DCA Need Your Assistance - Devonshire Mine

Pete K

Well-known member
Hi all, thanks for looking.
DCA volunteers are hoping to cap a shaft in the woods near Devonshire mine entrance on the 14th or April. The shaft drops into the main mine but is on the edge of the new owner's garden. There will be permitted access to some or all shafts in this area as part of this arrangement. We need helpers for the day, anyone who has experience with a bit of cementing and mixing a bonus!
Can you help?

Pete Knight
DCA Projects Officer
 

AR

Well-known member
I think I should be available on Good Friday?If we have enough bodies, I may pressgang some people to help me get a large piece of walkway mesh and some angle iron up to the top of the hill to deal with another shaft that's currently open.
 

Pete K

Well-known member
Cheer AR. I know it's Easter but it's just the first date some of the team were available so I thought I'd test the water. See how many we get.....
 

pwhole

Well-known member
I used to get the day off school on Good Friday, only to have to go to church at 3pm and kiss a bloody cross.

So put me down for some concreting...amen. :halo:
 

owd git

Active member
see you there Pete.  (y)
will we need shuttering? if so i can go and do beforehand to take pressure off on the day.
Ric'
 

DanHolme

New member
I'd be delighted to help, though it'd be mostly oompa-loompa-ing, I don't have any concreting experience. Can fetch and carry, especially if you need a glass hammer or a bag of holes.

Will boiler suit and wellies be sufficient?
And should I head up from the bus stop and up the jitty into the woods, looking out for the misshapen forms of a gaggle of cavers? Or is there another place to meet?
 
Pete K said:
Hi all, thanks for looking.
DCA volunteers are hoping to cap a shaft in the woods near Devonshire mine entrance on the 14th or April. The shaft drops into the main mine but is on the edge of the new owner's garden. There will be permitted access to some or all shafts in this area as part of this arrangement. We need helpers for the day, anyone who has experience with a bit of cementing and mixing a bonus!
Can you help?

Pete Knight
DCA Projects Officer

I'll be there with Phil and no doubt other DSCT members, as per last Sunday. See you up there again.
 

Pete K

Well-known member
Thanks guys, super response here and on FB. If we are over numbered for this shaft there is grill to move uphill and another to begin to open up near the entrance.
New Bath Hotel car park for 10am on the 14th April.
We will condense kit into 1 or 2 vehicles max and drive it up. The rest of us will walk up. Those coming late or from different locations, don't drive up, park in town and walk up.
Boiler suit or old proofs, wellies, gloves, helmet and harness with cowstails required for shaft work.

AR, pwhole, DanHolme, Richard1983 and owd git, you are all very much appreciated.

Ric - Shuttering would be simply the most amazing offer I've had in a while! Let me get a pic to you shortly and show you what's needed.
 

Pete K

Well-known member
The shuttering will need to be built up to the top of the 2 large stones on the left of picture. There is loads of limestone about for ballast so no worries on volume filling.
Aim is to be able to fit a ready made grill top to the concrete by setting the frame in the top few inches when we pour it.

The lid will be made up in kit form and will consist of 2 x 2m lengths of galv angle braced apart by 2 x 0.6m angles. The long lengths will run onto ground either side of the hole and be enveloped in the concrete. The opening for the removable grill made from walkway mesh is rectangular, running top to bottom in the picture. 0.6m (2ft) wide by 0.75m (2.5ft) long. If the shuttering is smaller than that or about there then that makes life easier. We'll cut notches out of the top boards to sit grill in and concrete over the angle.

It is hoped that the concrete and grill top/frame can sit as flat as possible to be more aesthetically pleasing as a garden feature.

If you have a better suggestion, let me know! I can produce any size of walkway mesh for this, as I have a 1mx6m length at Cavendish to chop up.
 

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owd git

Active member
as the crow flies I ;ive within 300M of hole Pete. and it is on the way to the Barley Mow :beer: :beer: so I 've had a look (y) will shutter no problem.
Ric'.
 

Pete K

Well-known member
Owd Git, I don't suppose you could do us another favour over here could you? I have no experience in quantity estimation. Assuming we mix a 4:1 and use as much local rock for ballast as we can, could you give me an estimate of the number of bags of sand and cement I'll need to go and buy for filling in the shuttering? Over buying is fine as DCA will store it away for next job.
Many thanks,
Pete
 

Pete K

Well-known member
Huge thanks to the army that turned out today to get this job done. DCA could not function without the vict..... volunteer cavers who put time in when they could no doubt be off doing something better. We had, Scout leaders, club cavers and instructors out today in force showing that all cavers come together when needed.

Specific thanks to Phil Lilley (DSCT) for getting this organised and to Owd Git for knowing what he was doing and showing us the way!

See the next DCA newsletter for pictures and a write up.
 

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Lampwick

Member
Action shot, might have been suitable for a caption competition...
 

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pwhole

Well-known member
That's a relief - I could have sworn I was there! Actually was well worth it, as I got to go down another 'known unknown' shaft higher up the hill. So yet more work ;)
 

zomjon

Member
Looking at the work today before our annual egg hunt, an excellent job by all. This is really in the garden of the house so I'm presuming that there will be more specific arrangements for the use of this shaft.
 
zomjon said:
Looking at the work today before our annual egg hunt, an excellent job by all. This is really in the garden of the house so I'm presuming that there will be more specific arrangements for the use of this shaft.

Pete will no doubt confirm when formal arrangements are in place, but when we were on site in March measuring up, the landowner seemed happy for cavers to use the shaft as long as they let them know in advance, and approach from the main Devonshire door side.
 

Pete K

Well-known member
Indeed. The DCA Access officer has been tasked with formalising the arrangement for the shafts in that area and we will publish details as soon as possible.
 
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