Former calcite and fluorspar mine near Youlgreave in Derbyshire, with surviving twentieth-century headgear and winding engine house; underground extraction ceased in 1981 while surface processing continues.
Long Rake Mine is a former underground mine located near the village of Youlgreave in the Derbyshire Dales, on land historically associated with the Staley and Shimwell families. The mine was opened by W. G. Cooke and Co. in 1867 to extract fluorspar, calcite, and lead ore, with production beginning in 1872. Around 1877 co-landowner Thomas Shimwell bought the mine, and in 1881 the company was renamed Long Rake Spar Mining Company, with calcite as its primary focus.
Operations expanded to three underground levels at 300, 375, and 420 feet. In 1913 Thomas Shimwell gifted the mine to his daughter Mary Shimwell. Surface plant was erected in 1924–25 and a shaft 300 feet deep was wound by a 12 hp vertical boilered winding engine.
Under Captain Percy Potter's direction in the 1920s, twelve miners produced approximately 12,200 tons of calcite and 100 tons of lead ore annually. In 1936 electric haulage was introduced. Potter bought the lease on his death in 1956 of Mary Shimwell, and the mine continued to expand.
In the 1970s Potter sold the company to Derbyshire Silica Firebrick, and underground extraction declined to two miners. The previously flooded 500-foot level was drained and explored in the late 1970s, but underground extraction ceased in 1981 as the price of spar fell. In 1985 the company was bought by the Broadhurst family, who expanded surface processing and mineral diversification.
The twentieth-century headgear and a one-storey horizontal winding engine house survive on site.
Long Rake Mine is situated near the village of Youlgreave in the Derbyshire Dales, on land originally owned by the Staley and Shimwell families. The Youlgreave area was historically an important lead-mining parish, with five lead mines recorded in the 1857 Directory of Derbyshire. The mine was opened by W. G. Cooke and Co. in 1867, with construction starting on land in the Youlgreave area to extract fluorspar, calcite, and lead ore.
Production began in 1872. Around 1877, co-landowner Thomas Shimwell purchased the mine. In 1881 the company was renamed Long Rake Spar Mining Company, with calcite — commonly known as Derbyshire Spar — becoming the principal focus of extraction, the material being increasingly used for pebble-dashing and in gardens and driveways.
By 1899 the company had issued £1 shares and operations had expanded underground to three levels at 300, 375, and 420 feet. The majority of extraction took place at the middle (375-foot) level, which was also the driest and was equipped with tramways; the lower two levels were accessed by underground declines. In 1913 Thomas Shimwell gifted the mine to his daughter, Mary Shimwell.
At that time Long Rake employed six men working on the surface and between two and six working underground. The company was subsequently known as Long Rake Spar Co. Surface plant was erected in 1924–25 and a shaft 300 feet deep was sunk, wound by a 12 hp vertical boilered winding engine (built 1926 and re-boilered 1934). The cage in the shaft had a capacity of three men and served only the 300-foot level.
Under the direction of Captain Percy Potter during the 1920s, the mine reached peak output with twelve miners producing approximately 12,200 tons of calcite and 100 tons of lead ore annually, distributed across the United Kingdom. In 1936 electric haulage was introduced with the purchase of locomotives, wagons, and rails from the Leeds-based engineering company Greenwood and Batley. On Mary Shimwell's death in 1956, Potter bought the lease on the mine and plant.
The mine continued to expand with fifteen miners working levels that extended approximately two kilometres underground, though the vein at the 300-foot level had by then become nearly exhausted. In the 1970s Potter sold Long Rake Spar Co. to Derbyshire Silica Firebrick (DSF). At this point only two miners remained working the spar.
The surface plant continued processing material from other mines and quarries. In the late 1970s the previously flooded 500-foot level was drained and explored, but despite this investigation underground extraction of spar ceased in 1981 because it had become uneconomical as the price of spar fell. In 1985 Long Rake Spar Co. Ltd was purchased by Trevor, Tom, and Jean Broadhurst, who immediately began expanding the facilities and the variety of aggregates supplied.
The company diversified into mineral processing, installing washing, blending, and drying equipment. The 1990s saw significant investment in technology and infrastructure. As of the early 1980s the site retained its twentieth-century headgear and a one-storey horizontal winding engine house, with the main engine shaft no longer safely accessible from the surface.
The Derbyshire Historic Environment Record notes that the site had an old-fashioned mine and treatment plant still working in the early 1980s. The surface aggregate processing operations continue to the present day under the Long Rake Spar name.