One of the county’s ‘hidden’ mines was one of its richest in terms of minerals and profits, as Robert Falconer discovers.
I AM SURE I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE who has travelled along the A5012 through Via Gellia, not noticing anything of interest in this deep-sided valley – apart, that is, from an original cable car from the ‘Heights of Abraham’, hanging in someone’s garden at the side of the road. Despite my keen interest in railways, I had no idea that perched high up on the valley side was a tiny railway of historic significance to Derbyshire’s industrial past…