A
DESCRIPTION
OF
A CURIOUS LEAD MINE,
in Derbyshire
A Gentleman of Norwich, who lately returned from a tour into Derbyshire, gives the following account of his visit to a Lead Mine near Castleton.
On our return from seeing Peak’s Hole, our guide told us, that if we were fond of sights of the kind, there was a Lead Mine not far off, which was well worth our notice. We assented to his proposal, and returned to the inn to get our dinners, and in the mean time the guide went and brought one of the miners to conduct us. The miner told us, it was usual to take brandy, on account of the cold; we took some therefore in a bottle, and set forward to the mouth of the Mine, where we saw great quantities of lead ore ready prepared for smelting, and the people at work in their various departments. It was four o’clock, the time the miners came out from the mine. The women we observed wore breeches. Here another miner joined who was to be companion of our excursion. He was one of the stoutest men I ever saw; the very picture of health, and well proportioned, and his muscles seemed of Herculeian strength. It does not seem from what we saw, that working in the mines is, as has been said, prejudicial to the health of either man or woman. They offered us miners' dresses
