Lead Mining pre-dated Crich Quarry -

Crich Hill, south-east of Matlock, rises to over 600 ft above the River Derwent, with Crich Stand erect above the quarry face, but in its main lead mining days it was without the great quarry.

The "Onion Skins"

The Hill is an inlier of limestone about one mile long, with its long axis north-west to south-east. An inlier is an area of older rocks completely surrounded by newer rocks. At Crich, the underground beds rise in a dome with the highest part slightly to the southwest, with the beds dipping more steeply on this side. Miners working underground through the hill found the same beds dipping down before them which they had already passed through, and they described it as like going through the skins of an onion.

Fluorspar

Many of the veins were remarkably rich, and contained chambers or caverns with beautiful fluorspar or calcite, and with magnificent masses of galena. From the opening of the nineteenth century fluorspar of special quality was found, by 1811 it was being sent to Butterley furnaces for use in smelting.