Every so often the Nenthead Mines Heritage Centre organises a trip
to go beyond the Carr's Show mine as this part is no longer accessible to the
general public. A group of 12 NPHT members along with staff was taken on this
trip.
After the introductory talk given by Peter Wilkinson at the
Heritage Centre, the party proceeded to the mine entrance. The horse level was
followed through the show mine until we reached the gate leading into the old
workings. The horse level here follows the Rampgill Hangingshaw Branch level
below and the Smallcleugh Cross Vein above. Shortly we reached a point where
there was a rise into workings in the Great Limestone. The rise itself was more
or less directly under the middle of Smallcleugh Reservoir, and was surprising
dry considering the possibility of water seepage. Carrying on the horse level
we passed 2 sumps which drained water into the Rampgill Level. Carr's Mine was
driven on a slight incline going down, so for drainage the water has to spill
into Rampgill as it cannot exit via the adit.
A little further on, a
left branch was taken and we climbed into the Low Flats in the Great Limestone.
The flats had spectacular calcite flows and iron stained mud pools. Wooden
planking could be seem on the floor which was used as 'roadways' for wheel
barrows. In the low flats we also came to a large wooden lined shaft which rose
to the top of the great Limestone, by the shaft a pool had formed which was
framed by more calcite flows. After exiting the Low Flats we returned along the
side passage and climbed up a laddered rise some 8m into the Middle
Flats.
The area that we visited in the Middle Flats was much larger than
in the Low Flats and subsequently more impressive. Near the top of the rise
there was an area that was covered in brilliant white calcite flows including
large patches of calcified boot lace fungus with miniature 'Santa's Grottos'
all over the rock face. From here we moved further into the flats and
eventually stopped for lunch, whilst having lunch we took turns to enter via a
small passage into was could be described as a fissure with large amounts of
calcified boot lace fungus on the walls - a sight to rival any formations found
in caves. After lunch we moved further into the flats and explored more
workings, including the by pass of a collapse. Through out the whole flat there
where many passages, rises and ore hoppers to explore, but due to the party
size and less experienced members these where unsuitable to attempt. Finally we
exited by retracing our entrance route.
The trip was excellent and
showed in parts the condition of the mine as it would have been in its heyday -
tidy stacked walls, little debris on the floor and many intact artifacts such
as buckets, dynamite, and brushes. It was possible to see all this as the mine
does not see much traffic these days and so items of interest are not
destroyed. It is easy for current explorers to dismiss Carr's Mine as not being
particular big or interesting, but this could not be further from the truth.
The flat workings are highly impressive and the Horse Level does in fact extend
all the way to the Longcleugh Vein. If you also take into consideration the
West side of the mine which is not longer accessible due to flooding and
collapses then altogether the mine is quite on a large scale considering its
age. |
