Tinker's Shaft Further Information
For hundreds of years, the land on Masson Hill was used predominantly by miners who hoped to earn a living by extracting lead from the hillside. In turn, they ended up fashioning a huge network of tunnels and mine shafts. This created a unique landscape and habitat, which has since been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (an SSSI). The SSSI is also home to a rare species of wild orchid.
The Shaft was named after Mr.Tinker, who first sunk it back in the 1600s. It is one of many family shafts built on Masson Hill, a trend at the time to assert certain mining territory.
There were no health and safety regulations in place back in the 1600s, so Tinker’s Shaft used to be supported by just a few wobbly stones and a couple of pieces of dampened wood. But don’t worry, you’re not going to fall down into the mine! We recently restored Tinker’s Shaft to give our guests a unique (and safe) perspective of the mine shaft directly below.
Tinker’s Shaft is located at the exit of the Masson Cavern adjacent to the public footpath through the SSSI. The viewing platform is also precisely located to give our visitors another incredible vista of the Derbyshire Dales. One not to be missed!