Cavers have stumbled across a cobalt mineshaft left in pristine condition after it was sealed up and abandoned by miners more than 200 years ago.
The lack of oxygen penetrating the shaft has turned it into an underground ‘time capsule’ and preserved items discarded by the workmen.
These include a clay pipe, bowls, leather shoes, a windlass wound with rope and messages written on the walls in candle soot.
The discovery was made by the Derbyshire Caving Club in autumn