Hello all, this is my first post so thanks for existing!

Years ago I had a look in the short mine level on the 'climber's path' of High Tor - it's more or less directly below the opencast workings of Roman Mine and but doesn't seem to have any physical connection to the higher workings.

I was up there with some friends on Friday night and one of them asked me what it was called - it occurred to me that I didn't know.

A little research through PDMHS back issues yesterday suggested it might be 'Hard Rake' (this from an article about firesetting); but I've also seen that a 'Paint Mill Adit', possibly connected to Riber Mine, is alternatively known as 'Hard Rake Level'. I get the impression that's a lot lower down the hillside, however.

Partly I want to know because I like to list the trips I've been on, but partly it's just 'cos I want to know and it's bugging me that I don't!

I'd be grateful for any suggestions people have.

Just as a heads-up, I have limited computer access so if you reply and I don't respond straight away, I'm not being rude, I'll acknowledge as soon as I can! Ta.

There are a couple of mines next to the climbers' path on High Tor that I had a look at lot of years ago. one of which was quite short (but possibly diggable). I've never seen anything regarding names, but I can say that the one you mention is definitely not the Paint Mill adit, which as its name suggests is behind the old paint mill next to the River Derwent at the bottom of the valley. Its more correct name is Side Mine.

I found this interesting as I entered the level in the bottom of where the rake breaks out of the face of High Tor on my first caving trip back in 1965ish. An easy but mucky crawl to a place where it was possible to stand up and where my school friends gave up. I climbed (bicycle lamp in hand - somehow) and entered a tube in the roof which connected with further workings. I did not go on then but did on a PDHMS trip decades later. At this, later, time it seemed that no-one knew about the connection and it was also shown as a dead end on a survey. John Barnett went through after I explained how and entered the rather "iffy" workings beyond (loose, false floors) which must connect down to Side Mine. On a later PDHMS trip into Side Mine I pushed only a little way in that direction (from the opposite direction of course!). I know of one other who has been through and by way of his legendary climbing skills may have pushed on (but the walls are crumbly and you do not know what you are standing on. Someone else/others must know about the connection, maybe from the 1960s or beyond but the information, as stated above, is very limited. Other stories about that mine/those mines include one of a car being (found?) underground. Logically, the workings from the top of High Tor must extend down to river level and beyond and workings would connect. As to how much is still accessible is something else.   

Thanks gents, worth knowing.

I got the name 'Hard Rake' from the following article by PDMHS, 'Using Coal to Mine Lead' by Barnatt and Worthington, Volume 16 No 3, page 14.

@Tripod, is that the very steeply sloping entrance that then turns into a flat out crawl in blue-grey mud (Presumably toadstone)? There was a short walking sized bit there, and a climb in the roof that was a bit tight for me, though my mate's older son shimmied up for a look.

Dan, not meaning to be cheeky on UKC I would run your query on aditnow.

There are some very knowledgeable Peak District types on there, and you have aroused my interest in this and I want to learn more.

Yes DanHolme that sounds like the place. I think that the "Toadstone" contains some tourist type debris and deposits, at least near the entrance and I might have been reluctant to tackle it flat out! The bit at the end sounds right and at the top is the tube. There would appear to have been a connection between the crawl/walking section and the next part but this has been blocked with small deads. I wonder if anyone has entered the higher part of the "gash" in the cliff face? It is all part of the same workings.   

From recollection, there was a short article in an older PDMHS bulletin about this level but I can't remember which one! Regarding the toadstone, there's some Paul Deakin photos of the exposures in Youds Level and Side Mine in Trevor Ford's article on the Matlock mines geology in Bulletin 14:6.

There's also Raddle Hole mine heading back towards Matlock, that I recall as being a squeeze down a hole behind the collapsed adit entrance, with some interesting but not entirely stable bits higher up.

Raddle Hole is only just above river level though. Horrible place, never want to go back!

And slightly longer than it was, after a bit of effort, but agree on the horrible nature of it. Not the most inviting prospect, but may be worth another prod. But not planning to rush back.

Cheers to all again, Raddle Mine sounds horrible - and enticing...

The level that Tripod is referring to is discussed and surveyed in the following PDMHS document - AR, is this the one you mean?

'A Trial Excavation on High Tor Rake' by John Picken, PDMHS Bulletin Vol 9, No. 3

The level I'm trying to identify is about 100m back from this along the climber's path towards the cable car base station, but at the same height as this one; it would be geologically part of Roman Mine rather than Fern Cave.

Incidentally, while researching this, I came across a photo of Ladygate Mine - anyone know if this is worth half an hour of anyone's time? A photo is all I can find so far.

Ah yes, that's the one - just been busy with sorting other things out so I haven't had time to either check our website or start going through my library to find it! There's nothing accessible on Ladygate AFAIK, though I do seem to remember seeing a concrete shaft cap at the site.

Cheers AR. I was going to go have a look at the weekend, but if there's not much to be seen, I'm more tempted by the Via Gellia instead. Thanks again.

Well, you can hardly move in the Via Gellia without falling over mines, or in some parts, falling down them!   Groaning Tor and Dunsley Springs are easy to find, Spinney level likewise if you don't mind getting wet, or Silver Eye, Slaley Sough and Old Gells if you don't mind stumbling around in the undergrowth looking for the entrance!

I was very taken with Dunsley Springs, especially the graffiti and the old shoes; it's only really in the last couple of years that I've stepped outside the confines of the 'CoTPD' book and started looking for stuff that isn't mentioned therein. Had a lovely walk just before Xmas, for instance, up from Cromford that took in Bonsall Sough, Road Adit, Bonsall Leys Level, and Dunsley Spring; only one of which I was previously aware existed. The PDMHS website is really quite a resource...

Went down Spinney Level recently, lovely waist deep water, nice and clean, but at least one of the teenagers I was with was not happy, and didn't join us the following week - a shame, because it was a surprisingly dry trip down Giants.

I think I'm going to wander round Slinterwoods - I noticed that one of the small adits there, close to the village and the first big millpond up the valley, and right by the path, seems to have been enlarged lately - it has a wheelbarrow inside it!
It'll be a nice walk even if I don't stick my head into many holes...

I have taken a look at the PDMHS Bulletin referred to and we are talking about the same place but the "lower level" referred to was not "silted up" when I visited it in the 1960s or in the 1990s on my next visit. The description posted by DanHolme and myself is accurate, with a crawl, a short walking size passage leading to what appears to be a dead end. Climb there to a tube in roof and pass through into rake workings. On the PDHMS trip I was on when I last visited this mine we also visited one which could be the other that DanHolme is looking for information on, back towards the cable car base station on the alignment he describes. I remember being fairly unimpressed by this one. 

If you're going round Slinter Wood then Roger Flindall's article in Bulletin 6:6 is an essential companion! Glad you're finding our website useful, expect to have a membership form pressed on you at Devonshire!

A quick summary. The level in the High Tor cliff face directly above the Paint works was on Hard Rake - we surveyed it back in the 1970s.
I dug open the Raddle Hole Level, along with Lynn Willies, in 1976. A few years ago, there was a determined dig there by the late John Beck and others in the draughting collapse on the rake but it had to be abandoned because of instability.
Ladygate has not been accessible since the 1920s.
There is a disappointing lack of accessible workings on High Tor. I intend to have another look round there soon because it was only a week ago that I untangled some of the mine names and history there and when I was looking at High Tor with binoculars from the top of Masson there was a feature that I wished to check out.

History  trog pm sent

@History Trog

Cheers for all that, very interesting. Let us know how the 'untangling' goes.


@AR
Nice one, printed that off. I had a change of plans this weekend and ended up exploring some of the old quarry 'caves' in Portobello Pit and Devil's Pit at Calke Abbey. Worth a look if anyone happens to be National Trust-ing at any point. Calke is a nice place for easy subterranea - the cut-and-cover tunnel, Gardener's Tunnel, Brewhouse Tunnel and Ice House are all nice places to hide from a summer's day!