Wapping Mine
is an old shaft and adit working on the Moletrap Rake. A George the 2nd
shilling that was found when it was being reworked suggests that is was being
worked in the 1750's. The first workings where probably only for the extraction
of galena, and these seemed to be limited to a few short ore strings from the
Moletrap Vein.
From 1924 onwards the mine was reworked for fluorspar and
the main areas of working where on the Moletrap Vein and the Maze located at
the northwest end of the mine. The Maze is a confusing warren of passages and
pockets, which did not actually yield a large amount of fluorspar. After 1936
not much more activity took place until 1953 when it was worked again quite
intensively for around 3 years. During this time an opencast section was
started at the adit, which advanced westwards along the rake, however a
collapse in 1954 brought the front end of the mine down. The Incline Level,
located southwest from the main adit was also driven in this period in an
attempt to cross the vein from the Main Stope working, but this proved to be
unfruitful.
Cumberland Cavern, whose original name is Cumberland Mine,
is an old working most likely developed at the same time as Wapping Mine. It is
above the Wapping workings by some 12m, and has two connections with it. The
Funnel Cave at the end of the Forth Stope in Wapping and the Devils Pit, which
leads into the Maze. A lot of the workings in Cumberland Cavern seem to have
broken into natural chambers, which is reinforced by the fact that there a very
few shot holes. The mine looks to have been worked once and was opened in 1780
as a show cave. Queen Victoria visited the show cave and it then became known
as Royal Cumberland Cavern, though it is not usually referred to as this. After
the show cave was closed, somewhere in between the late 1960's and early 1970's
a gang call the "Troggs" occupied the show cave resulting in large amounts of
graffiti in some of its chambers.
Entrance into Wapping Mine is via its
adit and involves a climb through a hole in a wall. The Cumberland Cavern adit
is no longer open and entrance into it is via the two links mentioned earlier
via Wapping Mine. Care should be exercised in approaching the Wapping Mine adit
as there have been disputes with a land owner about access rites due to
vandalism, please check with local mining groups for current access
details.
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