tarboat's photos with the keyword: chinley

Little is known about the history of the Cracken Edge quarries. What is clear is that they were closed by the later nineteenth century and that they had an inclined plane to take the product down to the road. The drumhouse for the incline still has substantial remains, including some of the drum itself. Taken on a fine summer's evening, the background shows the railway viaducts at the triangular junction at Chapel Milton, and also the Chapel-en-le-Frith bypass.

Coal mining on the Beard and Ollersett Moors was extensive during the eighteenth century. This inhospitable land lies at around 1300ft above sea level commanding fine views towards Kinder and over Manchester on days of good weather, In 1702 John Shalcross (leaseholder from the Duchy of Lancaster as landowner) sublet the coal here to three partners, John Mottram, William Carrington, and William Bennett. The account book for this venture has survived for the years 1711-57 and shows that over this period at least 120,000 tons of coal was mined here from the Yard Seam. There are extensive remains of shafts across the moors, this one being on Ollersett Moor at the end of a long roadway that served several shafts below the current bridleway. The collapsed shaft has created a deep hole and the back of the gin circle is marked by the rushes on the right. The next shaft up the hill still showed evidence of having been stone lined and rectangular in shape rather than circular.

Just below Chinley Churn on the Beard Moors the eighteenth century coal mining remains are extensive. There are two shafts in this view, the second lying in the low mound, right of centre background. From 1300ft above sea level the view takes in Whaley Bridge on the left and Furness Vale to the right, with Whaley Moor in the far background.

The Cracken Edge Quarries above Chinley in Derbyshire comprise a series of faces stretching over a distance of around 1 kilometre. The products were transported down to the nearest road via a long incline which can be seen running across the centre and left of this image. The winding drum can be seen here .