Engine Vein
© Copyright Stuart & Fiona Jackson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
The Alderley Edge mines have been mined from the Bronze Age (c4000 years ago) until the early 20th century.
In 1874 William Boyd Dawkins reported on the discovery of numerous grooved hammer stones at Brynlow Levels on the Edge which he referred to as the tools of Bronze Age miners.
Later in 1878 the Rev Sainter described a primitive oak shovel recovered from one of these pits, this is now in the collections of the Manchester Museum and has been radiocarbon dated to circa 1750 BC.
In 1995 the discovery of a coin hoard in an abandoned shaft at Engine Vein showed that the Romans mined here, as it was dated to the 4th century AD or earlier.
Copper and lead mining is known from written records to have taken place at Alderley Edge since the 1690s.
Index of articles published by the Northern Mine Research Society, complied by Alasdair Neill.
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