# Harnisha lead mine - July 2008



## BigLoada (Jul 5, 2008)

Visited with Sausage. Harnisha is an old 18th century mine, originally mined by the Bacon family in partnership with William Blackett and his gang. 

It was later reworked for fluorspar in the 1970s, hence the evidence of some modern artefacts.

It is a classic design with some good examples of arching and contains some good features such as a hopper, and some good timberwork, although it is fairly hazardous in a lot of places with some serious rock falls and rotting timberwork.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot location in title and don't know how to edit. Anyway, its in County Durham
Heres the pics:












Food tin from the 1970s:




















Note the workings above the bottom level:










Modern bow-saw:










Ore hopper for transfer from higher level:


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## Neosea (Jul 5, 2008)

Nice find and some really cool photo's


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## Foxylady (Jul 5, 2008)

Wow, wonderful stonework...love the way the arches seem to be growing out of the surrounding stone. Fabulous colours. Seeing the two levels of workings is amazing. Excellent stuff!


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## Engineer (Jul 5, 2008)

*Harishna Lead mine.*

Wow, nice pics, a fair bit of steelwork in there!
Is that the normal water level?


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## Elvis killer (Jul 5, 2008)

Mate you really get about. That mine is a class explore... Heres a mine related question for you, did the old lead miners in the weardale area wear clogs as a sort of protective footwear? its just someone I know from Alston said when he was young (80s) he would find loads of clogs in the mines him and his pals would go in.


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## smileysal (Jul 5, 2008)

Oooooooooooooooh I'm drooling over this one. Love all the stone arches seemingly to be joined to the stone beneath. I love it, I want to go here. Love all the colours, any more pics from here? Could look at these all day.

Cheers guys, love it, excellent pics.

 Sal


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## Northern Exposure (Jul 6, 2008)

Very nice indeed. Not one I had ever thought of trying but is not on the list so to speak. You have some cracking shots there. Canon or your new Nikon??


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## BigLoada (Jul 6, 2008)

Elvis killer said:


> Mate you really get about. That mine is a class explore... Heres a mine related question for you, did the old lead miners in the weardale area wear clogs as a sort of protective footwear? its just someone I know from Alston said when he was young (80s) he would find loads of clogs in the mines him and his pals would go in.



Yes they did mate. Sometimes they are found down there, but I havent. 
Cheers for all the nice comments folks.

Northern Exposure - its the old Canon. I decided when I buy a new Nikon, it aint going underground. Am still emptying the water and mud out of the Canon!

Engineer - Water level varied from abput an inch to about knee level in places, filling the welllies up.


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## pdtnc (Jul 6, 2008)

nice shots man...!!!

That last one is class!
Cool, to see all that wooden shoring up and nice water shots.


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## Sabtr (Jul 6, 2008)

I'm still "reeling" over this one. Definately the best so far. 
At the entrance to the mine I didn't have much hope. Deep water and mist exiting the mine. The mist was simply a natural process at the entrance and we pushed on. As the water became shallower (it never got dry) the mine became a real stunner. In the distance the mine was "talking" to us. Distant splashes and water movements made noises which became distorted, up to the point where it sounded like talking coming from just round the corners. Beautiful noises and archways became the order of the day. I was a bit rusty with my camera at first - thats what you get when you have a break in your explores. My own camera failed when it was time to turn back - I think there were corrosive or conductive waters in this mine. As BigLoada says - I too am still drying my camera.
On with my pics:

BigLoada working hard!



My favourite of the day.



Who's been here then? (It was removed!)



Ladders to higher workings.



Impressive archwork.



BigLoada phone home?



As far as we went.



A big thanks goes to BigLoada for doing the driving this day and for nagging me into doing this mine. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.


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## pdtnc (Jul 6, 2008)

looks like you found the devil down there!


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## Sabtr (Jul 6, 2008)

pdtnc said:


> looks like you found the devil down there!



Nah he's quite tame really. I asked him to stick a torch in his bright new (old) boilersuit and that was the result!
BigLoada - you really need to get that thing oily and dirty cos it hurts my eyes.


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## BigLoada (Jul 6, 2008)

Sausage said:


> Nah he's quite tame really. I asked him to stick a torch in his bright new (old) boilersuit and that was the result!
> BigLoada - you really need to get that thing oily and dirty cos it hurts my eyes.



That boilersuit is from Bates colliery, its a relic. It just was still wrapped in plactic until we did this explore.

That orange torch demon photo is insane though. I look like the Elephant man or something.


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## Urban Mole (Jul 6, 2008)

Thats a pretty damn fine explore, excellent work guys, and the pics are great :wcool:

No mines here on the island tho, youd hit the sea if you started mining here


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## Geordie_Jon (Jul 6, 2008)

Some cracking photos there lads. I have to get out with you guys some time!


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## Sabtr (Jul 6, 2008)

Geordie_Jon said:


> Some cracking photos there lads. I have to get out with you guys some time!



Yup! I don't know where the next trip will go mind! I have a few ideas though.


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## pdtnc (Jul 6, 2008)

BigLoada said:


> That boilersuit is from Bates colliery, its a relic. It just was still wrapped in plactic until we did this explore.
> 
> That orange torch demon photo is insane though. I look like the Elephant man or something.




yeah, your big orange baby-grow looks lovely.... don't let anyone tell you otherwise! 

Glow sticks and a council jacket and they'll let you into any Rave!


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## BigLoada (Jul 6, 2008)

pdtnc said:


> yeah, your big orange baby-grow looks lovely.... don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
> 
> Glow sticks and a council jacket and they'll let you into any Rave!



Ooooh thats fighting talk mate

That my good man is an NCB antique, a relic from a golden age of mining. I have the donkey jacket to match , not a poncy British Coal one either but a real NCB one! It has never been worn and never will either.


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## pdtnc (Jul 6, 2008)

BigLoada said:


> Ooooh thats fighting talk mate
> 
> That my good man is an NCB antique, a relic from a golden age of mining. I have the donkey jacket to match , not a poncy British Coal one either but a real NCB one! It has never been worn and never will either.



Oooo, Handbags at two paces it is then!

Things of the past eh... cool


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## BigLoada (Jul 7, 2008)

smileysal said:


> Oooooooooooooooh I'm drooling over this one. Love all the stone arches seemingly to be joined to the stone beneath. I love it, I want to go here. Love all the colours, any more pics from here? Could look at these all day.
> 
> Cheers guys, love it, excellent pics.
> 
> Sal



Thanks Sal for the kind words. I have more pictures on my flickr page the address of which is at the bottom of this post


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## crickleymal (Jul 7, 2008)

Nice photos. I know what you mean about the mine "talking". Brinchcombe Limestone Level does that when you start wading though the gloop, when I took my eldest down there he was convinced we weren't alone down there.


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## Sabtr (Jul 8, 2008)

crickleymal said:


> Nice photos. I know what you mean about the mine "talking". Brinchcombe Limestone Level does that when you start wading though the gloop, when I took my eldest down there he was convinced we weren't alone down there.



It's the first time I have noticed it in a mine. I told my Dad (an ex-miner) and he laughed. It seems like a normal phenomena! I took video (using my camera) down there and although the camera sound set up is rubbish, when you play it back the noises are incredible. I can only describe the noise as "busy"!
Next time we do a similar type of mine I am taking proper video equipment, coloured gels and a UV light! The minerals are flourescent down there and look mad under UV light!


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## Logan_Five (Jul 9, 2008)

Top explore, lads.  Am very envious and wish I was a bit more available to join you on some of these exploits. We'll maybe's see next year when the little'un is here and settled.


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## phill.d (Jul 10, 2008)

Cracking set of pics there guys. Nice torch work too. Anything with dodgy old props and ladders in has got to be a good un!!


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## Sabtr (Jul 10, 2008)

Logan_Five said:


> Top explore, lads.  Am very envious and wish I was a bit more available to join you on some of these exploits. We'll maybe's see next year when the little'un is here and settled.



Aye.  You would have loved this one Logan_Five: the roof is one of the highest I have seen. I hardly banged my head at all.


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## Lightbuoy (Jul 10, 2008)

Simply a superb set of snaps. Nice write-up too 

Bet there were a few fairly longish exposures when you were taking your pics? 
Thanks for sharing -loving all those twisty part stonework -part natural rock tunnels 

Lb:jimlad:


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## Sabtr (Jul 10, 2008)

The longest exposure I did was 15 seconds, using a 3 watt Tesco's led torch. I think this mine "lent itself" to these photo's. The day was relaxed and we simply got on with it. When we exited the mine we were shocked at how long we had been down there. It was a thoroughly enjoyable mooch down there.


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## BigLoada (Jul 11, 2008)

Lightbuoy said:


> Simply a superb set of snaps. Nice write-up too
> 
> Bet there were a few fairly longish exposures when you were taking your pics?
> Thanks for sharing -loving all those twisty part stonework -part natural rock tunnels
> ...



For the long tunnel shots I used my standard F8 at 25 or 30 seconds. This usually always works I think, and by using the Fenix for the distance and the Sten for the foreground, I dont even need to wave the torches around, I just keep 'em static.


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## Lightbuoy (Jul 18, 2008)

BigLoada said:


> For the long tunnel shots I used my standard F8 at 25 or 30 seconds. This usually always works I think, and by using the Fenix for the distance and the Sten for the foreground, I dont even need to wave the torches around, I just keep 'em static.



Thanks for the info BL 

Having the right lighting gets some good pics & must save on waving around the torches (and save on the ol' arms too!)  It certainly looks like it from your snaps.
When I was in some WW2 bunkers in France a year or two back, I was waving me favourite maglite a bit too enthusiastically, and I "waved" it goodbye as it slipped from me hands, through the gun turret opening, down the cliff and into the sea some 50 feet below! 
Hey-ho, ya live and learn! 

Lb:jimlad:


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