Swan Mine - May 09

[crickleymal]

Swan Mine or Kingsdown Mine/Quarry if you prefer is in the same layer of freestone as Monkton Farleigh and Browns Folly. It's a bijou mine with no route finding problems whatsoever. Which begs the question why some stupid pillock has seen fit to start daubing arrows showing the way out. Not once but 4 times on the same pillar of rock!:icon_evil

Anyway rant over. On with the pictures

Main Passage

Some tools, the object closest is a bearing block from the top or bottom of a crane

The one upright crane

Some nice original graffitti, an old train with vertical boiler

Mouse in a box!

 

[klempner69]

Looks great...I hope to visit a similar place next month.Been polishing my hemet up!

 

[borntobemild]

very nice. love these places where it looks like everyone just went home for lunch and never came back.

Any idea what sort of bottle it was in shot 2?

 

[and7barton]

Looks great...I hope to visit a similar place next month.Been polishing my hemet up!

(In Major Bloodnok accent) - "Filthy Swine !"

 

[crickleymal]

Any idea what sort of bottle it was in shot 2?

Not really although it did have graduations in ml on the side so probably medicine of some sort

 

[oldscrote]

Did ya spot the horseshoe prints about 50yards past the the roof fall where the passage forks?

 

[crickleymal]

Did ya spot the horseshoe prints about 50yards past the the roof fall where the passage forks?

Yup and the hobnail bootprints a bit further on. I should have stayed a bit longer and taken some pictures of the ragstone workings as they're quite different in character. But we'd been underground for 3 hours and it was lunch time.

 

[oldscrote]

Yup and the hobnail bootprints a bit further on. I should have stayed a bit longer and taken some pictures of the ragstone workings as they're quite different in character. But we'd been underground for 3 hours and it was lunch time.

Lunchtime huh.Y'mean the Swan was open

 

[tommo]

Looks great...I hope to visit a similar place next month.Been polishing my hemet up!

LOL, as long as there is no time restricts for u stu we can do this one as well if u like it's only ten mins round the corner, see how we get on and how u feel about being under ground

I am easy, also we could do ridge as well if u like

I think we should have an early start and see how we get on, I will pm u a kit list later

 

[Neosea]

Nice little find. I like the crane, saw the post hole for one in Beer Quarry Caves bit it was hard to imagine what it would have looked like.

 

[Foxylady]

The crane's great. Apparently there are still two remaining in the other limestone quarry at Beer.

 

[BigLoada]

Great underground report as always! The graffiti is quite fascinating, and always good to find nice artefacts too. Nice one mate

 

[oldscrote]

The crane's great. Apparently there are still two remaining in the other limestone quarry at Beer.

The Beer quarries were operated by a branch of either the Pictors or Sumsions{I forget which} who were quarry owners around the Box area.If you go into the old Beer workings there is miners graffiti mentioning local Box names.The method of working was exactly the same in both places,the cranes around the Box area were mainly made at Stothard and Pitt in Bath,it would be interesting to know whether they made the cranes in Beer

 

[Foxylady]

...If you go into the old Beer workings there is miners graffiti mentioning local Box names.The method of working was exactly the same in both places,the cranes around the Box area were mainly made at Stothard and Pitt in Bath,it would be interesting to know whether they made the cranes in Beer

I think we may have had this conversation before!
I'll see if I can find out about the cranes used in the old quarry. According to the local who told me about the cranes still remaining in the new quarry, there are dangerous wet lime pits in that area. We didn't see that part when Neosea and myself explored it last year, and I'm a bit reluctant to do a reccee on my own...I don't want to vanish without trace in a lime pit!
I'll let you know if I find out.