Much armchair caving has brought me to a point where there are many ways on but all go down, and all will require lots of work.


Followers of the topic on tying up some loose ends will have seen this. But As my primary objective is to get to link up with P8 beyond sump 6 i think there is only one option, to dig "windle and rush mine"

alastairgott said:

Relating to the shafts circled by mr eavis is an article from PDHMS http://www.pdmhs.com/PDFs/ScannedBulletinArticles/Bulletin%2014-5%20-%20A%20History%20and%20Gazetteer%20of%20the%20Mines%20in%20the.pdf


Read from the diagram at the bottom of page 6 onwards. Windle and rush and eldon end mine seem the be the names we're after.

Click to expand...

The mines are in the northern wall of eldon quarry, and therefore before I can go any futher I will need to gain permission.


Once i've got this I want to start to push the project, but to do so i will need some willing helpers. The digging contigent in the TSG is quite small, and with funded projects already being undertaken this year I cannot (really) steal any of them.
So I guess if you've got any people who might want to do a little digging in your club, you're going to be 100% better than me at it
Even if you're a student group (Suss, Musc, Ulsa or further afield), I'd quite like to get you involved.


Stage 1 (after permission) is to dig a timbered shaft, much like the badgers in rowter and the eldon in eldon hole, in the floor of the quarry to reopen the shaft. (I don't know how to do this, cos i'm rubbish, and it may not even be necessary)




The location of windle and rush mines:
See Rob's post on the other thread http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=17892.msg235947#msg235947

How is the access situation for just an on the ground eyeball of the area indicated, just to get an idea of the visible remains up close and personal, the technical aspects of getting to the site, etc?

Access to the quarry is fine so long as the logbook is completed. Scroll down the DCA homepage a short way for the full details in PDF: http://www.thedca.org.uk/

Alistair
Count me in.

T

Alastair, the mine in the quarry floor is most likely Eldon End, while the Windle and Rush Mine engine shaft by my reckoning is on the upper bench of the quarry, just before you meet the outdrop of Slitherstones Rake in the quarry face - on Rob's annotated GE screengrab there's a promising-looking pile of stones just to the left of the line of the rake. This would make sense for an engine shaft aiming for a slightly hading vein, and although it's a fair while since I last had a look at the exposure in the quarry face, from recollection I think there was a slight hade to the south.

However, take note of the comments in Chris Heathcote's article from the late Tony Marsh about the descent in the 1950s and the potential shaft depth (70fm, or 128m) so even if it is intact and not backfilled it could make for a challenging dive, and by the fact it's holding water suggests a blockage? Putting all that aside, I was thinking about going up for a look over the bank holiday weekend if you're interested?

It's a shame cos I was going to Abbreviate it to W.A.R. Mine.

Guess it might have to be Eldon End Mine.

Bank holiday, sure, what day? we'll get it marked on the Eldon quarry survey at the gate.

If you're after recruiting diggers, the monthly Eldon PC meet is this Thursday, at the Red Lion in Litton from 9pm onwards....

I would have thought that any shafts within the working quarry would have suffered badly during the quarries operational period.
If a shaft opened up it would surely have been filled with quarry waste to make safe? No one is going to leave a shaft open in a working quarry, otherwise someone or something would end up in it.

Would it not be wiser to look at shafts outside of the quarry?

Also does anyone know at what depth below the quarry floor that water might be encountered?

There seems a fair bit of interest in the Eldon Hill area, and it seems logical that there's a lot of cave/mine to be discovered/rediscovered. IS this mine the one that's most likely to yield results.

I hope I'm not sounding negative, that's not my intention. I've been following the 'loose ends' thread and found it really interesting and inspiring. Pity that I've got no spare time to commit to digging.

a few suss members will be up for it

For a small amount of background, it might be worth reading Lead Mining in Derbyshire, Vol 1, p80.

Chris heathcote speculated that the Windle and Rush mine propreitors knew that P8 passages were very close.

Also, the book (Rieuwerts) mentions that the workings off the Engine Shaft Adam notes. extended to 110 fathoms.

Hi Madness, yes it could be a long project, but hey, who ever got any results without some hard work. Sure quarrying deads may have been thrown down but given its a surface project with lots of open space we shouldn't have any trouble clearing that.

I think that picking the western most shaft is a wise move, but will probably have a gander at the others as well to see what their state is. Reason behind maybe picking the western most one (quarry floor) is that for one it will be easier for people to work on, and two we need to follow the vein out that way (west) in order to get closer to p8. So if this one were to connect at the bottom to the other mines and the passages between them are blocked then not only are you starting on a higher quarry level (requiring more hauling) you will also need to dig out the bottoms

Rob, i hope i don't have to join the eldon... I think i've been to that pub once, someone recognised a nearby land rover with a padlock on the fuel cap...
I'll be there as it's not a school night.

Stating the obvious Im sure but.... if you start digging any choked shafts in the quarry area, please makes sure they are made safe from the start - ie fenced or capped. A few people I know had a poke at a feature at the far east end of the quarry just off the slitherstones track some years ago. They left a hole about 2m deep that Maurice Gregory (the farmer) found and wasn't too happy that one of his sheep could have fallen in. I had to nip up and back fill it asap. His sheep get everywhere in that place!  Pete Mellors (DCA) along with others have put a lot into securing access for caving and digging in the quarry so lets try and keep it that way. Good luck Ali.
J

You know me, i'll make sure of that

Primarily i guess we have to worry about working at quarry level and the top of the quarry. If any work is done on the 1st and second terraces we don't need to worry as much about sheep? Wont start any work just yet, just waiting for a reply before i do, (don't worry jim, its not from you).

For an initial recce, at the moment I'm free on Friday though we might want to keep an eye on the weather before confirming that. Also, I've been through a large wad of maps John Barnatt gave me a while back and found among them Chris Heathcote's working plans for his Peak Forest liberty article! According to these, the Windle and Rush title is to the north-east of the track, everything within the quarry is the Eldon End title.

Something that might be worthwhile looking at is relative levels of the shafts in the area in comparison to P8?

If anybody has information on the levels beyond the sumps in P8 I'd be very interested to see it. I'm having a crack at sump 6 (if I can get there this time) on Sunday.

Last time it had backed up about 15 vertical feet.

There's no data from Sump 4 onwards in the Castleton Caves Survex project.  :thumbsdown:

There is an elevation drawing on the 2006 JSB survey up to Sump 10, but i guess if you're working in Sump 6 you've got this? If not let me know...

A mate of mine has just put some dots on a map so i now know where sump 6 is...

I'll just clarify, that we're looking to drop in after sump 6 :s where most of the water from p8 goes eastwards. He's pointed out that theres some distance between the mine and sump 6.

Just thought i'd be honest.

But still, who knows where the water goes after 6, but it'll definately pick up giants water somewhere along the line and eventually wind up in whirlpool rising or main rising (speedwell)

^you bugger ah147 , i know who you are...

Rob said:

There's no data from Sump 4 onwards in the Castleton Caves Survex project.  :thumbsdown:

There is an elevation drawing on the 2006 JSB survey up to Sump 10, but i guess if you're working in Sump 6 you've got this? If not let me know...

Click to expand...

Cheers for clarifying this Rob.

I've got the survey but sent you a PM too.


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alastairgott said:

^you bugger ah147 , i know who you are...

Click to expand...

You officially admitted you instigated a race against the divers on your last thread just to antagonise me....

So I'm getting involved in both projects so no matter what, I win.


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