Clatterway Level

Madness

New member
We had a trip down Clatterway Level at Bonsall the other night and did a fair bit of exploring. But there were still plenty of passages that we didn't get time to explore fully.
I was wondering if there is any sort of survey available. It would help make sense of a quiet complex and confusing series of passageways.

I was wondering how close Clatterway got to Ball Eye Mine. There's a lot of back-filled passages in Clatterway. Perhaps one might connect to Ball Eye.
 

markpot

Member
There could be a strong possibility of a connection with the Ball Eye workings.Looking at the ball eye survey ,the workings extend northwards towards the clatterway levels and Barker mentions they were part of the Ball Eye pipe. There is also the Houghton pipe close by which we had a poke in not so long ago,and some of the workings do trend north towards the end of Ball Eye and Clatterway.Really interesting area. Ball Eye to clatterway would be decent through trip if a connection could be found. There are some open shafts up in the woods above covered by metal sheets that may warrant investigation.
 

markpot

Member
I'm guessing Ball Eye worked Brynes pipe as part of the same title?or was this a unassociated independent venture?
 
Clatterway (Brogdale) was surveyed by myself and Andy Hayes in about 1972. I seem to recall that Nick Butcher published our survey in his PhD thesis along with his own survey of the sough level.
The Clatterway workings are an extension of the Houghton Pipe run; they end in a backfill eastwardly as I remember.
 

AR

Well-known member
I think Brynes Pipe was a separate title, but without consulting the Barmaster's books I couldn't say for certain. The shaft with the steel plate over it doesn't drop into particularly extensive workings, though from recollection there were chokes at both ends. The shaft with the steel bars over it may connect with Houghton; I've dropped that and it goes into a level with a winze at the end that looked free-climbable but I was the only one down there at the time so I didn't push it further. However, what I'd got into matched very well with Lawrence Hurt's description of the limit's of NMRG's exploration of Houghton Pipe.
 

markpot

Member
Who owns the land that the workings are on?Im guessing its not the qaurry due to the boundry fence.? There would be some decent digging potential here if permission could be gained.
 

Big Jim

Member
AR said:
I think Brynes Pipe was a separate title, but without consulting the Barmaster's books I couldn't say for certain. The shaft with the steel plate over it doesn't drop into particularly extensive workings, though from recollection there were chokes at both ends. The shaft with the steel bars over it may connect with Houghton; I've dropped that and it goes into a level with a winze at the end that looked free-climbable but I was the only one down there at the time so I didn't push it further. However, what I'd got into matched very well with Lawrence Hurt's description of the limit's of NMRG's exploration of Houghton Pipe.

Did you go with Lampwick to those Adam?  Id mentioned them to him last year, along with the one that Andy found hidden in bramble with rems of an old Stow over it at approx. SK28475764. I also stumbled across an open shaft in the wood just above 'The Bungalow' at approx. SK28525749 from memory.
 

Lampwick

Member
Big Jim said:
Did you go with Lampwick to those Adam? ...

We had a good nosey, the old stowes was actually remains of an old wheel and the shaft was blind. Hawkeye and myself trampled over that area many times while surveying Hollow Phinnis, glad Andy spotted it before we fell down it.

The shaft AR mentions with a metal plate over it was surveyed and went for about 34m, running parallel to Houghton Pipe.

Simplified Clatterway survey, metal lid shaft working and Houghton Pipe relationship shown below, Hollow Phinnis omitted as we're still working on that survey...
 

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Lampwick

Member
History Trog said:
Clatterway (Brogdale) was surveyed by myself and Andy Hayes in about 1972. I seem to recall that Nick Butcher published our survey in his PhD thesis along with his own survey of the sough level.

It's quite likely that I have used a partial copy of that thesis in my posession as the source for some of my data. On that assumption I'd like to acknowledge R.Flindall, A.Hayes and N.Butcher for their contribution.
 

Big Jim

Member
So from that then Mart I presume that the open shaft I mention that was just into the woodland north of The Bungalow will almost certainly be part of the Houghton Pipe workings.
Anyone ever dropped the covered shaft outside the entrance to Ruggs Hall?
 
Sorry folks i made a mistake about our Clatterway survey being in Nick Butcher's thesis. It was a long while ago and my memory had elided events. What happened was that i gave a copy of our survey to Nick as a favour and he passed it to Colin Oakman (without my permission) and Colin used it (very small scale) in his thesis but credited it to Doug Nash (who had nothing to do with it), much to my annoyance. I have a copy of this and will see if i can get it to attach.
What interested me particularly about the survey was the rift working that leads off the top of a roof shaft at the northwest end of the Clatterway system. It could be accessed through the bodyhole in the hillside above the sloping footpath up the hillside - a very tight rift leads to the shaft top. We put an 8 foot long iron pole over this. The passage beyond was only 3 ft high and 18 inches wide, completely backfilled with rubble - i wanted to dig it because there was a good air flow into it in summer but the only place to dump the rubble was down the shaft, which seemed a bad idea. Also i was working by myself and i found it a very tight squeeze to get along the rift, being clumsy and broad-shouldered. It presumably leads into roof workings high above the end of Brogdale Sough. This rift is the vein crossing the north end of the survey marked A.
I will see if I can attach it - am no good with this stuff. Apologies for giving a wrong ref - memory no good, lived too long.
 

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Just realised that I should have mentioned that the survey of Brogdale Sough on this plan by Colin Oakman was the work of Nick Butcher. The Ball Eye plan was just a rough out from Lawrence Hurt's survey,
 

Jenny P

Active member
Madness said:
Thanks for the replies guys. I'll see if I can find the PhD thesis online.

We have a printed and bound copy of Nick Butcher's Thesis at the British Caving Library - it came from John Beck's collection.  We also have all John's collection of surveys and maps and have just finished cataloguing the ones he kept separately in cardboard tubes; we're just starting on his 8-drawer map chest.

Many of the mines surveys from Glebe Cottage went straight to PDMHS and many of these had actually been Doug Nash's.  We felt it was more appropriate to pass the mining material on as BCL concentrates more of caving.
 

Madness

New member
Thanks for all the info guys.

Historytrog's map proves that Clatterway and Ball Eye are nowhere near each other.

It's interesting that neither Historytrog's or Lampwick's maps show the upper entrance to Clatterway behind the cottages just off the footpath.
 

Madness

New member
According to Peakdistrictcaving.info there's a survey in CCPC newsletter number 73. Unfortunately the oldest newsletter on their website is number 81.

Anyone got a copy of number 73?
 
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