovely valley belonging to Dale Farm National trust. So dear reader if I have not bored you and you have a good memory you may recall this was our first farm after the cars. YES we were back in Wetton Mill (no pub) 11.50

So what? We are here for a walk lets do it – second mistake - the leader disdaining to take the road to the pub led his merry men back up the fells over the col between Wetton Hill and Sugarloaf which involved a 500ft climb.

Third mistake confused (should not use the c word at my age) by Staffordshire footpaths missed the top of hill track and followed a sheep track to the end of the ridge. Now we knew exactly where were.600ft above Wetton mill and a 500ft deep gully between us and the pub.

Never mind undaunted we reversed along the ridge found the path (only one illegal gate climbed) and made the pub by 1.30pm- no excuses but if we had started at 9.30 it would have been a respectable 12.45!

Excellent beer in a sunny garden ;Hartington Gold at £3.50

Now the leader was on home ground again despising the road (to some grumbles) refreshed we descended from the village though the woodland path via Thor’s cave to the cars at 3.10pm

All said an eventful lovely walk – we’ll do again sometime without the mistakes

Next week even Laurie can’t go wrong with this one

Meet at Chapel en le Frith Station at 9.45 walk up to the Iron Age fort round the ridge and call for beers at a suitably expensive pub in Combs (Beehive?) –those who need more drink can use a pub in Whaley Bridge on the way home(Cock?)

Leave you with a view of the mill bridge over the Manifold