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Snailbeach
Lead Mine Underground Virtual Tour |
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This page is being rebuilt Oct 2011! [click thumbnails to see larger version of picture] DAY LEVEL This is a short level
connecting Lordshill Shaft to the surface and is ideal if you only want a
brief underground experience. When the mine was being worked, lead ore was
wound up the shaft in large iron buckets called kibbles to a staging where
the level meets the shaft. Here it was transferred to trucks and pushed out
to the crusher house on the opposite side of the track to the entrance. The
Shropshire Mines Trust has re-laid
rails in the level and visitors are pushed up the level on a specially made
truck with seats. The first half of
the level is lined with stone arching but then it carries on in solid rock.
Very soon after the entrance, there is a low part where a collapse was dug
through and reinforced with modern metal supports. If you look carefully, you
will see stalactites starting to grow from the roof. At the end, the
shaft is covered with a strong metal grille so you can stand on it and look
up to daylight above. There are also displays of old and modern drilling
equipment. The way out always looks different, partly because you can see
daylight at the end. PERKINS LEVEL This is a longer
and more adventurous trip and it was where the last mining took place at Snailbeach
for barite. The entrance section has been protected with metal supports but
it soon gets into solid rock. On your left you will pass a board with tallies
- parties use these to count the number of people in and out.
Look in the roof and you will see a ventilation shaft going up – now
capped at the top. The first section
usually has standing water, which can be up to 1ft deep in places so wellies
are the best footwear. Along the way you will pass the old railway lines,
which have been taken up. The black stains on the walls and floor are from
natural bitumen which leaks from the rock.
The first junction
is where there used to be a stope (large
underground space) going up to surface and down to the lower workings. This
has been filled in with concrete for safety but a way through has been left
using metal arching. The material from
the infill is starting to leach out of the rock and now appears as beautiful
white formations of gypsum.
Going straight on leads via two sections which have
been supported for safety. Once past
these, the natural passage is followed and you can look upwards to a stope
This crosses a deep
drop to the lower workings where it is possible (if you have the right
equipment!) to descend much deeper into the mine.
On the other side
of the bridge is a small stope and a further bridge
leads to a large chamber where bats hibernate in winter. This section is
currently closed off to the public.
Returning to the
first junction, the other way leads into a passage showing an obvious hanging
wall. This then leads into a stope where an old
chain ladder hangs down the wall.
Looking back the way you came, you can see a wide vein of white
barite.
In the roof is a large vein of barite, which has
been badly stained by iron, hence why it was left. There is also a large
pillar of barite left to keep the sides apart.
passage leads
beyond the stope to where three old and dangerous
areas were filled in using plastic dams and concrete. The smooth concrete
floor at this spot was where one of them leaked! You can see holes in the concrete floor
drilled up by the power of dripping water. The passage carries on as an exploratory
level as the barite vein disappeared. It twists and winds as the miners tried
to find more ore by hit or miss methods. You pass one spot where decomposing
iron pyrites has left a pile of clay. Eventually you
reach the last heading where, in 1955, the miners decided to give up mining
at Snailbeach forever. This is a very poignant
place as you think of the situation where the miners came back after
blasting, saw there was no barite and didn’t even bother to clear up the
blasted rock. They must have walked out very disappointed men and bringing to
a close mining that had taken place at Snailbeach for nearly 2000 years. Retracing your steps to the
main level, you make your way out of the mine with daylight beckoning you
onwards! |
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