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History
Abridged from - View Topic - Swan / Kingsdown information - help! (UK Mine Exploration Forums - South West England)
Kingsdown quarry also known as Swan Mine was a Bath stone quarry that began operation by the late 18th century with the exact date being unknown, in 1896 records show 12 people working there much less than the nearby Corsham quarry.
The quarry itself is directly opposite Swan Pub which used to be the quarry masters house. The mine was serviced by horse and cart and never modernised before its closure in 1932.
At least 2 miners Levi Wilcox and "Helps" died while working in the mine, killed by collapses as they worked.
Our visit
Visited with SlimJim and PricklyBuzz the day after the dp meet.
Swan Mine is somewhat unique in that it is open access,and not gated off in any way the access sits by the road, which makes it the perfect hangover explore. Despite being in plain view the location is obviously respected by its many visitors with stones placed around the hoof prints left by the horse or pony driven wagons all those years ago. I would urge anyone in the area to give it a visit, the pub opposite that we didn't have time to visit due to me having to catch a train was the old quarry masters house and apparently contains information about the mine as well.
Moving around this mine was great fun with the occasional small hole to slide through or pile of rubble to overcome.
I didn't capture as much as I wanted to a post-able standard however I'm sure PricklyBuzz and SlimJim have my back with their gopro videos and shots.
A split in the road, these roads stretched the length of the main mine,
Artefacts from the mine,
A trough for the work horses/ponys,
Dates and numbers could be seen scrawled on the wall by the workers,
This unlucky crane was crushed by a giant slab that detached itself from the celling. In the pub meet fluffy said something along the lines of feeling lucky after you get out of the mine in one piece with the rocks from various roof collapses occasionally blocking the path. However unlikely it may have been I couldn't shake the slight feeling of unease present due to be under several tonnes of rock.
This crane was however intact, defiantly the highlight of the visit,
PricklyBuzz putting his mask on,
Abridged from - View Topic - Swan / Kingsdown information - help! (UK Mine Exploration Forums - South West England)
Kingsdown quarry also known as Swan Mine was a Bath stone quarry that began operation by the late 18th century with the exact date being unknown, in 1896 records show 12 people working there much less than the nearby Corsham quarry.
The quarry itself is directly opposite Swan Pub which used to be the quarry masters house. The mine was serviced by horse and cart and never modernised before its closure in 1932.
At least 2 miners Levi Wilcox and "Helps" died while working in the mine, killed by collapses as they worked.
Our visit
Visited with SlimJim and PricklyBuzz the day after the dp meet.
Swan Mine is somewhat unique in that it is open access,and not gated off in any way the access sits by the road, which makes it the perfect hangover explore. Despite being in plain view the location is obviously respected by its many visitors with stones placed around the hoof prints left by the horse or pony driven wagons all those years ago. I would urge anyone in the area to give it a visit, the pub opposite that we didn't have time to visit due to me having to catch a train was the old quarry masters house and apparently contains information about the mine as well.
Moving around this mine was great fun with the occasional small hole to slide through or pile of rubble to overcome.
I didn't capture as much as I wanted to a post-able standard however I'm sure PricklyBuzz and SlimJim have my back with their gopro videos and shots.
A split in the road, these roads stretched the length of the main mine,
Artefacts from the mine,
A trough for the work horses/ponys,
Dates and numbers could be seen scrawled on the wall by the workers,
This unlucky crane was crushed by a giant slab that detached itself from the celling. In the pub meet fluffy said something along the lines of feeling lucky after you get out of the mine in one piece with the rocks from various roof collapses occasionally blocking the path. However unlikely it may have been I couldn't shake the slight feeling of unease present due to be under several tonnes of rock.
This crane was however intact, defiantly the highlight of the visit,
PricklyBuzz putting his mask on,
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