jasonbirder
Member
Nickergrove Mine
Thursday July 26th 2007
Jasonbirder, Pipster, Dave P
This was to be my first proper trip underground for nearly two weeks – after having been away on a family holiday for a fortnight. After meeting up with the mid-week crew of Pipster & Dave P, we drove over to Stoney Middleton, parked in the Electricity Substation pull in, got changed. It was a short tromp downhill to the main road and then up the valley a short distance before turning off, through a tiny “kissing gate” into a small heavily wooded tributary valley – Cucklet Delph.
Heading up the overgrown and dark valley alongside a tiny stream we were pleasantly surprised to see the striking, shambling shape of an adult Badger loping along the track in front of us, stopping occasionally to see if we were following, before disappearing into the undergrowth – what a fantastic way to start the evening!
Looking out for a track up the valley walls we were sorely disappointed! There was far too much vegetation to reveal anything – eventually we found a place to scramble uphill and found a large walk in sized Mine Adit at the base of a small crag. Very unusual for Derbyshire as the majority of our mine entrances tend to be shafts that need tackling with vertical equipment. Strapping on SRT kit and hefting a rope bag on my back I led off into a pleasant narrow mined passage – probably walking sized for the T’owd Man, but stooping height for a well fed 21st century Mine Explorer! Easy progress followed before the passage took a sharp turn to the right. A short, blind shaft in the floor at the turn needed to be traversed around before we continued further underground, the passage gradually losing height. A crosscut was reached and dismissed as blind, whilst another short but constricted shaft in the floor was crossed over. Five minutes more of easy caving brought us to the head of the first pitch. A big shaft in the floor crossed by what looked to be a sawn off length of telegraph pole. Sitting on the pole I used the first length of rope to tie a Y-hang and drop it down the shaft. The DCA had recently installed a big metal ring for rigging as a pull through, though as we didn’t know the route I rigged normally in case we needed to return! The shaft was lined by some decorative, but dodgy stone ginging and only a short way down - 30 feet or so, a swing across the shaft brought me into a side passage, with the shaft continuing down below me where remnants of digging equipment and digging spoil could be seen at the base of the shaft.. Tying off the rope end to a bolt I called “Rope Free” and everyone came down to join me. Only a short distance further along and we were at the head of the second pitch, this one was much narrower and could really have been free climbed down being only about 15 feet or so deep, but I dropped a short length of rope down the shaft, and abbed down, glad to be able to take off my bulky SRT kit off and stash it.
The main passage got smaller from here on necessitating a hands and knees crawl through muddy puddles, watching the roof we found a squeeze upwards, standing up and forcing myself upwards through the slot, I found myself in another level; just above the one beneath. The others popped through the tiny gap behind me into this passage and we carried on. Before long we found ourselves under a climbing shaft that stretched away above us, dog legs in the shaft prevented us seeing any light from the surface. Before long the passage came to an end at a small chamber, the way ahead being a greasy climb down a short chimney in the floor. A bit of careful back and footing downwards, and a careful step down where the climb bells out into the passage below and I found myself in another level, draughting strongly and with the smell of fresh air – we couldn’t be too far from the shaft to the surface! The passage was larger, easy walking sized and after a step upwards we came quickly to the shaft to the surface, light streaming in from the grill above us. Probably 20 or so feet deep, ledges and drystone walling made it an easy climb out, the hinged grill at the top of the shaft opening easily with a push from below and before long we all found ourselves on the surface in the warm evening sunshine. Closing the shaft behind us we headed down to the valley floor through the undergrowth and then back up to the adit entrance.
All that remained was to reclaim the ropes…what would have been any easy task if we hadn’t stashed our SRT kit at the base of the second pitch!
Luckily we had got one ascender between us (though no cowstails or other kit eek!) so I abseiled down the two pitches to retrieve the two ropes and the SRT kit whilst Pipster & Dave P, climbed over the pitch head to explore further on.
When I returned they had found a large chamber so I followed the passage onwards so as not to miss out!
The passage closed down to a hands and knees crawl before opening up on a large balcony above a huge rift chamber – it looked natural though it had probably been enlarge by miners collecting ore. Of interest was an old wooden ladder propped up against the ledge – looking old enough to be on of the in situ ladders T’owd man would have used.
After rooting about in there all that remained was to return to the car, change and head down to the very welcoming Moon Inn in Stoney Middleton for a pint!
Thursday July 26th 2007
Jasonbirder, Pipster, Dave P
This was to be my first proper trip underground for nearly two weeks – after having been away on a family holiday for a fortnight. After meeting up with the mid-week crew of Pipster & Dave P, we drove over to Stoney Middleton, parked in the Electricity Substation pull in, got changed. It was a short tromp downhill to the main road and then up the valley a short distance before turning off, through a tiny “kissing gate” into a small heavily wooded tributary valley – Cucklet Delph.
Heading up the overgrown and dark valley alongside a tiny stream we were pleasantly surprised to see the striking, shambling shape of an adult Badger loping along the track in front of us, stopping occasionally to see if we were following, before disappearing into the undergrowth – what a fantastic way to start the evening!
Looking out for a track up the valley walls we were sorely disappointed! There was far too much vegetation to reveal anything – eventually we found a place to scramble uphill and found a large walk in sized Mine Adit at the base of a small crag. Very unusual for Derbyshire as the majority of our mine entrances tend to be shafts that need tackling with vertical equipment. Strapping on SRT kit and hefting a rope bag on my back I led off into a pleasant narrow mined passage – probably walking sized for the T’owd Man, but stooping height for a well fed 21st century Mine Explorer! Easy progress followed before the passage took a sharp turn to the right. A short, blind shaft in the floor at the turn needed to be traversed around before we continued further underground, the passage gradually losing height. A crosscut was reached and dismissed as blind, whilst another short but constricted shaft in the floor was crossed over. Five minutes more of easy caving brought us to the head of the first pitch. A big shaft in the floor crossed by what looked to be a sawn off length of telegraph pole. Sitting on the pole I used the first length of rope to tie a Y-hang and drop it down the shaft. The DCA had recently installed a big metal ring for rigging as a pull through, though as we didn’t know the route I rigged normally in case we needed to return! The shaft was lined by some decorative, but dodgy stone ginging and only a short way down - 30 feet or so, a swing across the shaft brought me into a side passage, with the shaft continuing down below me where remnants of digging equipment and digging spoil could be seen at the base of the shaft.. Tying off the rope end to a bolt I called “Rope Free” and everyone came down to join me. Only a short distance further along and we were at the head of the second pitch, this one was much narrower and could really have been free climbed down being only about 15 feet or so deep, but I dropped a short length of rope down the shaft, and abbed down, glad to be able to take off my bulky SRT kit off and stash it.
The main passage got smaller from here on necessitating a hands and knees crawl through muddy puddles, watching the roof we found a squeeze upwards, standing up and forcing myself upwards through the slot, I found myself in another level; just above the one beneath. The others popped through the tiny gap behind me into this passage and we carried on. Before long we found ourselves under a climbing shaft that stretched away above us, dog legs in the shaft prevented us seeing any light from the surface. Before long the passage came to an end at a small chamber, the way ahead being a greasy climb down a short chimney in the floor. A bit of careful back and footing downwards, and a careful step down where the climb bells out into the passage below and I found myself in another level, draughting strongly and with the smell of fresh air – we couldn’t be too far from the shaft to the surface! The passage was larger, easy walking sized and after a step upwards we came quickly to the shaft to the surface, light streaming in from the grill above us. Probably 20 or so feet deep, ledges and drystone walling made it an easy climb out, the hinged grill at the top of the shaft opening easily with a push from below and before long we all found ourselves on the surface in the warm evening sunshine. Closing the shaft behind us we headed down to the valley floor through the undergrowth and then back up to the adit entrance.
All that remained was to reclaim the ropes…what would have been any easy task if we hadn’t stashed our SRT kit at the base of the second pitch!
Luckily we had got one ascender between us (though no cowstails or other kit eek!) so I abseiled down the two pitches to retrieve the two ropes and the SRT kit whilst Pipster & Dave P, climbed over the pitch head to explore further on.
When I returned they had found a large chamber so I followed the passage onwards so as not to miss out!
The passage closed down to a hands and knees crawl before opening up on a large balcony above a huge rift chamber – it looked natural though it had probably been enlarge by miners collecting ore. Of interest was an old wooden ladder propped up against the ledge – looking old enough to be on of the in situ ladders T’owd man would have used.
After rooting about in there all that remained was to return to the car, change and head down to the very welcoming Moon Inn in Stoney Middleton for a pint!
