Tankard Shaft Dig
- Thread starter Duncan S
- Start date
Duncan S said:OK - my mining terminology fails me here.tamarmole said:
Would you mind elaborating a bit for me; I'm fairly new to all this stuff.
Thanks
Stopeing - the removal of vein or lode material,
Stope - the area from which lode material is being removed from.
Thus a stoped out section of the vein/lode is section of the vein from which the lode material has been removed.
Vein and lode are basically interchangeable terms for the ore body.
Mining terminology does vary from region to region and over time just to confuse things further.
Hopefully this clarifies things a bit.
Duncan S
New member
Another full day at the dig....
As they sung about Tankard Hole...
"You can keep your Tratmans Temple and your Devil's Elbow too,
And your Mortons Pot with stemples and your Cuthberts entrance queue,
For our Tankards hole is going, going steadily down the dip,
Taking Swildons as a feeder and St. Cuthberts as a drip."
This dig is going!!!!!
More details tomorrow when I sober up after tonight's post breakthrough Hunters session
As they sung about Tankard Hole...
"You can keep your Tratmans Temple and your Devil's Elbow too,
And your Mortons Pot with stemples and your Cuthberts entrance queue,
For our Tankards hole is going, going steadily down the dip,
Taking Swildons as a feeder and St. Cuthberts as a drip."
This dig is going!!!!!
More details tomorrow when I sober up after tonight's post breakthrough Hunters session
cap n chris
Well-known member
Brill!
The Old Ruminator
Well-known member
Oooooo :bow:
:bow: 
tony from suffolk
Well-known member
Excellent news! Brilliant work folks!
tony from suffolk
Well-known member
Eight minutes to go...
Duncan S
New member
Tuesday 16th Feb 2016
Duncan Simey, Sarah Payne, Tim Payne
We are at the bottom of the shaft!
After yesterday's exciting discoveries (hole 1, 2, 3), we took advantage of continuing good weather to get back for another session.
About 6 hours at the dig, with 5 hours active digging by Duncan then Sarah.
We attacked the bottom of the shaft removing vast quantities of rock, clay, mud and quite a few boulders.
Standing on the bottom of the shaft, the bridge is now at head height with a climb needed to get back onto it. The 'bridge' isn't a bridge, it's more of a step on solid foundations; so in future I'll be referring to it as the 'step'. The Step is still essential for placing the bottom ladder, but it now feels a bit dodgy as the foot of the ladder is right next to a sizeable drop.
Here's the alcove in the small chamber with digging tools, smoke, and the freshly installed Tankard.
2 days ago, this was at head height, but now needs a fairly decent free climb to get back up to it!
It's also our bomb shelter. Both Sarah and Duncan retreated up under the overhang when particularly heavy boulders were being hauled up the shaft.
I'm standing on the step looking straight down the shaft.
Oddly, it doesn't go straight down. The wall at the bottom of the pic is about 30deg off vertical.
Hopefully we will start wearing the clay off the sides, as at the moment this is a ridiculously greasy climb.
There is probably another few feet of rock and mud on the bottom of the shaft which we need to clear at some point, but it isn't getting badly in the way.
This photo I'm also stood on the Step. It shows hole 1 top left and the depths of the shaft bottom right.
We left hole 1 alone. I don't think any of us are particularly looking forward to ever pushing this lead.
Hole 2 still looks unassuming, but is an easy crawl.
If I'd bothered sticking my head in I'd have been in for a shock - see later in this report!
Hole 3 is partially blocked by a substantial boulder. Our first job on the next visit will be to try and break it up so it can be hauled out the shaft.
Beyond the boulder things start to get interesting!
Hole 3 has a comfortable body sized rift disappearing off into the distance. There is one particular angle where it is possible to shine a light estimated 15m.
The way on slopes down about a 30% gradient. The right side looks to be limestone. The roof is hand picked soft rock, probably Ochre bearing. We can't see the left wall well enough to determine if it is the opposite side of the rift.
There is a debris cone visible in this shot. We are hoping that is from Hole 1, but we aren't sure what is going on here. We need to get in there for a better look.
The orientation of the way on is about NE heading straight for Tankard Hole (the original dig) - and it is draughting!
Here's the step viewed from inside the shaft. As you can see, it is on a solid foundation - phew!
Before heading back up I stuck my head in Hole 2 and got the shock of my life!
There was a decent sized rift!
The bottom looks to be about 1m lower than the shaft, maybe 2m at its widest point and the furthest point we can see is about 15m.
It looks like a natural rift! Whether this is because the miners broke into a rift chamber, or the miners dug it out is currently open for speculation. Hopefully we will learn more on our next trip.
Looking at the photo, the walls look rather sooty; but this could just be an artefact of the photo taking.
The orientation of the rift is about SE heading towards the mast.
So far, we haven't gone exploring.
Everything in this report is from observations at the bottom of the shaft.
We did a bit of smoke testing - and the results are still rather puzzling.
Hole 2 had no air movement. We suspect the exciting looking rift isn't going anywhere - shame!
Hole 3 on the other hand... As soon as the smoke is squirted past the big boulder it clears almost instantly! Smoke on the shaft side of the boulder drifts steadily back into the shaft and hangs across the front of Hole 2, but not fast enough to explain the way the smoke dramatically clears on the far side.
With hindsight, I wish we'd put some smoke into Hole 1 to see if any appeared in Hole 3.
In summary....
Hole 2 opens into a decent sized rift but we don't think it goes anywhere.
Hole 3 is a very promising rift feature in stable rock ramping steadily down towards Tankard Hole; the draught promises that it is going somewhere!
Duncan Simey, Sarah Payne, Tim Payne
We are at the bottom of the shaft!
After yesterday's exciting discoveries (hole 1, 2, 3), we took advantage of continuing good weather to get back for another session.
About 6 hours at the dig, with 5 hours active digging by Duncan then Sarah.
We attacked the bottom of the shaft removing vast quantities of rock, clay, mud and quite a few boulders.
Standing on the bottom of the shaft, the bridge is now at head height with a climb needed to get back onto it. The 'bridge' isn't a bridge, it's more of a step on solid foundations; so in future I'll be referring to it as the 'step'. The Step is still essential for placing the bottom ladder, but it now feels a bit dodgy as the foot of the ladder is right next to a sizeable drop.
Here's the alcove in the small chamber with digging tools, smoke, and the freshly installed Tankard.
2 days ago, this was at head height, but now needs a fairly decent free climb to get back up to it!
It's also our bomb shelter. Both Sarah and Duncan retreated up under the overhang when particularly heavy boulders were being hauled up the shaft.
I'm standing on the step looking straight down the shaft.
Oddly, it doesn't go straight down. The wall at the bottom of the pic is about 30deg off vertical.
Hopefully we will start wearing the clay off the sides, as at the moment this is a ridiculously greasy climb.
There is probably another few feet of rock and mud on the bottom of the shaft which we need to clear at some point, but it isn't getting badly in the way.
This photo I'm also stood on the Step. It shows hole 1 top left and the depths of the shaft bottom right.
We left hole 1 alone. I don't think any of us are particularly looking forward to ever pushing this lead.
Hole 2 still looks unassuming, but is an easy crawl.
If I'd bothered sticking my head in I'd have been in for a shock - see later in this report!
Hole 3 is partially blocked by a substantial boulder. Our first job on the next visit will be to try and break it up so it can be hauled out the shaft.
Beyond the boulder things start to get interesting!
Hole 3 has a comfortable body sized rift disappearing off into the distance. There is one particular angle where it is possible to shine a light estimated 15m.
The way on slopes down about a 30% gradient. The right side looks to be limestone. The roof is hand picked soft rock, probably Ochre bearing. We can't see the left wall well enough to determine if it is the opposite side of the rift.
There is a debris cone visible in this shot. We are hoping that is from Hole 1, but we aren't sure what is going on here. We need to get in there for a better look.
The orientation of the way on is about NE heading straight for Tankard Hole (the original dig) - and it is draughting!
Here's the step viewed from inside the shaft. As you can see, it is on a solid foundation - phew!
Before heading back up I stuck my head in Hole 2 and got the shock of my life!
There was a decent sized rift!
The bottom looks to be about 1m lower than the shaft, maybe 2m at its widest point and the furthest point we can see is about 15m.
It looks like a natural rift! Whether this is because the miners broke into a rift chamber, or the miners dug it out is currently open for speculation. Hopefully we will learn more on our next trip.
Looking at the photo, the walls look rather sooty; but this could just be an artefact of the photo taking.
The orientation of the rift is about SE heading towards the mast.
So far, we haven't gone exploring.
Everything in this report is from observations at the bottom of the shaft.
We did a bit of smoke testing - and the results are still rather puzzling.
Hole 2 had no air movement. We suspect the exciting looking rift isn't going anywhere - shame!
Hole 3 on the other hand... As soon as the smoke is squirted past the big boulder it clears almost instantly! Smoke on the shaft side of the boulder drifts steadily back into the shaft and hangs across the front of Hole 2, but not fast enough to explain the way the smoke dramatically clears on the far side.
With hindsight, I wish we'd put some smoke into Hole 1 to see if any appeared in Hole 3.
In summary....
Hole 2 opens into a decent sized rift but we don't think it goes anywhere.
Hole 3 is a very promising rift feature in stable rock ramping steadily down towards Tankard Hole; the draught promises that it is going somewhere!
rhychydwr1
Active member
Fantastic news. You seem to be going away from the old Tankard Hole.
Keep up the good work.
Keep up the good work.
Duncan S
New member
Sarah and I went exploring today.
Over three hours underground.
We found an Ochre mine; and quite a lot of it.
Guestimated 150ft of explored passage.
The whole mine is in a boulder ruckle - tight, complex and rather scary.
Back of a fag packet survey information coming soon.
Plus spotted at least two leads that are worth pursuing.
Not sure when I'll get to post a report as I've crashed after my adrenaline high and will be turning in momentarily....
Over three hours underground.
We found an Ochre mine; and quite a lot of it.
Guestimated 150ft of explored passage.
The whole mine is in a boulder ruckle - tight, complex and rather scary.
Back of a fag packet survey information coming soon.
Plus spotted at least two leads that are worth pursuing.
Not sure when I'll get to post a report as I've crashed after my adrenaline high and will be turning in momentarily....
Duncan S
New member
Thu 18th Feb 2016
Sarah Payne and Duncan Simey
We decided to explore the three leads from the bottom of the shaft. The tantalising views have been way too tempting to leave alone for long.
Over 3 hours were spent discovering the accessible parts of the system, and we can confidently state it was an Ochre mine that excavated fill from a boulder ruckle.
We have explored an estimated 150ft of tight, gnarly and rather scary passage through the boulder ruckle with the furthest point estimated 100ft from the bottom of the shaft. There are approx 7 chambers.
The mine is fairly linear, but spreads to multiple levels; hence when you see the survey it will be a cross section, not a plan.
The mine is complex and confusing, Sarah and Duncan independently sketched what they remembered before comparing notes. Their sketches were similar enough that we have high confidence that we now have a grasp of how the parts of the mine fit together.
In summary....
Hole 1 - we didn't bother with the GoPro on a stick as with two of down there we quickly realised we could see each others lights via hole 3. Hooray - it means we never have to go through here!
Hole 2 - the rift proved smaller than either of us guessed peering in the entrance; but it is quite pretty with nicely coloured rock. There are pick marks on the lighter coloured rock near the bottom of the rift. Our guess is the rift is natural but with some enlargement by the miners.
Hole 3 - this is the mine. Once the entrance tube is descended, a succession of connected chambers leads roughly horizontally away from the shaft. There are stacked deads all over the place, but very few artefacts. We only located two stemples in the whole mine.
Sarah diving into Hole 2.
This image doesn't do much to sell the idea of digging as fun recreation
Sarah in the rift beyond Hole 2.
Much smaller than we estimated peering in the entrance, but still a rather pretty place to explore.
Sarah in the connection between the first and second chambers in the mine.
There's isn't much crawling; just the entrance hole (which we plan to dig out) and a flat out crawl over deads to the furthest chamber. There isn't much mud either, mud seems limited to the entrance hole.
This is the entrance to the furthest chamber showing the remains of one of only two stemples we found in the whole mine. This short stemple had been seated between two scary looking boulders just out of the right of the image, but has completely rotted and fallen to the floor.
The intriguing thing about the far chamber is this hole in the floor, which initially seemed bottomless.
We enlarged the hole enough to be able to get a better look and there is a vertical feature below that could be real rock instead of a boulder choke. Estimated 20ft drop with two ongoing descending passages on opposite sides of the hole.
Getting back up Hole 3 proved quite a challenge as the glutinous mud made progress difficult.
We emerged to a glorious Winter evening.
Sarah's dog Charlie had been left in digging HQ (the caravan), and was overjoyed to see her back.
Leads....
I've already mentioned the vertical feature in the floor of the furthest chamber; a short crowbar session will hopefully be all that is needed to open it up for a proper look. We don't think it will go anywhere significant as there appears to be little air movement, but it's definitely worth a look.
The big lead is a fractured loose scary side of one of the lower chambers; the air is significantly cooler and fresher here. We need to take our smoke can with us to determine where to attack, but it's the most likely spot to break out of the Ochre mine into natural cave. This will need substantial stabilisation and there may be a delay while we get engineering advice before proceeding.
Next steps....
Clear out the bottom of the shaft. This will get rid of the horrendous clay in Hole 3 and enlarge it enough for Tim to be able to get through.
Open up the vertical feature. Who knows what we will find down there!
Do a proper survey!
Sarah Payne and Duncan Simey
We decided to explore the three leads from the bottom of the shaft. The tantalising views have been way too tempting to leave alone for long.
Over 3 hours were spent discovering the accessible parts of the system, and we can confidently state it was an Ochre mine that excavated fill from a boulder ruckle.
We have explored an estimated 150ft of tight, gnarly and rather scary passage through the boulder ruckle with the furthest point estimated 100ft from the bottom of the shaft. There are approx 7 chambers.
The mine is fairly linear, but spreads to multiple levels; hence when you see the survey it will be a cross section, not a plan.
The mine is complex and confusing, Sarah and Duncan independently sketched what they remembered before comparing notes. Their sketches were similar enough that we have high confidence that we now have a grasp of how the parts of the mine fit together.
In summary....
Hole 1 - we didn't bother with the GoPro on a stick as with two of down there we quickly realised we could see each others lights via hole 3. Hooray - it means we never have to go through here!
Hole 2 - the rift proved smaller than either of us guessed peering in the entrance; but it is quite pretty with nicely coloured rock. There are pick marks on the lighter coloured rock near the bottom of the rift. Our guess is the rift is natural but with some enlargement by the miners.
Hole 3 - this is the mine. Once the entrance tube is descended, a succession of connected chambers leads roughly horizontally away from the shaft. There are stacked deads all over the place, but very few artefacts. We only located two stemples in the whole mine.
Sarah diving into Hole 2.
This image doesn't do much to sell the idea of digging as fun recreation
Sarah in the rift beyond Hole 2.
Much smaller than we estimated peering in the entrance, but still a rather pretty place to explore.
Sarah in the connection between the first and second chambers in the mine.
There's isn't much crawling; just the entrance hole (which we plan to dig out) and a flat out crawl over deads to the furthest chamber. There isn't much mud either, mud seems limited to the entrance hole.
This is the entrance to the furthest chamber showing the remains of one of only two stemples we found in the whole mine. This short stemple had been seated between two scary looking boulders just out of the right of the image, but has completely rotted and fallen to the floor.
The intriguing thing about the far chamber is this hole in the floor, which initially seemed bottomless.
We enlarged the hole enough to be able to get a better look and there is a vertical feature below that could be real rock instead of a boulder choke. Estimated 20ft drop with two ongoing descending passages on opposite sides of the hole.
Getting back up Hole 3 proved quite a challenge as the glutinous mud made progress difficult.
We emerged to a glorious Winter evening.
Sarah's dog Charlie had been left in digging HQ (the caravan), and was overjoyed to see her back.
Leads....
I've already mentioned the vertical feature in the floor of the furthest chamber; a short crowbar session will hopefully be all that is needed to open it up for a proper look. We don't think it will go anywhere significant as there appears to be little air movement, but it's definitely worth a look.
The big lead is a fractured loose scary side of one of the lower chambers; the air is significantly cooler and fresher here. We need to take our smoke can with us to determine where to attack, but it's the most likely spot to break out of the Ochre mine into natural cave. This will need substantial stabilisation and there may be a delay while we get engineering advice before proceeding.
Next steps....
Clear out the bottom of the shaft. This will get rid of the horrendous clay in Hole 3 and enlarge it enough for Tim to be able to get through.
Open up the vertical feature. Who knows what we will find down there!
Do a proper survey!
