Gentlewomans Shaft and Pipe

Madness

New member
Had a evening trip down Gentlewomans the other night. Judging by the nettles and brambles around the shaft top nobody has been down it for a while.

Anyway, we had no intention of doing the through trip, so we just had a mooch about in the workings.

A couple of things caught my eye and raised a glimmer of interest:-

Near the bottom of the shaft, just past the muddy section through to the main workings there's a fissure that appears to be backfilled with rocks and sand. There looks to be enough gap above the fill to crawl up the fissure. Does anyone know anyone who's been up it?

Next. Down the pipe past the short climb down with the fixed rope and through the first tight bit is a chamber with a shaft. There's animal bones and rubbish at the shaft bottom suggesting it's open at the top. Is the shaft top accessible?

Just before this shaft there's a natural water worn shaft on the left with a constriction about 30 feet up. Is anyone aware of any exploration of this?
 

pwhole

Well-known member
I think I know where you mean by the fissure filled with rocks and sand - but after leaving the shaft 'chamber' did you duck under the low arch at right into the natural chamber - before turning left toward the main route? If so, it's probably quarry collapse, but this is more of a huge pile through a hole than a fissure. If not, and it's in the pipe workings above the passage, then no, I don't.

I think the base of the shaft with the animal bones is Gentlewoman's or Queen Shaft, and according to the PDMHS Bulletin, Vol 8, No. 2 it's blocked at the surface. Upper Close Shaft further downslope is meant to be open, and the bottom 30 feet utilised a natural hading fissure, but it sounds like you haven't gone that far downslope - it's after the climbs up and down. I did climb into some natural around there a couple of years ago, but I didn't go very far as we were on a deadline - I did find a monster shothole nearby that was way larger diameter than usual.

It's all very interesting down there and the phreatic features near the shaft base that (some with sediment infill remaining) are extremely interesting, considering where they are. This cave chamber is the one I mentioned - the low arch from the main route is at centre left, so it's not far away.

To avoid any GDPR issues I can't say who it is in the photo until they give me consent! ;)
 

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markpot

Member
Mad,have you got a rough guestimation of how far down the hill this is?can you referr to any suface features?i think i know the features your looking at but I've not been down there for a while. looked at the pdmhs doc phil posted and the bar masters and think this could be near to something we are exploreing at the moment which has plenty of natural in.
 

Madness

New member
Phil - You're spot on about which fissure I'm refering to. I first thought that it headed towards the quarry face, but it's roughly at 90 degrees to the run of the main pipe. Looking at the survey on the PDMHS bulletin that would suggest it goes elsewhere.

Also looking at the PDMHS bulletin, the shaft cross-sections seem to suggest that the shaft with the litter and animal bones is Upper Close shaft. It has rope marks just above the floor suggesting that it was a bit deeper at some point.

Mark - The natural water worn shaft is about 10 metres or so before Upper Close shaft. Probably no more than 100 metres downslope from Gentlewomans shaft. About 2 feet above ground level at the bottom of the shaft there are some fist sized rocks 'glued' in place by calcite, suggesting that the ground at the base of the shaft has dropped a little.

The whole place gives me the impression that it has a lot more secrets to reveal. I don't know how much serious exploration has been done there. We clambered about in the stopes a bit the other night, but I'd want to put an few bolts it if I were going much higher as a slip could have you rattling your way down to the bottom of the stope. I don't think it would be an easy rescue for a stretcher case.

There was some talk last year (I think) on Aditnow suggesting a bit of a group meet at Gentlewomans. I'd definately still be up for that if people were interested.
 

AR

Well-known member
I think this needs someone to scale the Flindall & Hayes survey over satellite imagery to link the surface features with the underground - I'm not volunteering, far too much on at the moment!

There is plenty still to do in that area, never assume that a well-visited system has been thoroughly explored...
 

ganjaman

New member
hi im new here but not to being underground if you want a hand digging or anything let me know could do with finding some decent people with interest in lead mines and srt
 
Phil mentions having seen a "monster shothole" in these workings. Any details of this would be of great interest to Jim Rieuwerts (and myself) as possible evidence of early gunpowder work.

Adam mentions about using our survey to scale over surface features - I have no objections to that use.
 

ganjaman

New member
it aint big and it aint clever but sure im not only one on here that uses other means when they sick of shovels n picks
 

alastairgott

Well-known member
You're right Ganja, we've all got many tools under the belt. Makes it much easier if you've got the right tool for the right job.
 

ganjaman

New member
I peeled a small amount of rock back around the door at crich for a test I think il be opening that up real soon tbh seems nobody has been in there yet
 

ganjaman

New member
I didn't know this all I could find out was it goes crazy deep and there is a capped shaft which is flooded I heard a rumour there is a way at the back of the quarry but as nobody seemed to have been in I thought it was bs
 

mikem

Well-known member
It's a lot easier to find out about this sort of stuff & get access to places if you're part of a group....
 

alastairgott

Well-known member
Mike, you're talking to a Ghost now. Given we're coming up to Halloween, Ganja wanted to sacrifice his login so he can be a free spirit.
 

pwhole

Well-known member
History Trog - I did mention the monster shothole to Jim after I saw it, but for once - no evidence! I'd left the camera packed up and way behind us when I found it, so resolved to get a photo next time - and I will.

I've had some joy overlaying the entire survey from the PDMHS Bulletin in Google Earth, but with only equal scaling and rotation I can't quite get it to fit - I'm using the river as a landmark, but it may not have been drawn that accurately in the first place. I may have to resort to manual (uneven) scaling and see if I can stretch to fit. Trouble is, there's so many trees up there it's almost impossible to spot any features.
 
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