Church mine visit

[davetdi]

Myself, Redwarf and Pauly went for a little trip down Churchmine north in northants. It took some finding but we researched it well and tracked down the way in.

I believe that it has been disused since the mid 1900s and there are a few artifacts down there which are great to see.

We ventured in for about half a mile, maybe more but without wellies the deeper water kept us from going further in, its quite an extensive place.

Remarkbly there are still the horses hoof marks and the miners hobnail boot marks still evident on the ground, amazing to see.

some pics follow and Redwarf will be along with his write and piccies too hopefully.

looking back at the way in ..... need to be very careful

a blocked adit of the second entrance

100 yds in

Im not going in there first!!! ooo'er

I reckon there used to be a door here - all thats left is the hinges

some kind of metal container/flask

First aid box remains

keys hooks on the right of the pillar

dodgy looking roof prop

Boot prints

...and the boots?

Hoof prints

the bottle shot!

lamp still hanging on the wall

another..

thanks for looking

 

[remoteneeded]

Great stuff Dave. What was the air quality like? How far did you get before the alarms wet off? When the mine was worked they had great problems with air quality and the entrance you came in through was actually used to ventilate the southern section of the mine when that was being worked.

You're wrong about the closure date though as it closed on 22nd August 1947and was the last in the area to shut.

 

[davetdi]

thanks for the correction on the closure date - kind of assumed that it closed earlier like some of the others in the area.

 

[reddwarf9]

was a great explore, spent cpl of hours in there but didnt see anywhere near all of it

a few of my pics

This prop was weird, a lot of the main part of the post had rotted away leaving the internal parts of what would have been branches, or knots if it had been planked, sticking out

thanks for looking

 

[Foxylady]

Absolutely love all the different bits of remains. The old lamps are amazing, as well as the boot and hoof prints.
Excellent explore, guys.

 

[davetdi]

thanks for the thanks all!



we' ve found on a previous visit a brick built vent shaft/chimney about half a mile from the adit in a field, so the next part of the plan is to go down and map the place out properly and see if we can locate the vent from below. Wonder what it will look like?

its a good 20 ft high from the ground so hopefully its not been back filled with rubbish

 

[tommo]

nice one guys was just reading this on darkplaces, looks like u had a good trip if a little wet in places

 

[davetdi]

it was a little wet, nothing bad but a little higher than my walking boots

must take the old wellies next time!

 

[smileysal]

What a fantastic place. Love all the bits and pieces still in there, ie, lamps still hanging, old spades, boots etc. And love the hoof prints complete with the nail outlines in there.

Excellent pics mate, I do like this one.

Sal