Tankard Shaft Dig
- Thread starter Duncan S
- Start date
David Rose
Active member
Is there a chance it may lead you into natural cave?
Duncan S
New member
It's not going to be an easy survey - almost entirely short legs through the boulder ruckle.mrodoc said:
Which is why despite starting the day with best intentions we gave up once we realised the scale and complexity of the place.
We really need to borrow a Disto, and ideally someone experienced at using it
Please can anyone willing to help get in touch with Sarah Payne - thanks!
30m is roughly half way to the original Tankard Hole entrance, and Tankard Hole descended through boulder ruckle chambers slightly South of the entrance.
Once we have a decent survey, it will be intriguing to see how close we are to those chambers. The feeling at the moment is that we are quite close. The draught in the mine appears to be coming from the general direction of Tankard Hole. There is a strong possibility by following the draught we will be able to make a connection.
Is the mine documented?
Easy answer is 'no'.
I have the Mendip Colours book about Ochre mining on Mendip; this part of Mendip isn't even mentioned as an outlying area of interest.
Presumably, this is just one of those weird geological twists Mendip seems prone to.
If anyone knows of a source that might document the existence of the mine, please get in touch!
Duncan S
New member
Yes - we think so!David Rose said:
The rift in Hole 2 appears natural and is on the East side of the mine.
At various places, also on the East side of the mine the wall doesn't appear to be a boulder ruckle but 'real' rock. They could simply be huge boulders but that's not the impression we are getting.
Plus the pit in the final chamber, from what we can see of it, also looks like it could be a natural feature.
If we are right, then there is real rock lying to the East, which is also where the draught seems to be coming from and could lead us to natural cave.
Peter Burgess
New member
It's worth contacting those cavers with a good knowledge of the Somerset ochre industry.
http://www.mcra.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=for_sale
Best place to start would be the authors of Earth Colours - see the above link.
http://www.mcra.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=for_sale
Best place to start would be the authors of Earth Colours - see the above link.
Leclused
Active member
Just try to solve the puzzle
Could it be that Tankyard shaft = Orr's CLose mine ?
Orr's
http://www.mcra.org.uk/registry/sitedetails.php?id=198
The description could match, and the location of orr's is not known exactly according to the documentation.
(Survey) Plan of orr's can be found here
http://bec-cave.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1148:belfry-bulletin-no-517-autumn-2003&catid=68&Itemid=508&showall=&limitstart=6&lang=en
Could it be that Tankyard shaft = Orr's CLose mine ?
Orr's
http://www.mcra.org.uk/registry/sitedetails.php?id=198
The description could match, and the location of orr's is not known exactly according to the documentation.
(Survey) Plan of orr's can be found here
http://bec-cave.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1148:belfry-bulletin-no-517-autumn-2003&catid=68&Itemid=508&showall=&limitstart=6&lang=en
Duncan S
New member
One of the problems is that the shaft doesn't fall in any of the documented Mendip lead and ochre production regions. Stockhill is one, and the A39 area is another; but we are in no-mans land between them.bograt said:
If anyone knows of records for the area East of the Hunters Lodge and South of Stockhill, please can you get in touch.
Another problem, assuming this is an Ochre mine, is that at least one of the neighbouring regions didn't bother taxing early Ochre production; this was changed later on but early Ochre production wasn't well recorded.
We need to get it confirmed this is an Ochre mine, and not Calamine or Lead.
Duncan S
New member
We are definitely NOT in Orr's Close!Leclused said:Just try to solve the puzzle
Could it be that Tankyard shaft = Orr's CLose mine ?
Orr's
http://www.mcra.org.uk/registry/sitedetails.php?id=198
The description could match, and the location of orr's is not known exactly according to the documentation.
(Survey) Plan of orr's can be found here
http://bec-cave.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1148:belfry-bulletin-no-517-autumn-2003&catid=68&Itemid=508&showall=&limitstart=6&lang=en
The map is very clear about where the entrance is located. The Tumuli West of all those mine entrances is located East of Tankard Shaft. The MCRA position for Tankard Shaft is accurate.
Also, the survey looks very different. Orr's Close has a natural rift off the bottom of the shaft leading to the bulk of the mine. Tankard Shaft only has one small rift that doesn't go anywhere, the rest is a complex labyrinth in a boulder ruckle.
However, it was interesting to read from your link that it was thought Orr's Close was an Ochre mine, but was later decided it was a Lead mine.
We need to get Tankard Shaft looked at by someone with more experience than we have!
Leclused
Active member
Duncan S said:We are definitely NOT in Orr's Close!Leclused said:Just try to solve the puzzle
Could it be that Tankyard shaft = Orr's CLose mine ?
Orr's
http://www.mcra.org.uk/registry/sitedetails.php?id=198
The description could match, and the location of orr's is not known exactly according to the documentation.
(Survey) Plan of orr's can be found here
http://bec-cave.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1148:belfry-bulletin-no-517-autumn-2003&catid=68&Itemid=508&showall=&limitstart=6&lang=en
The map is very clear about where the entrance is located. The Tumuli West of all those mine entrances is located East of Tankard Shaft. The MCRA position for Tankard Shaft is accurate.
Also, the survey looks very different. Orr's Close has a natural rift off the bottom of the shaft leading to the bulk of the mine. Tankard Shaft only has one small rift that doesn't go anywhere, the rest is a complex labyrinth in a boulder ruckle.
However, it was interesting to read from your link that it was thought Orr's Close was an Ochre mine, but was later decided it was a Lead mine.
We need to get Tankard Shaft looked at by someone with more experience than we have!
Next step could be to take a look at the lidar data of the region to spot other shafts in the area of tankard. It seems that your area has been mapped /studied. So the lidar data should be available somewhere.
https://content.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/aggregate-landscape-of-somerset-central-mendip/Central_Mendip_ALSF_NMP_Report_web.pdf/
I use Lidar data (in Belgium) to do prospection from behind my PC.
Duncan Price
Active member
Duncan S said:
I have specimens of ochre and galena collected from the Ore's Close area - so possibly both were extracted.
Leclused
Active member
Duncan S said:Leclused said:
That's a very interesting link!
I didn't spot anything relevant to the area Tankard Shaft is located, but no doubt the raw data is out there somewhere!
Has anyone got any ideas where to start or who to ask?
Thanks
Here perhaps
http://environment.data.gov.uk/ds/survey/index.jsp#/survey?grid=ST54
tony from suffolk
Well-known member
I wonder if there's an old survey of the original Tankard Hole somewhere? IIRC it went down through a very deep boulder ruckle.
