It's 90'! At the top is a very convenient tree and a grid which is supposed to be fastened with a bolt - though rarely is. Just in case take some adjustables. The first 40' is in a very thick steel tube (off-cuts from a gas pipeline that went through the field and which BG kindly donated) which is packed around with polystyrene (courtesy of Vickers, BAE, etc.).
There is then a square hole through a reinforced concrete raft which is sitting on the bedrock (it's partially reinforced with old steam pipes from the late Eric Holland's traction engine). You are then into about 50' of the original shaft going through limestone.
At the bottom is the top of a rubbish pile which consists of old car parts and large animal skeletons mixed with boulder clay. Just the place to pick up a rare part of a 1950's Ford Prefect (that's one of the cars that was pulled out to open the shaft). 😉 The place was also used as a dumping ground for animal carcasses from the nearby (and now defunct) Marton Abbatoir (not the one in Lindal) hence the sundry cow's heads scattering the place.
Once you're past the bottom of the shaft you are into a complex maze of workings which run all over the place and on many levels.
This is not eased by the fact that over the years miners have robbed pillars of ore causing the larger chambers to collapse, and the limestone sub-strata to end up de-laminating and littering the floor. There are, however, plenty of original levels down there with quite a few artefacts if you can find them.
Finding you way is not difficult but is confused by everything being the same colour - haematite red!:o
If you're lucky and there's been a prolonged dry spell you may be able to get into the adjacent workings, through the notorious 'trespass'.
As is familiar to anyone who has studied the mineral rights issue, surface features don't always follow what happens underground. this is no exception! When you are outside you may see an old hedge line running up the middle of the field. This is a mineral rights boundary and is bounded on the other side by part of the embankment, the whole forming a point near the road.
This is a different mineral rights owner (the surface 'pointy' field was originally owned by Drigg Church!) and was worked from the pit visible in the middle of the field. Ding-Dong is in a different 'patch'
In the early years of the last century miners from the middle patch broke through into the Ding Dong (Buccleugh) workings and started robbing ore from it - they got caught. The ensuing legal action was settled out of court.
The trespass is a hole in the roof in the long flooded passage at the lowest point of the mine. If it is a wet year then the passage is completely flooded and the place is sealed. This is a pity as the bit beyond the 'trespass' has only been poorly visited. I suspect there are still things to see.
It is possible to reach the pit in the middle of the field which is a fantastic sight as it is partially flooded and all the giant pit work has collapsed down the shaft. At the other end it is also possible to stand in a large chamber and look up to a shaft in the ceiling which is chocked with old car tyres. This is the indentation you pass just inside the field gate. You can certainly pass well under the road and the tunnels and workings are heading towards B30, the main hauling pit in the area.
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Last time I was in there however the tunnel was flooded to the roof just beyond the road.
What is really needed is a long protracted dry spell then all sorts of treasures would open up. unfortunately the wet spells over the last few years have made this unlikely. A prolonged very cold spell might also serve but again - we don't get 'em any more. In any case I don't fancy emerging from Ding Dong in sub-zero conditions.
Maybe diving is the answer. ::)
Oh and did I say - it's a bit messy down there.
The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.
Henry David Thoreau