The Mine Shafts Project. Hydrology.

[The Old Ruminator]

Work started at the 20m platform adjacent to the dry level in Shaft One.



Main bracing pole gets bolted to the level wall.



The engineer/photographer and man about town checks the work.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Mike driving in the stainless steel pole support pin.



Temporary pole and decking going in.



Connor passes by.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Mike in the dry level and me on the platform. The platform is supported by the overhead ladders. These run up to the top platform which in turn is supported from above by another ladder which all ends at the anchor point for the whole lot in the entrance tube. Essentially no matter what detaches from the shaft wall it would all " swing " off the anchor point at the top.



View out of the level to the platform before all of the deads were removed.



Horizontal bearers on pins in the wall.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Clay pipe in the level.



The enigmatic view beyond the next shaft and big overhand stope. We cannot cross it. Better call in the engineer.



Is that a cavern beyond ?



Dont fall down the big hole.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Getting tired so doubled up. Correct image.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Zoom shot across the abyss.



Selfie on the platform.



The doc coming in.



Connor has a look.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Casting box for concrete reducer at the adit. 900mm down to 600mm.



600mm twin tube in place ready for concreting.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Triassic deads in the level now removed. It seems that the level predated one of the shafts and was used to dump material from it.



A big limestone dead near the abyss.



My first view into the abyss where the water level has a range of nearly 7m.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

A low part in the level now cleared. This shows the geology. Limestone slates left. byrite lode centre top , solid limestone bedding right.



Collapsed slates left with exposed lode top.





Looking back at the level from a point above the abyss.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

More if it rains tomorrow. What lies beyond the big hole ?

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Oh. Before I go where it all started for me way back when I read the top bit in caving literature in the mid 1960's. I have redacted this bit to comply with our licence. The piece has appeared in mine and caving literature over the years so is not a big secret. Anyway please dont speculate on here. The top bit was written in 1795 with a retrospective account bottom in 1816. There seems to be confusion regarding types of measurement but in essence I think they match up. The geology is correct with the caverns going down dip to the east. The spar lode is mentioned leading us to believe that the caverns are associated with it. Its present in all of the areas we have found so far and simplistically it seems that we just have to follow it until the caverns are found. All the natural areas we have located so far are along the " heavy spar lode ". We call it the byrite lode. The cavities are hypogenic as is the mineral associated with the mine. Thermal waters rise to chemically dissolve the rock leaving large quantities of residue. Where the rising waters reach a recharge point or cavities they become more aggressive. This we call the preferential horizon. Its normally within the bedding planes. We may well have far more large hypogenic cavities in the UK but rarely will they reach the surface. Think Pen Park Hole , Holwell Cavern and Possibly Lamb Leer on Mendip. Think Lechuguilla in the USA. The normal swallet type cave is known as epigenic. The search continues--

 

[The Old Ruminator]

To reiterate. I am not trying to preserve a secret. There are lots of references and images concerning the site. Cave guides, Journals, E H Report in paper and on website. Dave Irwin wrote about it and two specialised publications have appeared. I just have to comply with the anonimity clause in the licence. I dont think that the landowner realises how much is already out there.

The divers line tied to a fallen beam. I think that he stabbed our inflatable shark.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Help. I am being attacked.





He never scared us.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

BOOK FIVE.

Concreting the adit shaft reducing slab.



A safety gate on the ventilation shaft made up from scrap.



Back filling at the new adit access shaft.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Ultimately we decided that the beam was not a good platform. Drilling for added support. Note the base jack and the pinned brackets to secure the wall.



Preparing for a new deck above the beam.



The 20m platform gets a vertical support to make it look safe.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

How annoying when mobile phone images look better than yours.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

A great view above from the top platform down to the 20m platform in Shaft One.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Meanwhile I was considering how we cross the abyss to march onwards to the caverns. The byrite heavy spar lode outlined.

 

[ChrisJC]

I might have missed this, but what is byrite?

Chris.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

I get most of the ladders from Facebook buy and sell. So we calculated the distance across and I bought two long ladders to get there. Drilled up and bolted together. I found that I was strong enough ( just ) to get one end on my hips and swing down the far end to be level. There was easily enough void above the abyss to do that.

Going on down.



Dragged along the level.



Arriving at the abyss.