An abandoned cobalt mine on Alderley Edge, rediscovered. Apparently un-vandalised and…
“in pristine condition, together with […] personal objects and inscriptions”
It was mined in “the early 19th century because of the Napoleonic Wars”. In peacetime conditions the ‘zaffre’ type of cobalt could be imported annually to the UK from Saxony and Prussia (now Germany / Poland). Then used in certain types of glaze mixes (for ‘cobalt blues’ etc) by the pottery industry, in a highly diluted form at 1:150,000. The Alderley Edge mine reported today is said to have been abandoned in 1810, no longer needed.
The Spyders of Burslem 