Hi All,

As the subject suggests does anyone have a digital survey or know where one is online for Mandale!

Tia

https://thedca.org.uk/sssi-monitoring/sssi/lathkill-dale
The Mandale audit can be downloaded from here with a survey from 1969. This ends at the stope where the climb down to a normally flooded incline shaft and traverse are located, well before the Founder Shaft that is currently capped without access following a rescue last millennium. More info can be found in the online PDMHS bulletins which IIRC include an elevation showing the normally flooded lower two levels and positions of the shafts. Beyond the Founder Shaft the sough becomes smaller and less stable, with reports of bad air and bad ground putting most people off

I've been as far as it was prudent to go, which would be about 100m beyond the founder shaft chamber to a cross-cut left into what it was probably Pasture Rake, though the air was very stuffy beyond that point and I only went about another 20m. I don't remember much to look at inbetween and there's a very dodgy collapse held up with explorer-installed timber.

There are two articles in the PDMHS bulletin,  (https://pdmhs.co.uk/MiningHistory/Bulletin%204-1%20-%20A%20Survey%20of%20Mandale%20Mine,%20Lathkill%20Dale.pdf and https://pdmhs.co.uk/MiningHistory/Bulletin%206-3%20-%20Mandale%20Forefield%20Shaft.pdf) after the second one was written the blockage between them was dug through.

The handline along the first flooded stope was in good condition when I was last down there, the second has no handline but isn't difficult to traverse. The air quality beyond Sough F.orefield shaft isn't good at the best of times so I wouldn't recommend going much beyond.

And that's reminded me then that the cross-cut the end will be going from Pasture Rake to Mandale Rake, and not the other way around

Jefe, this "stuffy" air and "bad air" that Pwhole and AR are talking about is (typically) a build up of carbon dioxide.

It will normally replace some of the oxygen in the air, making you breathe more to try and get the same amount of oxygen you need. It's not that you're having an unfit day, so you need to keep Co2 in mind and if need be, return the way you've come.

Being exposed to small amounts of Co2 wont kill you, it is being unaware of it and carrying on regardless which will see you come to harm.

Interesting to see the comments about bad air, etc, beyond the Forefield Shaft. I was last in there many years ago, probably around the mid-eighties, and went up as far as the bottom of Top Engine Shaft, at which point the sough was blocked by a load of rubbish that had come down from above (and presumably is still blocked?). The air at that time was fine and I would surmise that the capping of the Forefield Shaft has altered the ventilation in the further reaches.

Thanks all!

I've never seen the cap but I'm assuming that it's a solid concrete slab rather than sleepers. I wonder if the landowner could be persuaded to let DCA drill some holes in it to try and improve the ventilation? Realistically there isn't any fresh air coming in from the far end other thatn vague leaks through backfilled opencuts. I know they're not keen on the shaft being accessible agaib, but at least this way it still wouldn't be. Whether holes of that size would make much difference is beyond my pay grade, but its an idea?

IIRC after the rescue it looked like one big cast slab, but on a recent visit it now resembles two large slabs (bison beams?) that have settled unevenly (from the road...). It may need recapping "soon" and maybe someone with a golden tongue and smooth words might persuade the owners to allow a new cap and access? In drought significant amounts of polythene wrap and sacks can be seen at the foot of the founder shaft, and small furries have a habit of dropping the shaft! Kind of suggests there may be gaps round the edge. It looks like the farmer is unsure of the cap as the field had steel stakes and red/white tape marking it off in a small enclosure when I was gawping at it...

I have been often accused of having a golden tongue. It worked today in a posh club in Mayfair where we were working. Whether it'll work on a a Derbyshire farmer is another matter, but it would be a good item to add to the ever-growing list of capping projects that are racking up.