Hillocks/Wharf Mine

Madness

New member
Did a quick trip down Hillocks tonight. There was a slight smell of rotting flesh near the bottom of Wharf Main Shaft. There was nothing noticeable that would cause the smell.
More concerning was a number of rocks covered in green lichen at the foot of the shaft. Some had very recent impact marks. To me it seemed obvious that they'd come from somewhere exposed to daylight. So they'd either been thrown down the shaft or they were part of the ginging at the top of the shaft. We had a quick look at the top of Wharf Main Shaft when we got out of Hillocks. Another group of cavers were down the shaft, but the ginging looked intact. I'd be interested if they noticed the smell or the lichen cover rocks.
It does appear that some idiot may have dropped some rocks off the nearby wall down the shaft. However, you do need a Derbyshire Key to lift the lid, so whoever dropped the rocks must have planned to do it beforehand.
 

Iain

New member
I was down there via the Oil Drum entrance on Monday the 9th October and there was nothing untoward at the foot of the shaft at that time. Curious!
 

pwhole

Well-known member
Folks may find this interesting - a video ascent of the Hillocks engine shaft made last year with the prototype Shaft Inspection Device (SID) by Vertex Access Group. I was present for this test, and others, and we got some pretty good results. The lithology of the various beds passed through is very interesting, and you don't normally get chance to notice much of this when concentrating on the SRT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuAIK6ArnK8
 

aardgoose

Member
Interesting device, I was speculating on the practicalities of something like this with but along the lines of using rotating 'low cost' 'lidar' type scanner to get a point cloud type model of a shaft. Adding an accelerometer to improve stability of imaging would be interesting.
 

pwhole

Well-known member
There's been several issues to resolve - some obvious, some less so. Rotation and 'jiggling' are much reduced with the two tension wires, but it'll never be rock-solid without all sorts of steadying gear, and not really necessary. Humidity, drips/inlets and 'floaters' are another big problem. The device is mainly intended for stills-imaging of the shaft walls from a static position, so it's not critical that the video camera view is perfect, but it's a very handy extra.

Anyway, back on topic, there is clearly lichen visible on the top stones of the ginging, but as this was done a year ago, doesn't really help the current situation - I haven't been back since. One thing that does intrigue me is the 'double-barrel' profile of the shaft for a way down, ending at a large ledge. It's almost as though they planned a parallel lift but then abandoned the idea. Jim Rieuwerts suggests this was probably done in the mid-19th C when the mine was re-opened and the larger level driven beneath the coffin-level.
 

AR

Well-known member
It's an abandoned widening job, Phil. This shaft (Whalf Over Engine) was originally sunk in the first half of the 18th century, but when William Wyatt took over in the 1830s for some reason he decided that particular shaft needed to be twice as wide. The work then stopped again for reasons not stated in the reckoning book (Bagshaw coll. C398) and instead they moved on to sinking the shaft in the copse, then started on Chapeldale Level and finally sank the shaft on  the back of Knotlow and the shaft above the track to Knotlow farm. As Jim will tell you, it's a real puzzle trying to establish Wyatt's motivation for some of what was done there, if he was having ideas about steam pumping then surely Crimbo Hollow shaft was a much better prospect. I do wonder whether some of the work was purely to occupy some of the local miners, Wyatt certainly funded some speculative work with little prospect of success over at Chelmorton in order to prevent impoverished local miners departing for the coalfields.
 

adamgeens

Member
I've often wondered why there are such an array of impressive shafts at Hillocks/Knotlow for what seems like relatively small amounts of extraction. I'd be interested to find out more about William Wyatt, if anyone has names of books etc. they can point me in the direction of. Thanks!
 

alastairgott

Well-known member
Lead mining in derbyshire [history, development and drainage] might have the answer. Not sure, as it would be in the volume i dont have, volume 2. (Millers dale to alport and dovedale)
 

alastairgott

Well-known member
Aha! if you search for " monyash" on the PDMHS website then you get some reasonable results https://pdmhs.co.uk/files/articles.php useful search function halfway down linked page.

There are three articles you might want to look at and most seem to be in the lead up to the EPC discoveries.
Part 1 https://pdmhs.co.uk/bulletins/the-mines-north-west-of-monyash-derbyshire.pdf
Part 2 https://pdmhs.co.uk/bulletins/the-mines-north-west-of-monyash-derbyshire---part-2.pdf
Part 3 https://pdmhs.co.uk/bulletins/the-mines-north-west-of-monyash---part-3.pdf

But dont let this put you off searching for monyash on the PDMHS website, you may (nay will) find more...
 

AR

Well-known member
Those three papers by John Robey do cover a lot of the known records, though be aware that there are mistakes in them, particulalry in the identification of the Knotlow engine shaft as Chapeldale Mine (actually located at Flagg Town Head). For info on the earliest exploration, there's Brian Saville's article in a very early edition of "The Lyre" and for info on the mid-1970s exploration, Clive Westlake's article in the EPC journal and Dave Penney's account of the sump draining at Knotlow in the PDMHS bulletin.

For more in-depth information about William Wyatt and his operations, see Lynn Willies' papers on the Barker and Wyatt families in the PDMHS bulletin.
 

adamgeens

Member
Thanks Alistair, that's some great reading there. Pleased to find out what the remains are at the bottom of Crimbo shaft, if I read it correctly. Also that they spent money 'christening' it!

AR - Thanks very much, I'll look up those research papers and reports - fascinating stuff :)

 

alastairgott

Well-known member
We went on a trip here at the weekend. 4 Entrances rigged and about 12 members around and about.
My little team descended Whalf (hillocks) climbing shaft, and had a good foray looking at all the mined passages and also the jaw dropping amounts of Natural in there. I last went in Hillocks about 6 years and 8 months ago, with my eyes shut!

One particularly interesting section of Natural passage was a downward trending Phreatic passage.
From Hillocks Engine the Location was through bottle passage, then up on the left, almost going back on yourself. The amount of blasting scree going down was impressive.
At the base of the phreatic was lovely water worn natural with mud choking it, in the Back right was a coffin level which led through to more natural and a muddy sump (I didn't look up, but in recent conversation with AlanB I believe there could have been a dig in the roof?).
we then progressed forward past the mud sump and up into a bit of a choke, I removed some rock and pushed through. Me and Pwhole then took turns to look at the progression, which was an upward trending mined passage with blasted rock on a slope up to a chamber.
We assume this could be another way back up into the chamber past Bottle passage. but we didn't push the Scree at the time, for fear we would choke ourselves in!

The natural at this level is interesting. On the Whitehouse 1980 (and Westlake) survey it shows this passage to be at 980ft and the Engine shaft top at 760ft (vertical change= 220ft, or 67metres).
Whalf (Hillocks) Engine sits at altitude 288m and Lathkill resurgence at 210m.
So by my reckoning, this natural passage sits at 11m higher than Lathkill Head cave (resurgence), and approx (a best Guess) 1.4km distant from Lathkill Tiger 7.
could be worth a look?
 

pwhole

Well-known member
It was a lovely hole and no mistake, and stained nice and brown just like they should be. It did look rather interesting at the top of the slope, as the rock on the floor around was shattered into scree-sized pieces, but loads of the stuff, not just one boulder's worth. And the coffin level, though short (10m?) clearly had a purpose for them to make the effort, though at the moment it's unclear what that was. Another interesting hole next to the sloping passage leads into two large chambers half-full of sediment, just like Pit Props in Speedwell. This must all be logged somewhere already...hopefully we'll get a response back from Crewe guys later on tonight, as their newsletter no. 65 is quoted as a reference in COPD.
 

AR

Well-known member
There's a lot to look at down there and it's by no means been fully pushed or documented. Doing a conservation audit is on my list of things to do when I get time....
 

pwhole

Well-known member
On the Lathkill Survex model it looks as though the line stops at the end of the coffin-level at 222.30m AOD, but I'm just going from memory having only been there this once. The sump pool is about 2-3m lower than that, so I'm guessing that would be about 220. The screenshot shows the model rotated so the coffin level in Hillocks and the upstream end of Lathkill Head are alongside each other - separation between those two stations according to this version is 15.14m.

Lathkillth.jpg
 

shotlighter

Active member
pwhole said:
It was a lovely hole and no mistake, and stained nice and brown just like they should be. It did look rather interesting at the top of the slope, as the rock on the floor around was shattered into scree-sized pieces, but loads of the stuff, not just one boulder's worth. And the coffin level, though short (10m?) clearly had a purpose for them to make the effort, though at the moment it's unclear what that was. Another interesting hole next to the sloping passage leads into two large chambers half-full of sediment, just like Pit Props in Speedwell. This must all be logged somewhere already...hopefully we'll get a response back from Crewe guys later on tonight, as their newsletter no. 65 is quoted as a reference in COPD.
Phil, is there any date given in the reference?
The numbering actually on the front of the news letters seems to have started after that one.
I'm sure there is/was a document somewhere tying the issues date to the number but it's possible Ralph had it.
I've a somewhat patchy collection but you never know!
The chap who I think has a more complete set than me, was not at tonights meeting unfortunately.
Nigel
 

pwhole

Well-known member
It's from 2000 - Steve Knox. I had a look on the website but they don't go that far back unfortunately.
 

shotlighter

Active member
pwhole said:
It's from 2000 - Steve Knox. I had a look on the website but they don't go that far back unfortunately.
Well typically, I can find 64 & 66 but guess what!
I'll email Steve, he's bound to have a copy.
In meantime I thought this snippet from issue 66 may be of interest;

Divers in action in Whalf!!
Flushed with success after passing the first four sumps in P8 Max was persuaded to "have a look" at the sump at the bottom of the entrance series in Hillocks. Steve Knox and Brian recall this drying out in ('76?) leaving a passage blocked by mud. Max managed to shift a few boulders(trundled in?) and was of the opinion that its worth further investigation. Pumping is being arranged using a submersible pump with a generator on the surface. Watch this space!

I don't think the pumping ever happened though.
I'll post more if & when I find it.
N
 

pwhole

Well-known member
Thanks for checking. I have a feeling that I've read Trevor Ford confirming that the way on in this sump was run-in - it has a hand-picked forefield at the far end? About 5m long to the back wall? It seems as though he knew about this phreatic tube we were discussing, as it's vaguely mentioned in Limestones and Caves of the Peak District, in 1977. He also mentions Crimbo Swallow being 15m above Lathkill Head Resurgence in there...so none of this is new, but may be more significant now more cave (and thus better models) has been found.
 

Pete K

Well-known member
alastairgott said:
One particularly interesting section of Natural passage was a downward trending Phreatic passage.
From Hillocks Engine the Location was through bottle passage, then up on the left, almost going back on yourself. The amount of blasting scree going down was impressive.
At the base of the phreatic was lovely water worn natural with mud choking it, in the Back right was a coffin level which led through to more natural and a muddy sump (I didn't look up, but in recent conversation with AlanB I believe there could have been a dig in the roof?).
we then progressed forward past the mud sump and up into a bit of a choke, I removed some rock and pushed through. Me and Pwhole then took turns to look at the progression, which was an upward trending mined passage with blasted rock on a slope up to a chamber.
We assume this could be another way back up into the chamber past Bottle passage. but we didn't push the Scree at the time, for fear we would choke ourselves in!

Yes, it was a route back up to the start of the descent 'chute'. Several people made the short round trip last night and it was very loose by all accounts. Lovely coffin level down there with quite a generous cross section.
 
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