Lead Legacy
The Peak District was one of the largest, richest and longest worked orefields in Britain and this country was Europe’s main supplier of lead for many centuries.
However, many of the surface remains of the lead mining industry in the Peak District have been lost in the last hundred years. Only about a quarter of what once existed now survives in reasonable condition and degradation continues, mainly through mineral operations and agricultural activity.
The surviving lead mining remains of the Peak District are nationally and in some cases internationally significant.
English Heritage, Natural England and the Peak District National Park Authority are working in partnership to raise awareness of the loss of lead mining heritage at a national and regional level and are working together to secure the conservation of the lead legacy in the Peak District.
The Lead Legacy report
All files are in PDF format.
Complete Lead Legacy report 
(4.5MB)
Contents and Introduction
(260KB)
Chapter
1 Lead Mining in the Peak - An Introduction (425KB)
Chapter
2 The Origins and History of Lead Rakes (315KB)
Chapter
3 The Special Character of Lead Rakes Today (420KB)
Chapter
4 Survival
and Loss of the Lead Mining Resource (350KB)
Chapter
5 Towards Conservation
of Important Lead Mining Sites and Landscapes (390KB)
Chapter
6 Conservation
Opportunities and Challenges: Case Studies (250KB)
Chapter
7 Future
Conservation - Challenges and Opportunities (400KB)
Chapter
8 Lead Rakes
for the Future: The Way Ahead (180KB)
The
Inventories (930KB)
Appendices
(270KB)
