Coal Cutter
Well-known member
Another expedition to Cumbria for me and Sausage along with a couple of mine exploring mates (Team Strap-On).
Carrock is an interesting one as its the only mine in the UK apart from one near St. Austell in Cornwall where wolfram was the sole ore mined.
Although it started off in the 1850s, it was worked on and off, and only during periods when the price of tungsten was high.
It was last worked in 1981 so the mine has a mix of 19th century and modern artefacts which make it interesting.
Major mining took place during World War One but it was closed again in 1918. In WW2, it was opened but no ore was produced.
It was reopened in 1977 and worked until 1981 when it was finally shut down.
Anyone interested in this mine should check out a book by Ian Tyler called Carrock and The Mines of Skiddaw and Blencathra. Its an excellent in-depth history with loads of great archive pics and plans of the various veins.
There are three main veins but we only explored the Harding Vein, as Emerson vein has bad air due to a lot of arsenic in there. There are several higher levels with a lovely 150 feet ladderway consisting of ten seperate ladders and landing stages, and it has the most ore hoppers we have even seen. There is at least 48 hoppers in one vein. Also, it is unusual in that the vein follows a fantastic quartz block, which is up to 3 feet in width in places. Never seen anything like this ion any other mine.
Heres a few pics...
This is part of the quartz block which runs the entire length of the level:
Raise No. 2 which is not climbable due to rotten ladders:
Raise No2 again:
Hoppers...these go on forever:
Modern stuff...flexiduct vent ducting:
One of the crawls:
More flexiduct:
Obligatory underground reflection photo:
Raise No.5:
And finally, the famous red door to the powder magazine:
Cheers folks
Carrock is an interesting one as its the only mine in the UK apart from one near St. Austell in Cornwall where wolfram was the sole ore mined.
Although it started off in the 1850s, it was worked on and off, and only during periods when the price of tungsten was high.
It was last worked in 1981 so the mine has a mix of 19th century and modern artefacts which make it interesting.
Major mining took place during World War One but it was closed again in 1918. In WW2, it was opened but no ore was produced.
It was reopened in 1977 and worked until 1981 when it was finally shut down.
Anyone interested in this mine should check out a book by Ian Tyler called Carrock and The Mines of Skiddaw and Blencathra. Its an excellent in-depth history with loads of great archive pics and plans of the various veins.
There are three main veins but we only explored the Harding Vein, as Emerson vein has bad air due to a lot of arsenic in there. There are several higher levels with a lovely 150 feet ladderway consisting of ten seperate ladders and landing stages, and it has the most ore hoppers we have even seen. There is at least 48 hoppers in one vein. Also, it is unusual in that the vein follows a fantastic quartz block, which is up to 3 feet in width in places. Never seen anything like this ion any other mine.
Heres a few pics...
This is part of the quartz block which runs the entire length of the level:
Raise No. 2 which is not climbable due to rotten ladders:
Raise No2 again:
Hoppers...these go on forever:
Modern stuff...flexiduct vent ducting:
One of the crawls:
More flexiduct:
Obligatory underground reflection photo:
Raise No.5:
And finally, the famous red door to the powder magazine:
Cheers folks
