Magpie Mine is a well-preserved disused lead mine, one of several such ventures working different lead veins in the same area. The earliest recorded workings there date from 1740. Right from the start, the miners had difficulty in keeping the workings free from water, but by 1824, a Newcomen-type pumping engine had been erected on the Main Shaft. This led to the production of 800 tons of lead in 1827 – a record that remained unbroken until 1871.

Magpie Mine was troubled by disputes with the neighbouring mines over who had the right to work each vein, especially from Maypitt Mine as both worked on the same Great Redsoil Vein. Both sides would light fires underground to smoke each other out. The arguments raged for years, both underground and in the courts. In 1833, three Maypitt miners were suffocated by fumes from fires lit by Magpie miners, and 24 Magpie miners were put on trial for their murder. Eventually, all were acquitted because of the difficulty in identifying the individual culprits. It is said that the wives of the deceased men put a curse on the mine, and the effect of the disputes was to ruin the mine, which closed in 1835.

In 1839, John Taylor, the famous Cornish mining engineer was brought in to re-open the Magpie Mine. He introduced a number of innovations, as well as a more regular pattern of shift working and payment for his workers. He deepened the Main Shaft to 208 metres, and also installed a 40-inch Cornish pumping engine. When this proved inadequate, he proposed to replace it with a 70-inch engine, but the proprietors could not agree. Some felt that a sough (a drainage tunnel) would be a better solution, but it was not until 1873 that construction of the sough started. It took eight years to drive from the River Wye near Ashford-in-the-Water to meet the Main Shaft, a distance of 2km. It was the last major sough driven in the Derbyshire ore field, and still discharges 4 – 6 million gallons of water per day.

Production of lead continued on and off into the 20th century, but the mine closed for the last time in 1954.

To visit, there is a parking layby on Grin Low (53°12’23.6″N 1°44’35.2″W), with a path leading directly to the mine.