Historical reports from visitors

[mikem]

Some mining content is coming up in (including many other links that could be checked for relevance):

Ye olden days cave names

I’ve recently read through a couple of older publications about the caves in Yorkshire, the first being “A tour of the caves in the environs of Ingleborough and Settle" By John Hutton, published in 1780. The second was "Cave Hunting" By William Boyd Dawkins (who was a mate of John Birkbeck)...

ukcaving.com

 

[Mrs Trellis]

It's ironic I suppose that a visitor's report of a mine visit would provide a key to re-discoveries in the Peak/Speedwell system.

 

[mikem]

Not that ironic, as a visit is something special, whilst miners were there most every day

 

[Jenny P]

Some mining content is coming up in (including many other links that could be checked for relevance):

Ye olden days cave names

I’ve recently read through a couple of older publications about the caves in Yorkshire, the first being “A tour of the caves in the environs of Ingleborough and Settle" By John Hutton, published in 1780. The second was "Cave Hunting" By William Boyd Dawkins (who was a mate of John Birkbeck)...

ukcaving.com

That book is totally magic! I have the reprint which was done a few years ago now and it is absolutely fascinating to read - well worth nacquiring a copy if you get the chance.

 

[mikem]

Trevor shaw's article about the book mentions Thomas pennant's (1774-76) visit to Whitehaven collieries & sulivan (1780) in the Derbyshire lead mines

 

[Cantclimbtom]

It's ironic I suppose that a visitor's report of a mine visit would provide a key to re-discoveries in the Peak/Speedwell system.

Not sure if your italics were drawing attention to a visit in a mine giving info (rather than mine captain's survey or notes) but the "official" records were probably kept secret in case their shareholders read them 😄.
Or whether you meant by that that mine info found new cave (Titan and so forth). In which case it has to be noted that Derbyshire doesn't have any mines or caves. It has maves (mines with some cavey bits) and cines (caves with miney bits). Plus the whole lot in-between 🤣

 

[pwhole]

These inscriptions are in Roger Rains House in the showcave section of Peak Cavern at the inner end of the connecting tunnel to the Great Cave - the top one appears to be 'D. Sylvester 1747'. There's a lot more than this throughout the tunnel, all very old.

Also below that is Elias Pedley's signature at the top of the Devil's Staircase; Pedley was a pretty famous Castleton lead miner, in that he hosted a visit by famous French geologist Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond at Nunlowend Mine (now within the cement works complex and largely destroyed), as he'd found a lead vein within toadstone (Pindale Tuff), and which was thought to be 'impossible', geologically. Saint-Fond saw the vein and rather than accommodating the new information, simply stated that the rock wasn't toadstone (it was). I saw a new vein in toadstone only two miles away just a month ago, so he was talking bolloques, though it was 1784 to be fair. Much of this was summarised by Jim Rieuwerts in an article in the PDMHS Bulletin, and I took Jim in to see this inscription on his last trip underground in April 2016. Lumbago Walk was aptly named, as it took Jim at least five minutes to get through it, though he was 84 at the time.

https://pdmhs.co.uk/MiningHistory/Bulletin 12-2 - Elias Pedley, a Castleton Lead Miner and his Contribution to early Geological Thought.pdf

 

[rm128]

it has to be noted that Derbyshire doesn't have any mines or caves. It has maves (mines with some cavey bits) and cines (caves with miney bits). Plus the whole lot in-between 🤣

No "mines" I can believe, but no "caves"? I'm not saying you're wrong, but it's hard to believe that there are no caves not intersected by mines.