From Lead to Tail: an Environmental
History of the Derbyshire Soughs
What are soughs?
Soughs are underground drainage channels that ‘unwatered’ Derbyshire’s lead mines, allowing
the miners to reach deeper levels of ore below the water table. Constructed between the 17th
and 19th centuries, they were expensive ventures and often took several decades to build. Once
the mine was reached and its water drained, the sough masters received a proportion of the lead
ore mined below the old water mark (called composition payments).
Because of the long construction periods, often a new sough was started immediately after the
previous one had drained the mines. In rich lead ore areas, therefore, a succession of soughs
can be found, the newer soughs deeper than the oldest ones.
Ford and Rieuwerts 2007
Conflicts and disputes
The soughs permanently lowered the water table
and displaced huge amounts of water, which often
created conflicts between different groups with
varying interests in this water. While the miners
wanted the water table lowered, farmers and
millers at the surface lost water power and ponds.
At the same time, new stakeholders were created
at the tail end of a sough where it discharged.
Several soughs were used for public water supply
and others turned waterwheels.
Stoke sough 1723-1776
Inside Meerbrook sough
Stanton sough 1680-1728
A sough tail
Hill Carr sough 1766-1787
Yatestoop sough 1751-1784
Mines and soughs
Mining and soughing ventures
depended on each other and ‘may be
considered as Man and Wife’. (D7676/BagC/587/6)
Mines had often been standing full of
water for years by the time a sough
reached them, while the soughs were
expensive ventures that only became
profitable once the mines could be
worked again. The sough reaching the
Carry
Lieshout
mine wasvan
a long
anticipated event by
miners and soughers alike, and big
celebrations took place in which ‘none
of us shall drink water’. (CLC/438/MS25604)
Still, many conflicts surrounded the
payment of composition to the sough
masters. This was mainly a result of
the many mines and soughs in the
area combined with a complicated
geology, in which it was not always
obvious which sough drained which
part of a mine.
Winster sough 1682-1714
Vermuyden’s sough 1632-1651
Hannage sough 1693-1733
18th century map showing
soughs and veins
Arkwright’s mill at Cromford
Cromford sough 1657-1663
Meerbrook sough 1772-1808
Cromford
Richard Arkwright vs the
soughers
Inside Cromford sough
One of such conflicts was Richard Arkwright vs the Cromford and
Meerbrook soughers. The strong and constant flow of the Cromford
sough tail was one of the reasons why Richard Arkwright had
selected Cromford as the location for his cotton mill factory.
However, as the mines drained by Cromford
sough were worked till the water line and
required deeper drainage, work started on
the Meerbrook sough in the late 18th
century. Once completed, this sough would
drain the mines, meaning that Cromford
sough would dry up. This situation resulted
in a long dispute between Arkwright and the
two groups of soughers which revolved
around issues of access, ownership and
Alterations at sough tail
water rights.
The soughs today
Nowadays the soughs are still in place and drain water, and as such determine the level of the water table in
many parts of Derbyshire. Conservation of these features is therefore a current issue, as collapse can cause
flooding. Their location in the Peak District National Park sometimes brings this into conflict with the
protection of natural heritage. Certain soughs form part of public water supply, and some have found a
recreational use for explorers of hidden landscapes.
Photo credit: Paul Chandler
powerwaterproject.net
[email protected]
Carry van Lieshout