pwhole
Well-known member
Our dye traces from Longcliffe Mine, Son of Longcliffe and the Cowlow Nick wet-weather sink all proved an alternative route to the resurgences some 400m north of the Speedwell streamway - indeed this water may join the water from Blue John and Treak Cliff Caverns (and potentially some of the water from Rowter Hole and Winnats Head Cave) en-route. It's my contention (with no further solid evidence so far), that there is another streamway, parallel to the Speedwell streamway, but close to the shale boundary, and running under Goosehill Hall. I also suspect some sort of relationship between WHC, the Halfway House Series in Speedwell, and the Longcliffe system, although there's little evidence of any vadose development in Longcliffe - it's all hypogenic/phreatic at the bottom end, and I suspect the current stream that flows through is relatively modern.
Of particular interest was the tracing output from Peakshole Sough, originally driven to de-water the Longcliffe mines, but abandoned just over halfway to its goal - it's generally understood that the abandonment was due to poor ore returns in the thin vein they were following, and they were consequently unable to afford further driveage. However it's also possible that the knowledge that the mine/cave system was essentially self-draining may have persuaded the owners to give it up as pointless. What's really interesting though is that the water actually rises from the floor of the level only about 20m inside the entrance. Even more interesting is that the detection times were the same, but whilst the dye from PS was very concentrated, RW and SM were very weak. This strongly suggests a 'mixing chamber' beneath the slope of Goosehill, where all these flows converge before resurging.
We do plan to repeat all these traces after further work to try and improve the drainage from SoL, as the outlet for the water is very small, and regularly sumps the lower passage in wet weather - although it always does drain away. But given that's perched far higher than any known streamway, and given the speed of travel, it suggests a vertical system of some sort nearby, and probably underneath the Speedwell Vent. None of the Longcliffe ore accounts I've seen explicitly mention known watercourses, but one reference does mention two guys being paid for 'driving in swallo'.
Of particular interest was the tracing output from Peakshole Sough, originally driven to de-water the Longcliffe mines, but abandoned just over halfway to its goal - it's generally understood that the abandonment was due to poor ore returns in the thin vein they were following, and they were consequently unable to afford further driveage. However it's also possible that the knowledge that the mine/cave system was essentially self-draining may have persuaded the owners to give it up as pointless. What's really interesting though is that the water actually rises from the floor of the level only about 20m inside the entrance. Even more interesting is that the detection times were the same, but whilst the dye from PS was very concentrated, RW and SM were very weak. This strongly suggests a 'mixing chamber' beneath the slope of Goosehill, where all these flows converge before resurging.
We do plan to repeat all these traces after further work to try and improve the drainage from SoL, as the outlet for the water is very small, and regularly sumps the lower passage in wet weather - although it always does drain away. But given that's perched far higher than any known streamway, and given the speed of travel, it suggests a vertical system of some sort nearby, and probably underneath the Speedwell Vent. None of the Longcliffe ore accounts I've seen explicitly mention known watercourses, but one reference does mention two guys being paid for 'driving in swallo'.
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