Singing River Mine

Date:

28  Mar 09

Party:

Big Dave, Ali, Lionel, & Rupert

Photos:

In Brief:

This was to be the third and main trip of the day. We were off to Shipham, and to an housing estate. After arriving in the area, Ali who was the only member of the group who had visited the mine before, had a little trouble finding the correct house where the entrance was located in the back garden.

Once at the entrance, a set of ladders as rigged and it was of down the stone lined shaft until the point where it became a smooth clay lined tube. At the bottom, the level led on two ways We took the left passage into a chamber where we found a teapot, and stopped for a quick brew. We then pushed on down through the mine until we reached a short pitch. With a rope quickly rigged, we dropped through a hole in the wall, carrying on into the eastern section of the mine.

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Continued:

We spent some time exploring the side passages, before heading back towards the western section of the mine. We climbed up into a side passage where we came across a stone diving board protruding out over a stoped area. The water below was to shallow to jump into. Whilst turning to retrace our steps we noticed that there was a 200mm bore hole that had been drilled from surface down through the open level and on down through the rock.

We then climbed down through the side passages into the stoped out area below the diving board. Above us we could see a large rectangular shaft that had been capped.

All of a sudden we could hear voices in the background that gradually became louder. This turned out to be a couple of divers that had come down to try out their new underwater camera, but unfortunately the mine was dry and they beat an hasty retreat.

We followed on out and climbed the shaft to grass. After a short time de-rigging we were soon back in the car and on are way back to the Belfry.

Write up by  Big Dave

Added 31-03-09