Snelslow Swallet

[pwhole]

There was a huge article on the Snelslow Swallet digging history in PDMHS' Mining History in 2021, but sadly there's no PDF version, but the reference is here if you know anyone who has a print copy:

Warriner, D.J & Arveschoug, D (2021), Exploration of Snelslow Swallet, PDMHS Mining History Vol 17, No 2, p.73 - 83. Surveys, Peak District Mines Historical Society Ltd

 

[FRASER - UKME]

There was a huge article on the Snelslow Swallet digging history in PDMHS' Mining History in 2021, but sadly there's no PDF version, but the reference is here if you know anyone who has a print copy:

Warriner, D.J & Arveschoug, D (2021), Exploration of Snelslow Swallet, PDMHS Mining History Vol 17, No 2, p.73 - 83. Surveys, Peak District Mines Historical Society Ltd

I'm a member at PDMHS so will pop into matlock to see if they can provide a copy to us. Thank you!

 

[pwhole]

I did the editing and layout on that one - it's well worth getting a copy if you can.

 

[FRASER - UKME]

*UPDATE*

The next digging session will be on the 18th of September. We will be meeting at the parking for Giants at 4:30pm(ish) and planning to exit for 9pm.

From then, we will be heading down every 3 weeks on Thursdays (9th October being the next dig after September) to try to keep it as regular as possible.

If anyone would like to join us, please reply to this thread, and we will get you put onto the chat for the digging team for updates. The more the merrier!!! Ideal head count would be 4 to help daisey chain the bags to the packing area but can be done with 3 people.

Thanks all!

 

[Goydenman]

I hope you get 4 or more people....... look forward to hearing more

 

[FRASER - UKME]

I hope you get 4 or more people....... look forward to hearing more

We managed a few bags with only 2 people last time anyway but it's just very tireing for the one hauling and packing. Should get more done next trip as we have the rigging pre set now for quicker entry and exit (only need to clip the rope on and off now)

Thanks and will update after the digging session this month

 

[FRASER - UKME]

Dig day will be on Thursday next week (18th September)

Anyone interested in helping please inbox me, we do have a few people in attendance but more hands makes light work! MUST BE COMPETANT IN SRT...

Update will be posted on the evening or the next day.

Thanks all,
Dan
UKME

 

[FRASER - UKME]

UPDATE 18/09/25

Dig day completed today with 2 in attendance, myself and Tom MX. (Elliot the toe nail couldn't make it due to an infected toe, hence the name)

We managed to pull out 24 loads between us and stacked the spoil in the main chamber. During this we tested using a 3-1 haulage system which only slowed down the digging so brute force was applied.

The dig is now about 1 ft lower and the floor is starting to level out, pretty good progress considering there was only 2 of us. We also done a bit of a draft test and it seems to be clearing which is nice so we know c02 won't be building up at the dig. We have also left another couple of ropes in there coiled up to save on carrying, please leave these as they are if you find them

Next dig day was due for 09/10/25 but as we are doing the club weekend that weekend it will now be on 10/10/25. Expected to be a much more productive day as there will be a few more members in attendance.

Plan for then will be hauling and maybe putting in an additional bolt on the ceiling for the pulley to reduce drag on the wall off the bags, we will put an update on when this is completed.

Fraser

 

[FRASER - UKME]

Update 10/10/25

Another dig day smashed out on Friday with 5 members in attendance. Fraser, Young Tom, Elliot the toe nail, Genie and Chris.

On this day, myself and Tom were the first ones down for about half 4 in the afternoon. As there was only 2 of us we decided firstly to sort out the drag buckets using one of the ones left inside by Pete and the TSG (hope this is ok). We put 2 lengths of rope onto the drag buckets one for dragging it each way.

We then set about putting a new bolt into the ceiling of the dig to reduce the drag from the bags off the wall while hauling by positioning the rope in the middle of the shaft. This proved to be much more efficient than previous hauling sessions making us very happy!

We carried on digging and managed to haul out 9 bags of spoil before the other 3 members could be heard coming down the pitches above at around 6pm. While waiting for them to land at the bottom we had a lunch break (tomatoe soup with dippy bread for me, lovely!)

While the others were there we increased the load size in each bag as we had more hands on the hauling line (filling the drag bucket in 2 bags as opposed to 3 with smaller/lighter bags). We finished off the session with 22 bags total for the afternoon accompanied by building the pack wall higher to retain more spoil from the hole.

All in all a brilliant day spent under the earth with progress slowly pushing forward, maybe another foot gained!

Next dig day will be the 30/10/25 but this will only go ahead if we have at least 3 members in attendance as today showed how much easier hauling is with 2 people, 4 being the optimum number of diggers needed for a solid session.

Plan of action now is to just haul as much as we can in 1 session and potentially mak the packing wall even higher for storing more spoil.

 

[FRASER - UKME]

Update 20/11/25

Myself and Tom MX headed into Snelslow again last night for another round of digging.

Roughly half hour to reech the bottom of the cave and get everything set up. About an hours digging and we had removed 3 drag buckets of soil before having a lunch break.

We then swapped over and done another hour with a further 4 drag buckets emptied. Once we was finished we have packed everything up and exited.

Total time underground was 3.5 hours, 2 of this at the face. Looking to the start line we made, 3-4ft of backfill has now been removed.

Now it's winter time the cave has become much more "drippey" and a small puddle of water if forming in the main chamber. Where we are digging though the water does seem to be draining away in the passage and not collecting which is a good sign!

After a closer look on the past 2 dig days we have now figured out that this side passage is actually a mined passage where natural passage has been made wider with the use of explosives. Seems we are chasing an old shaft which at the bottom turns back to natural passage just for the info

Next dig date is planned for 11/12/25 and as always, if anyone is interested in joining us, please get in touch for details.

 

[Jenny P]

There was a huge article on the Snelslow Swallet digging history in PDMHS' Mining History in 2021, but sadly there's no PDF version, but the reference is here if you know anyone who has a print copy:

Warriner, D.J & Arveschoug, D (2021), Exploration of Snelslow Swallet, PDMHS Mining History Vol 17, No 2, p.73 - 83. Surveys, Peak District Mines Historical Society Ltd

Just checked and this reference is incorrect, although it's in the Derbyshire Cave Registry (DCR). Correct reference has been sent to pwhole so the DCR should be updated by now. It is actually Vol. 21, No. 2, pp73-83.

 

[FRASER - UKME]

Update 11/12/25

Headed to the BCA library yesterday to get the documents suggested earlier in this thread. Thanks to those who suggested getting these as its a fantastic read. Have attached copies of this for anyone wanting to read them.

Yesterday myself and Chris Arnold headed into Snelslow at 16:15 and got to the bottom by 16:40. We started by setting up the drag buckets and done a few changes to the rigging creating a 2-1 system for a trial (didn’t get any photos of this but will upload after next trip). We started digging at 17:15 and done another hour before having a break

From 18:15 Tom MX and new Chris could be heard coming down the pitches so we waited for them to land before continuing the digging with the spare hand building up the second pack wall and moving spoil from behind the first pack wall to behind this one. The new 2-1 set up proving to be loads easier to use especially with 2 extra people on the digging with bags of spoil flying out faster than they could be filled up, more hauling bags will be packed when we have additional support from now on.

About 19:00 Chris Arnold exited and half hour later Ash and Nik (new to the dig) also joined us and we all swapped round on jobs to give the first party from the day a break with Nik digging, Ash and New Chris hauling leaving myself and Tom MX to deal with the drag buckets and packing in the main chamber. 20:20 saw us starting to pack away with the first caver starting to exit to sort out the call out.

Last cavers exited at 22:15 after a struggle climbing back out due to lack of energy but all came out under their own steam. Quick brew at the cars before all saying our farewells and heading off into the dark cold peak district night.

Next dig date looks to be new years day but this date will be adjusted to allow for us to get together. Maybe 02/01/2026 but this will be confirmed between the diggers.

 

[Goydenman]

sounds like a good system sorted for digging efficiently now and good progress. Thanks for the updates

 

[FRASER - UKME]

sounds like a good system sorted for digging efficiently now and good progress. Thanks for the updates

It's getting there now. Think we're on 6 sessions and this one was the most productive. Hopefully with the pack walls built and the rigging finally working how it should be it should start to move. Think overall we have nearly lowered the floor between 4 and 6 foot but I didn't get a chance to get to the bottom and have a final look of how much we have removed yesterday.

 

[FRASER - UKME]

Update 02/01/2026

A few days ago 3 of us went digging. Myself & Young Tom starting the day going into the cave at 3pm and hit the bottom of main chamber by half 3. We started off by rigging in the 2-1 system and then moved some of the spoil from the bottom pack wall to the top to give us room so we could start digging more out.

We done a steady hour and a half digging before having a spot of food. Again we moved some more spoil from the bottom pack to the top. A bigger spade needs taking down for this in future as this is a big time waster at the moment. Discussions ongoing about wether we are taking in some sand bags due to lack of rock for a bigger pack wall.

Not long after this Tom MX joined us at half 5ish and again we started digging more spoil out which made things much easier. We have started to uncover some remnants from the last cavers digging here with some sort of pipe/cable sticking out the floor (bottom of the dig face photo close to the bag).

We ended up packing away at half 8 due to the croll, we are using to capture the rope, got over worn and became a bit to dodgy to use (nearly dropping a bag at one point) so Young Tom made some more room for packing spoil ready for the next dig day later in the month while the other 2 tidied everything away. By half 9 all of us were walking back across the snowy & frozen solid mud to the vehicles before a nice slow drive home...

Returning later in the month so we will update then.

 

[FRASER - UKME]

Update 16/01/26

On Friday 4 of us (myself, Tom MX, Young Tom and Chris B) headed to Snelslow and we're headed underground for roughly 3pm. This time we were armed with sand bags and a much better spade which helped massively through out the afternoon.

We started the day with discussions on where we were going to use the sand bags before prepping the selected area for a new bit of packing space due to the method we were using so far being much too slow due to double handling spoil constantly.

An alcove was selected and the haulage rigging was set up. We decided today to have a go at using a petzl traction mini on the head of the pitch which seemed to make thing much easier! Only down fall of this was the excessive wear on the teeth during one session (see attached photo).

Overall we have managed to lower the dig over a foot in one session showing how much faster the haulage was working with the new area for packing spoil. At the bottom of the dig we have now exposed some air line pipe from the original diggers which is suggesting we are close to start breaking virgin ground. Let's see what happens over the new few sessions!

We will update after the next session which is planned to be a Thursday afternoon. Untill then.

Fraser

 

[AlanClark]

Is that the 2nd toothed device that's met its end on the dig rope? You might want to use a pulley and prussick, less likely to be worn away by grit in a single session.

Looks like you're making good progress though.

 

[FRASER - UKME]

Is that the 2nd toothed device that's met its end on the dig rope? You might want to use a pulley and prussick, less likely to be worn away by grit in a single session.

Looks like you're making good progress though.

Yeah 2nd peice of gear we have gone through. We have 1 more croll we have brought between us. Once this has gone we are thinking about using a prussik. Also taking a container down to catch water to clean the rope between sessions.

Progress is going good, just got to stick with it!

I would attach photos but it won't let me do it for some reason?

 

[Goydenman]

thanks for the updates.... looks to be going well

 

[monka]

Hi, we were thinking of heading down snelslow on tuesday evening, would that be Ok? Don't want to disturb anything or get in the way.