Karli had been chomping at the bit to do a surface shaft and
between him and Charlie they found one just off the track heading for Flinty
Quarry before the gate on the right hand side. It was promising as there was no
sign of water and it was venting.
We carefully removed a sleeper and
rigged the shaft for decent, which turned out to be in the region of 20 to 25m.
The weather outside was terrible, with drizzle and a very cold wind, we where
glad to get down the shaft as some of our body parts felt ready to drop off.
The bottom of the shaft had 2 passages, one blocked, the other a goer. Moving
out from under the shaft bottom we entered a chamber which had a few artifacts
including a candle stuck to the wall with clay and the remains of an old clog.
This was wonderful to see, and in a few other small stopes more remains could
be seen. The chamber we where in had a grotty incline going down at about
45° for some 5m, which ended in a wooden platform with old sides of ladders
going down. The drop was only 2m or so and was easily negotiated. A few meters
past this we came to another shaft which was deep, however its depth could not
be estimated as the edge was not sound and we had no belay.
This needs
to be revisited with some more rope with a mind of going down the second shaft.
Looking at an OS map it is approximately 500m more or less directly west of
Bogg's Shaft - if not blocked, and if it is deep enough it could well go to the
further extremities of Smallcleugh or even Middlecleugh, however looking at a
map it possibly may be heading for the Capelcleugh Level. If this is the case
then you are looking at a decent of around 140m. If anyone knows about this
shaft we would be grateful to hear from you. |
