Having built up the maypole kit, I was eager to put it to the
test. A easy quick venture into the Smallcleugh Flats was undertaken with the
aim of using the maypole kit to climb into the high flats and the top of
Smallcleugh Flats.
With five of us on this trip we all took a piece of
the kit, so the going was rather easy. Our first destination was the rise
leading up to New Fan Flats, this is a flat above the Smallcleugh Main Flats.
The climb up is via a partitioned rise, one side for ore and one for a laddered
manway with missing ladders. We started assembling the pole, attaching a rope
ladder and rope. None of us was sure of the height so we just went for it and
built up the whole 10m of pole, this turned out to be too long and we ended up
removing a piece, making the pole 8m high. Looking up the rise this just about
reached the top. I started to prusik up slowly testing the bend, all seemed
well and I shortly got to the top, the ladder on the pole was good to have as
it assisted in getting off. The pole was 30cm or so too short, but there was no
real hardship in getting off. Charlie, Ambrose and Karli followed up, whilst
watching them, you could see the state of the pole - it was stable and only
flexed about 15cm or so. At last, after all these years of looking up the rise
we had arrived in New Fan Flats. With access to the flat we where hoping to
find some interesting items and indeed we did, just near the top of the rise a
clog could be seen, and further into it we found scrapers, kibble handles, a
few tins and a wooden nail. The flat itself was not very high, probably a metre
of so, so it had to mostly be duck walked. After exploring we came back down
and derigged. Lunch was had.
After lunch Charlie and Karli went of on a
little explore of a rise that they had been digging, whilst myself, Ambrose and
Mark set of to look at another rise. Just before Emerson Cain's Crosscut there
is a little side passage heading in an westerly direction, in it there is a
large rise in the limestone - yet another little thing that we have seen but
never been up. The maypole was built up, 4 sections this time, we climbed up
into a chamber in the limestone with smooth floors. A few passages led into
areas where the floor was made from deads. We found a surprising number of
artifacts, cardboard explosives boxes, a tin, and the prise find - pieces of an
newspaper dated 1886! The newspaper was in a very fragile state and scattered
all over the place, we tried to pick up as much as possible, to place on a flat
surface. Parts of it had been set fire to. Further along the passages we came
across many oreshoots which led to the Smallcleugh Horse Level. After a while
we found two ways back down to the horse level. Yet again Smallcleugh has shown
us that you need not go into the deepest reaches of the mine (though it helps)
to find interesting artifacts, exploring properly what is under your noses can
reveal new finds. |
