Gudhamgill Mine - Surface Remains (26/03/06)

With our foray into Gudhamgill Mine yesterday and then looking at the plans, we thought that having a look at the surface remains would be a good late morning jaunt. We followed Gudham Gill up stream until the first level was reached. Karli and Aubrey pointed out the Gudhamgill Level entrance for me, just past this there was a shaft leading into the level as well.

We tried to look for another level which was supposed to be a trail a bit further up on the opposite bank, but there was no sign of it. Proceeding up the gill, a line of shafts could be seen progressing up the moor, these paralleled the mine. Karli showed us one of the shafts that was open and venting, near it was an air pipe. Could this be the Borehole Sump from the surface? After this we headed further up the moor to reach the heaps from the Firestone Level.

The Firestone Level is open at the entrance but a few metres in it must be collapsed as there is a depression on the surface. Aubrey pointed out that the water coming out was actually spilling out of the depression, hinting that it could be fully flooded. We proceeded to some other mounds and these were all shafts, 2 of which were capped and open, one was not that deep and could possible go into the Firestone Level, whilst the second one was deep, judging by the time rocks took to fall down.

On the way back down we looked at some of the spoil heaps to see if any more adits or shafts could be found - only a couple more totally collapsed bell pits really, though I did manage to find a fair sized crystal of purple fluorite on one of the heaps which was a surprise. In the end this little surface trip was a bad idea - venting open shafts, possibilities of getting into the Firestone Level - as if we don't have enough stuff still to explore...!

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