A bit of a split occurred this trip, Charlie and Karli went down
Rampgill to have a potter around Rampgill Shaft area, whilst the rest of us
went into Smallcleugh to finish off exploration of the sublevels and stopes at
the forehead we had started last year. We entered Smallcleugh via the surface
shaft route and made our way down to the stopes above Smallcleugh on the west
side of Bogg Shaft. After dropping down back into the horse level we headed
west to the forehead of this area. After climbing a rise that Karli had
previously explored we entered a stope which according to plans should have
only been a 100m or so with no links to anywhere. On the climb up a strong
draft could be felt. We explored the east side of the stope finding a few
artifacts and an ore truck. After about 30m the stope ended in backfill.
Returning back to the rise we turned our attentions to the west
side.
Proceeding along, the stope had level flooring and was partially
railed. We encountered many artifacts, wheel barrows, ore trucks, shot hole
scrapers, old air pipe gaskets and the occasional stick of dynamite. Whilst
taking photographs of the area Phil had scarpered off along the main passage,
to come back with news that the stope did not end but was intersected by a
shaft heading up and down and that it had been bolted not that long ago by the
look of the anchors. We all went to have a look and it was decided to to rig up
and pop down. I was slowly realising that yet again Smallcleugh was not going
to be concluded that easily - all I had really wanted was to survey this stope
'that did not go anywhere' and to check out a sublevel below the horse level,
things never work out like you want them to.
Phil rigged up and abseiled
down the shaft, some 8m down he had to rebelay and then swing into another
stope 6m or so further down. One by one we all followed him. The first thing
that hit you was that the air was very fresh - indicating a possible link to
the surface. We went further into the stope passing an ore truck and small
artifacts. After a short while we came to a small junction and here some
explosive boxes where found containing excellent examples of dynamite. Whilst
photographing them I noticed a dead insect attached to the wall - could there
be a surface link here close by for sure?
We carried on past the
junction further into the stope and the area virtually became an Aladdin's
cave. The amount of artifacts lying around was unprecedented - multiple ore
trucks, wheel barrows, boxes, kibbles, spades, general tools and air hosing -
if it was not for the corrosion and decay you could easily expect the miners to
be returning for the next shift.
Eventually we entered an area of flats
which did not lead anywhere but again revealed many artifacts. Whilst I and
Ambrose carried on with photography Rich and Phil descended a laddered manway.
Upon their return, they estimated the manway to be some 30m deep with the
bottom in waist deep water, this could only be one thing - the Caplecleugh
Horse Level. We did a bit more exploring and found out that the stope did still
continue into the distance - for how far we could not tell. Time was really
starting to run short now and we needed to make a speedy exit. We retraced our
route and eventually landed on the east side of Bogg Shaft and the Smallcleugh
Horse Level, a bit of a speed march saw us exit out of Smallcleugh an hour or
so later.
Questions, questions. We need to come back and explore the
area we had discovered with a big time allocation, as it was a real rush job
due to not having anticipated this sort of find. It would be good to hear from
the group who had placed the anchors so that we could exchange some
information. From what we saw I would say that this could have been some of the
last working areas of Smallcleugh that the Vieille Montagne Zinc Company had
carried out. |
