Richard Bird’s text from Geograph

Adjacent to the cottages here, which were once the offices of the Alport Mining Company, can be seen a large mound which marks the site of the Broadmeadow Shaft on the Alport mines. This company was an amalgamation of various separate mining concerns and operated the very rich lead mines of this area. They were classed as the most heavily watered mines in the country and suffered from inflows of more than 6000 gallons a minute. Consequently, heavy pumping was necessary, chiefly by water pressure engines which used a column of water to power them. The well known Cornish engineer, Richard Trevithick was consulted and he was responsible for the first of many such underground machines within this region. Water to power the engine in this shaft was taken from the River Lathkill and over Alport village in wooden launders and then by a tunnel to the shaft. All the pumped water, along with that used by the engines (of which there were upwards of seven scattered throughout the workings) was drained away by the deep Hillcarr Sough, a tunnel driven from the River Derwent near Darley Dale.