Boxing clever! Box Quarry, Corsham. IMAGE INTENSIVE.

[TeeJF]

Box is a small village in Wiltshire, England, about 5 miles east of Bath. Since Roman times a particularly fine stone has been mined there leaving the entire area a mass of tunnels. During the Second Wolrd War the army moved in and created several large ammunition dumps within the mines, and today some are still used by private companies as large stores.

The adjacent railway which runs to London passes through Box Hill by way of a long tunnel built by the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

A lovely pub sits on top of the hill and it is possible to hire out the key to one of the entrances to the mine complex from them and buy a map which shows you the error of your (navigational) ways. The mine itself is a maze of narrow tunnels but there is also a large, cavernous area known as The Cathedral a little way in.

A group of us met at The Quarryman's Arms yesterday and trudged off through the woods to the back door of the mine where we hand a grand day out skillfully guided by Robert and Nick.

Much kudos and profound thanks to them both from TJ and I because we had an awesome time!

The pix...

Thanks again for a great day to Robert and Nick!​

 

[Landsker]

Oh yes! Superb, really need to get my arse up there!

 

[Priority 7]

So you met Blondie then TJ nice work liking the wangle are we???

 

[KingRat]

(Less of the skillfully!!) Some smashing images there young man. Great to meet you both and glad you had an enjoyable time.

 

[chizyramone]

Awesome

 

[TeeJF]

So you met Blondie then TJ nice work liking the wangle are we???

Pardon? Nicht versteinhen sie das?

 

[TeeJF]

(Less of the skillfully!!) Some smashing images there young man. Great to meet you both and glad you had an enjoyable time.

Cheers buddy. More than half of the pix are Tracy's work on the handy snappy so I can't begin to claim any credit! OK, they tended to be a bit grainy but they weren't half a case of "instant"... The gal dun well!

But no, all credit to you. I haven't a scoobies how you found your way round quite frankly and I got the feeling that at times it was possibly quite stressful for you. That's a shame if that actually is the case because you might not then have enjoyed it as much as you should have. Just lets say it didn't go un-noticed and we are very humbled at your, and Nick's efforts on our behalf.

Top marks and many thanks.

M 'n T.

 

[KingRat]

I won't lie, there was one occasion when I was a little worried but thankfully it was unfounded, we were where we needed to be, it was the fall that wasn't on the map that threw me! As for enjoying it, I really did and would happily do it again although without my camera bag on my back!

 

[TeeJF]

I won't lie, there was one occasion when I was a little worried but thankfully it was unfounded

Ahhh... was it that hang up on the crawl over to The Cathedral? I didn't get my head round what had gone wrong on the first attempt but then I was not privvy to the map and didn't have any idea what was happening. Add to which I spend half my life in a daze anyway! .

There's was a weird scrawl on a wall in one place that I spotted which said something about some exit was now inaccesible due to a roof fall but it didn't seem to be a surprise to you guys when I shouted it up so I just figured the map knew that anyway. It gets a bit strange when you look at two adjacent pieces of graf, one dated 2006 and the other 1962!

I'll tell you what though, the group turned out to be a really good size AND best of all, a really good mix of personalities. It was magic for us meeting all these respected names off the forum for the first time.

Suitably suited!

 

[Scaramanger]

wow.some nice stuff down there. Worth going just for those brick men...

 

[tommo]

Shame I couldn't make it, would of been good to meet up with some new faces. but looks like u guys had fun

 

[KingRat]

Ahhh... was it that hang up on the crawl over to The Cathedral? I didn't get my head round what had gone wrong on the first attempt but then I was not privvy to the map and didn't have any idea what was happening. Add to which I spend half my life in a daze anyway! .

There's was a weird scrawl on a wall in one place that I spotted which said something about some exit was now inaccesible due to a roof fall but it didn't seem to be a surprise to you guys when I shouted it up so I just figured the map knew that anyway. It gets a bit strange when you look at two adjacent pieces of graf, one dated 2006 and the other 1962!

I'll tell you what though, the group turned out to be a really good size AND best of all, a really good mix of personalities. It was magic for us meeting all these respected names off the forum for the first time.

Suitably suited!

Was a really good group, I felt awful I didn't get to chat with people as much as I had hoped. I honestly didn't hear you shout mate it's surprising how sound doesn't carry in those places!
Here's 2 interesting facts for you, the Cathederal is only 50 mtrs from the backdoor and the map was created somewhere between 1992 and 1994 !!

 

[UrbanX]

Wow, even tho we all stuck together, we all saw really different things.

Was a truly epic weekend from start to finish. The mining, the company, followed by a wicked night out in Bath with TeeJF, fuelled by much curry and shiraz

So you met Blondie then TJ nice work liking the wangle are we???

Cheeky bugger! lol, and take note: less than 4 hours back home and I have a report up! Dont expect to ever see that again!

Massive thanks to Kingrat, for organising the whole thing, and to Kingrat / Sectionate for getting us lost, and then found.

A few pics, sorry for any repeats.

CovertUrbex going nuts...

UrbanX enjoying a cheese and wine party 120ft underground…

Obligatory:

My Video of the day will be coming soon…

 

[AndyC]

Great Stuff - one thing - that heap at the bottom of the cathederal - looks on photos (and when you get there) as rock spoil. We climbed ober it to the area beyond. I had no gloves and realised on scrambling that it was sibply a huge pile of crap that had been thrown down the hole over the years.

Happy times.

 

[TeeJF]

Yummy, yummy piccies! I didn't see that load of graf on the rocks! Some great dates on there aren't there. It's naff when you see tagging and yet when you see tagging that's 50 years old it's great... hypocrisy? Who? Moi?

Did you see the rock face with the pencil drawn cutting instructions in feet and inches for a slab destined for Plymouth? I couldn't get a pic because it was so dark and light painting it with that thing of mine just kept burning it out. Then just as I was on like attempt six Rob called time to saddle up!

We both really had a ball and enjoyed our "cuzza" with you guys immensely.

PS... now I know what P7 means! You shouldn't have said owt!

 

[night crawler]

Think I need to pay a visit to this place, it looks awsome.

 

[TeeJF]

It certainly was but it was hard graft and so muddy! A good day out was, I think, had by all!

 

[Pincheck]

nicely done, underground doesn't really do it for me its ok but having to remember to hold your breath while taking a shot so you don't steam the lens up a bit much

 

[TeeJF]

nicely done, underground doesn't really do it for me its ok but having to remember to hold your breath while taking a shot so you don't steam the lens up a bit much

Thank you.

Yeah, I know what you mean. But strangely, despite the fact that I was literally dripping down there that problem didn't happen once! Poor old TJ got so many "orbs" on her pix though, and I wouldn't mind, the camera she is using is practically brand new. Such is life. No, the problem down there was all the faffing about putting the Eos on the tripod every time you want a shot so her handy snappy got much more use. And it was quite hard on the kit because of all the mud which dried to a fine dust almost instantly. Took me ages to clean the camera when we got back.

I wouldn't really call this a conventional urb-ex, it was more a fun day out with peeps off the forum and that was really nice because it was our first chance to meet so many "names"!

 

[Pincheck]

Thank you.

Yeah, I know what you mean. But strangely, despite the fact that I was literally dripping down there that problem didn't happen once! Poor old TJ got so many "orbs" on her pix though, and I wouldn't mind, the camera she is using is practically brand new. Such is life. No, the problem down there was all the faffing about putting the Eos on the tripod every time you want a shot so her handy snappy got much more use. And it was quite hard on the kit because of all the mud which dried to a fine dust almost instantly. Took me ages to clean the camera when we got back.

I wouldn't really call this a conventional urb-ex, it was more a fun day out with peeps off the forum and that was really nice because it was our first chance to meet so many "names"!

Yes it can be quite physical and mentally draining being underground for extended periods of time as you say tough on gear Best to carry some cleaning stuff with your gear inside a dry sack