alanw
Well-known member
Peak District: Arrests after theft of rare mineral Blue John
Police say the mineral is unique to the Peak District and not found anywhere else in the world.
www.bbc.co.uk
Arrests after theft of rare mineral Blue John
- Thread starter alanw
- Start date
www.bbc.co.uk
Lankyman
Well-known member
Is it only found in the Peak? Purple coloured fluorspar crystals can be found on the Pennine Way track down from Cross Fell towards Garrigill. Is this something else? Wainwright mentioned them in his PW guide and described building a few into a small memento cairn (so I did when I walked the PW).Peak District: Arrests after theft of rare mineral Blue John
Police say the mineral is unique to the Peak District and not found anywhere else in the world.
langcliffe
Well-known member
It's the banding of colours that make it different.
RobinGriffiths
Well-known member
I think the theory is that radioactivity in the hydrocarbons associated with the area (e.g. Windy Knoll)) has distored the crystal lattice to give the coloured bands.
LadyMud
Well-known member
Yes, apparently the name "Blue John" comes from the French "Bleu Jaune", describing the blue and yellow banding.
Mark Wright
Well-known member
I used to mine it down Blue John Cavern (in an official capacity) 40 years ago. I say mine it, all I was doing was sifting through the big piles of clay and mud in and around the Roman Level during the winter of 1984. The late Graham Ollerenshaw would be stood on the tourist path in his suit and tie while I threw all the decent sized lumps down to him for inspection. The really good lumps stayed at the top with me
For most of the smaller jewellery that is made these days you wouldn't really know which vein the BJ had come from, or whether it had actually come from the Pennine Way. I used to make Blue John jewellery from a workshop behind the Co-op in Tideswell while on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme in mid 1985. By 1986 I was sick of the sight of Blue John and became a rope access technician. My finger ends were nearly worn to the bone on the lapidary machine, making 100 pairs of 8mm ear studs every day. BJ isn't the easiest stone to work with and needs a lot of preparation to stop it crumbling apart when you saw it. Jet and Lapis were much easier to work with.
There used to be only 14 officially recognised veins of it so if you found another, the 'powers that be' wouldn't necessarily recognise it.
Didn't they find a new one in Treak Cliff Cavern a few years ago? I seem to remember hearing or reading that Moose had found another one in BJC a few years ago?
There were quite a few extensive exposures above Treak Cliff back in the 80's There used to be a really good one not far from the top entrance to Suicide cave.
For most of the smaller jewellery that is made these days you wouldn't really know which vein the BJ had come from, or whether it had actually come from the Pennine Way. I used to make Blue John jewellery from a workshop behind the Co-op in Tideswell while on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme in mid 1985. By 1986 I was sick of the sight of Blue John and became a rope access technician. My finger ends were nearly worn to the bone on the lapidary machine, making 100 pairs of 8mm ear studs every day. BJ isn't the easiest stone to work with and needs a lot of preparation to stop it crumbling apart when you saw it. Jet and Lapis were much easier to work with.
There used to be only 14 officially recognised veins of it so if you found another, the 'powers that be' wouldn't necessarily recognise it.
Didn't they find a new one in Treak Cliff Cavern a few years ago? I seem to remember hearing or reading that Moose had found another one in BJC a few years ago?
There were quite a few extensive exposures above Treak Cliff back in the 80's There used to be a really good one not far from the top entrance to Suicide cave.
Mr Mike
Active member
That wasn't with Don Edwards was it?
Mark Wright
Well-known member
Don had the Rock Shop just up the road. I used to work with Ralph Weston behind the Co-op and then he moved to a workshop in Bakewell and I took over the Tideswell workshop. My days as a Blue John jeweller were very short lived.
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