Around a couple of months ago Lyndon from WMRG had given me a
ring to let me know of the up coming Brewery Shaft winch trip - date penciled
in. We arrived at the shaft hut just a little before 11.00 in the morning ready
to go. Chit chatting away Eddy mentioned the water level half way down and
asked whether we would be willing to have a look. Do one legged ducks swim in
circles? Strangely I been thinking about the same thing over the last few
weeks. After a brief delay of going to get our full SRT gear, we came back and
everyone descended down. Sally, on her way down gave the position of the level
so it could be marked on the winch cable.
I climbed into the winch seat
and descended down. Excellent winch operation by Eddy brought me to a gentle
stop right by the level, which was located behind two of the larger pipes. A
request (relayed by Anne) for a bit of a lowering, allowed me to pendule
towards the pipes, climb inbetween them and into the level. Once out of the
seat, Pete came down to join me. The entrance of the level was stone arched for
2m, then there was a little chamber strewn with debris, sheet metal, ladders,
and pieces of wood. To the right the passage headed towards the top of the
water wheel. To the left Pete noticed an area which looked like it had fallen
in, a little bit of digging allowed him to pop in a little way and see what
looked to be a chamber, but it did not go anywhere from the looks of
things.
Heading right we made our way along the water level (as we
called it), just round the corner from the arching we saw a fully intact pick
and various bits of metal. A few metres past this there was a ventilation door.
The level here was in shaley rock and further along we came to a few metres of
arching, which then opened out into a chamber where the shaft going down to the
water wheel could be seen. Before the shaft, there was a short section of leat
and what looked to be a heavily calcified hopper. Above the hopper we could see
water pouring out of the roof. Above the arching there was anchamber, but this
did not go anywhere. Returning back to the original chamber, Pete carried out
some water management to clear the water level and I started taking
photographs.
Once this had been done, we rigged a rope up and Pete
belayed me so that I could have a look at the shaft top. Not knowing its state
I was not taking any chances. It turned out to be fine (at least it held my
weight long enough to have a look), and I could see that on the far side there
was a manway with a section of ladder visible, going down to a platform. On the
near side was the 'water way'. We returned to the level entrance by the Brewery
Shaft and then used the grappling hook Eddy had thoughtfully given us to
retrieve the waiting seat to continue our journey down.
Arriving at the
shaft bottom we where told that Pete's water management had given people at the
water wheel a bit of a wake up call when the water had come pouring down! We
proceeded to have a look around, viewing the compressor room, the generator
area and of course the water wheel. Having spent a while in the water level,
this had left us little time and soon we had to return back to the
surface.
We had planned to do something else the next day, but ended up
going down the Brewery Shaft again to survey the distance to the fall along the
Rampgill Deep Level. We were the first ones down so we could get going and also
to make sure we got the good air! From the ventilation door we started the
survey and over an hour later we had reached the fall. Along the way not too
far off from the end we heard someone coming up behind us and they helped in
the surveying for the last part, thanks (sorry, I can't remember your name and
you said that you would contact me). The air at the fall this time was
completely different to my last trip in 2005, my lighter worked and it smelled
'fresh'. Turning back we returned to the compressor room and had lunch, then
made a speedy exit. Having the use of a winch is a very nice thing.
The
results of the survey were interesting, the fall is about 650m from the
ventilation door. However, when I superimposed and scaled it onto Peter
Wilkinson's plan of the area from his Nent Force Level & Brewery Shaft book
I found it to be out by a significant amount. The survey route showed all the
correct turns and headings in the level, but it was just out in distance. Even
though our surveying was just a basic run down the middle of the level, the
method has proven to be accurate from other areas we have surveyed. I would
love to see a copy of the original plan of the Rampgill Deep Level to see where
the error has come from. I suppose when you start trying to fit things onto a
plan from a book that was redrawn and then scaled to fit in the book, errors
are going to be introduced. A copy of the survey is shown on the last
thumbnail. |
