Stonesfield Slate Mine...advice..does anybody know anything abou this.

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Andyreno205
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

Hi, I am currently havinig problems with a potential slate mine shaft that has appeared while digging the foundations for my new house. I have uploaded a survey from 1974 onto the website in the hope that one of the learned members from this site can shed a bit of light on the subject. Does anybody have any ideas as to the methods employed, how deep could this shaft go etc etc.
I am having a desktop survey carried out by a company in Cornwall, but they had informed me that the likelyhood of them finding precise evidence of any shafts, let alone any kind of mapped network of workings is extremely unlikely. Anyway I have a geo-tech engineer on site shortly to assist, along with a structural engineer....the list goes on.
Can anybody give me some advice......anything!!!!!!! 😢
What i have discovered is that mining started in around 1860, and went on until around 1911.
Thanks Andy

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viewer
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

have you seen this website?

http://homepage.mac.com/andyletcher/My%20Website/page14/page14.html

some good pictures of a shaft

'Learning the ropes'

ChrisJC
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

Can you get into the shaft that has opened up?

It seems you would want to get in if you could to see exactly what is underneath!

You need some crack explorers to take a look.

Got any pictures?

Chris.

staffordshirechina
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

If you need professional mining advice and/or a mining contractor who specialises in this type of remedial work, contact me.

rufenig
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

There is a book but it's expensive.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stonesfield-Slate-M-Aston/dp/090103603X

rufenig
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

Also a web site
http://oliverfamilyhistory.activeboard.com/t40182588/stonesfield-slate-and-other-stonesfield-books/?r=208270

Wormster
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

"viewer" wrote:
have you seen this website?

http://homepage.mac.com/andyletcher/My%20Website/page14/page14.html

some good pictures of a shaft

GOOOD GRIEF! - now there's a thing, that's an old mate of mine from years back - fancy him popping up here.

Walrus and "J" over on darkplaces are the blokes to contact about the history of the quarries over in Stonesfield.

Better to regret something you have done - than to regret something you have not done.

Dr J
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

Hi Andy

Slate mining in Stonesfield was small-scale, family-run from what I can tell, that map you have uploaded shows only the position of known shafts-i.e. plotted on historical maps, or physically accessed... Method of working in the large part was via shafts like the one you've encountered...think the depth of the one I've been down on the outskirts of the village was 8 metres? From the base you can expect v narrow and low tunnels-i.e. proper stooping/crawling height. IIRC from the shaft Walrus and I visited, maximum length of a tunnel was 20 metres? In the large part the workings consisted of multiple passages radiating outward from shaft base, but they were irregular, all v ad-hoc working tbh

Will pm in just a mo

J

Over-ground, underground, wombling free...

Andyreno205
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

Hi j
Thanks for your info, v interesting. Thanks also for the contact details for the guy in Reading. I take the point that mines may not have been recorded, and thus will not appear on a map such as the one I uploaded. I checked the earliest map I could find, 1880 and the shafts are present on that one. Do you think that they dug test pits, could I have one of those? And not that's the reason it's not present...clutching at straws here a bit....!!!
I'd Rather I didn't have a shaft descending who know's how far, under my house. 😢

Andyreno205
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

#10

Hi Chris, No we haven't been down it, currently only 3.5M deep. excavation carries on tomorrow. I do have a pic, which I will upload.

Andyreno205
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

#11

Pic uploaded to my album

Wormster
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#12

"Andyreno205" wrote:
I'd Rather I didn't have a shaft descending who know's how far, under my house. ;(

Mind you there are those of us that would be very happy with such an occurance!!

(BTW: tell Andy Letcher that BillC says "Ello" next time you see the old 'shroom!

Better to regret something you have done - than to regret something you have not done.

staffordshirechina
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#13

Andy, your mate really didn't ought to be down in a 3.5m deep unsupported hole that may or may not be a partially filled shaft. There are several factors there that could go wrong, some obvious, some not so.
At the moment, we have high pressure on the barometer. It is currently falling. If that is a shaft and it connects to old workings, they may be chock bang full of blackdamp, just waiting for the pressure to drop so it can expand out and kill someone in a low place.

Andyreno205
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

13 years ago

#14

Yeah fair comment, I have actually told him that he shouldn't go down anymore.

Is that a poison thing you refer to?

staffordshirechina
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

13 years ago

#15

Blackdamp is a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. It is a gas that is heavier than air that concentrates in old workings, especially ones that have been blocked off for years.
It would suffocate you.
Same problem that can happen if you jump down into deep manholes that have been closed off for a while.