Being in the Lakes on a family get together lends itself for the
perfect opportunity to get underground and see something new. I asked Tony if
he would show me a bit of the Coniston mines, and he came back with a proposed
route, which got the old mine exploration blood going. We met in Coniston
village and parked up, not too far from the YHA. Walking up the valley
following Red Dell Beck, I was shown Deep Level, Old Engine Shaft Wheel Pit,
Bonser Level, and the New Engine Shaft. Finally we reached the dug out entrance
to Fleming's Level. Entering the level plunged us into thigh deep water for a
short while, then it became dry. The crosscut in soon disappeared and we were
in the stopes, these are on a massive scale, not only do they reach high up,
but down deep into the complex. Our first obstacle was a stope where a lot of
the floor had dropped away. We crossed this carefully making use of stemples
that CATMHS had installed. This led us via a short prussik to a large stope
gallery where the Thriddle Shaft could be seen. We retraced our route and
climbed back onto the stemples, where we proceeded to abseil some 9m down. Here
we carried on along the stope passing under stemple supported deads, until we
reached a second pitch some 15m deep known as the Narrow Stope. At the bottom
of this we came across a large chain hanging from a stemple. Whilst I was
snapping away Tony found in the deads a little wooden box and a piece of
colourful ore, my first bit of blue!
Following the route on, we ended up
abseiling another pitch this time 17m deep. About 6m from the bottom we came
off, making sure to keep hold of the rope. Climbing up a large boulder slope
brought us out into an intersection with the Thriddle Shaft, which is known as
the Thriddle Shaft View Point. Looking down and up in the shaft we could see
timber work towards the bottom and top. Above us were stemples spaced by planks
holding back many tonnes of deads. The floor here, along with one face of the
shaft, was made from pack walling. We climbed back down the slope and abseiled
to the bottom, stopping just before another pitch for lunch. Tony pointed out
that this was a nice safe area with no supported deads above us, nice. After
lunch we abseiled down the last pitch to Taylor's Level, 9m below.
At
the bottom, a ledge greeted us with more stoping plunging down to unknown
depths below. Here we came across a barrow wheel. The route took us through a
crawl of mishmashed collapsed deads and stemples taking us further into
Taylor's Level. Past the crawl we entered a large stope which had an
intersection with the Thriddle Shaft. The stope was roped with a life line and
on the far side I was pleased to see a blue flow coming out of a level - more
blue! We both crossed the shaft using the life line. Not having done anything
on this scale before definitely focused my mind. With both of us across we made
our way along the (glad to say) solid level. Rounding a corner I saw my first
proper view of blue flows of copper salts. A little further on and the famous
blue cascade came into view. This formation was so striking with its blue
colours - such vivid colour was a revelation to me, after years of seeing only
orange and white formations. A few metres past the cascade we reached the
forehead of Taylor's Level, topped off with an iron stained pillar of calcite.
Whilst photographing various angles of the formations we noticed a little
tallow candle stub in a shot hole and what looked like to be a woven doughnut
shape, a candle holder? Afterwards we traversed the Thriddle Shaft back to the
bottom of the pitch that brought us to Taylor's Level.
Rounding the
corner the ledge continued on with the stope falling away below. This was quite
an impressive feature, almost a scene from Indiana Jones. Passing this we came
to some flooded stopes and had to cross planks to get over them. A little
further on, we came a cross a smashed ore truck and a large sheaved wheel on
the floor. Looking up into the stope, the wooden remains of its fixing gazed
down upon us. By the wheel it was possible to look into the New Engine Shaft
which intersected the stope on the side. From here we climbed up a 18m high
boulder slope, at the top of which we ended up abseiling back down into
Taylor's Level. The rocks here and the stoping gave a true indication of the
shear size of the mining activities. At the bottom there was a life line for
getting along a rubble strewn ledge, and past this there was a traverse. I
watched Tony get across it, and then for the first time had a go myself, not as
easy to do as Alpine Caving Techniques suggests! I had a bit of a problem
getting off it, due to tension of both cowtails, but apart from that managed
it, with great relief. I was then informed that there were two more, joking?
No, really. I was a bit more up to speed on the next two, but glad we did not
have to do anymore, my forearms were aching. Having an active imagination,
during the traverses I was thinking about shock loads, rope failure, and other
pleasantries - not ideal stimulus for such activities. Now on the home
straight, we had to climb a few more rubble slopes and cross one more gaping
stope along its ledge. Here the stopes were exposed to the surface and you
could get a glimpse of daylight in places. The floor was littered with heather
and looked like the bottom of a pot in the Yorkshire Dales. The last part of
the trip was more like pot holing than mine exploration.
Finally we
entered sensible passage and made our way to the portal, receiving a dousing in
knee deep water, then day light and the fresh air. This first introduction to
the Coniston Copper Mines was a bit of a whirl wind that left me, do I dare
say, a bit shell shocked. The size and depth of stopes was amazing, the colour
of the blue cascades mesmerising, the technical aspects of SRT involved, and
the work put in by CATMHS over the years coupled with Tony's and Wendy's
bolting exploites inspiring. |
