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The view of the mine from the valley. Initially I saw the promising
levels, one to the left hand side, the other can't be seen in this shot, but
the spoil tip from it can, behind the left hand tree. |
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Stupidly, I took the most direct route up the fell, straight up. I
nearly had heart failure! It was as steep as a steep thing. To add insult to
injury, I arrived at the dark level opening only to discover that it was
blind after about 3m!!! I have since learnt that the locals call it "Cruel
John's Hole"! |
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Traversing across the fell towards the other level, I stumbled upon
some hidden workings. A lode was visible at the surface, a trial level had
been driven (short and blind), but a shaft went down about 5m into a stope.
Take a rope and this could be promising. |
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Finally down at the spoil tip, I looked at the lower level. This
must be them main level talked about in the book. It is wide and tall, but
spoil in the portal has caused it to flood nearly to the roof. A bit of a
dig here and it could easily be drained. |
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Further reading has suggested that there is a significant shaft further up
the fell, connecting to the lower level. The level continues on after passing
the shaft. A surveying mishap meant that the shaft had a severe kink in it,
too bad to rectify therefore rendering it impossible to use as an engine
shaft. This lead to the mines demise. |
