Sheriff's Pit

Sheriff’s Pit is the remains of an old ironstone mine. It originally opened as a drift mine in 1857 (where a horizontal shaft is driven into the seam) and was manned by just two families in all conditions with a horse and cart. It closed two years later but reopened when the Rosedale Railway opened in the 1860s and a deep vertical shaft was excavated. The mine was named after Alexander Clune Sheriff, of the Rosedale Mining Company.

After the mine closed in 1911 nature began to reclaim the site. Birds like ring ouzel have a long association with the mine and rowan trees have been planted nearby to provide them with berries to eat before their long journey back to South Africa.

See the Landofiron.org.uk website for more engaging details on the Sheriff's Pit and other surviving elements of the Rosedale Mines and Railway.