tarboat's photos with the keyword: millclose

The very productive Mill Close lead mine erected a Cornish type engine in 1859-60 at Watts Shaft which was some 300ft deep to limestone ore-bearing beds under the local shales. Thornwill and Warham of Burton-on-Trent supplied an 80 horsepower engine with a cylinder fifty inches in diameter. Watts Shaft was used until 1889 when operations moved to the Warren Carr site some distance away. Today a small portion of the bob wall survives with the capped shaft still evident in front. It is a scheduled ancient monument but is suffering badly from tree growth on the structure.