🔗DRAKEWALLS-Mine-User-Album-Image-36888[linkphoto]DRAKEWALLS-Mine-User-Album-Image-36888[/linkphoto][/link]

Is the comment on the bottom meant to read "Whim shaft" rather than "shim shaft"?

It is a very odd set up there to have 4 shafts in shuch close proximity....

If there was a shaft worthy of a dig, this would be it. First level (shallow adit) at about 75ft. You could rig up a winze style capstan in the cage and have a "landing plank". I don't think it would take too much doing to get down there.

If there was a shaft worthy of a dig, this would be it. First level (shallow adit) at about 75ft. You could rig up a winze style capstan in the cage and have a "landing plank". I don't think it would take too much doing to get down there.

Problem is that it is in an really obvious position so you would need permission which would be a major stumbling block.

Or some leylandii and time.

I wonder if Matthews Shaft was a bin before it was lidded. I wonder if one could stick a camera through the pipe.

If there was a shaft worthy of a dig, this would be it. First level (shallow adit) at about 75ft. You could rig up a winze style capstan in the cage and have a "landing plank". I don't think it would take too much doing to get down there.

Problem is that it is in an really obvious position so you would need permission which would be a major stumbling block.

Yes especially with the visitor centre next to it... It is also blocked at about 25ft, so theres a good 40-50ft of crap to move, and it isnt very stable

Anyway I was just interested in the comment at the bottom lol. Would this have been used for winding/hauling/man lift, what would its connection be to the shaft next to it?

I wonder if one could stick a camera through the pipe.

Some handy kit about now.

https://www.mobius-actioncam.com/ 

I wonder if one could stick a camera through the pipe.

Some handy kit about now.

https://www.mobius-actioncam.com/ 

Yeah some good kit, wouldnt go through the pipe though, especially not if you had to attach a torch too

If the pipe is 2.5 inch bore or over it will go, could probably get it down a 2 inch bore (with torch) with the right home made kit.

If the pipe is 2.5 inch bore or over it will go, could probably get it down a 2 inch bore (with torch) with the right home made kit.

It has a cap on it unless you can fit in a 10mm gap there is no chance ;)

Anywho, can someone shed some light on the pumping/lifting arrangements?

Would they use two parallel shafts for pumping and hauling?

Possibly. Shafts close together are not uncommon in the Tamar Valley. In the George & Charlotte the Footway shaft is only forty or so feet from the Whim. Likewise over the hill at the William and Mary there are three, possibly four shafts almost on top of each other. This seems to be a feature of a number of older mines in the valley.

Possibly. Shafts close together are not uncommon in the Tamar Valley. In the George & Charlotte the Footway shaft is only forty or so feet from the Whim. Likewise over the hill at the William and Mary there are three, possibly four shafts almost on top of each other. This seems to be a feature of a number of older mines in the valley.

So would these have likely gone to the same kind of depth or would it be servicing different areas of the mine?

Would they have used the same flat rods etc to drive the equipment?

Varies from mine to mine.

Drakewalls is a funny one.

There are 2 sets of plans 4733 (1890ish) and R63 (1857)

Names of shafts quite often get shuffled around, renamed and sometimes things like "shop shaft" (near a blacksmiths) end up nowhere near the blacksmiths, etc. Sometimes shaft uses get shuffled around. For instance, if you lookdown Lovelace Footway shaft at Consols, you might wonder why it is about 10ft x 6ft, rather than a snug footway. This is perhaps the case here.

From the top of the hill to the bottom (just below the stamps) and ignoring shafts which are on deep adit (not on the section) you have Brunton's Footway, Brunton's Engine, Machine, Footway, Webbs, Matthew's and Stamps Shaft.

The later section appears to show several shafts have gone missing and Footway Shaft has become Engine Shaft. Since Webb's Shaft and Footway are separate on the earlier section and Footway is shown as being the deepest shaft on the sett, as well as the waterwheel gubbins, it would suggest the earlier footway was being used as a flat rod shaft and the size of the shaft on the section suggests it had been slashed out from it's original size.

The later section shows Brunton's shaft only going to deep adit, machine shaft just below shallow adit and not being labelled. Webb's has disappeared, as has stamps shaft. It would appear that most works were around the deep section of "engine aka footway shaft".

Levels wise, it would appear that deep adit is about 60 fathoms deep at "Footway/Engine" shaft (from surface) with the old adit at about 15F from surface and "tye level" about 10F below that. There is (was) stoping to surface from Brunton's engine shaft to within about 8F of engine shaft (footway). Then there is a bit of stoping to surface around stamps shaft. I imagine these were referred to as "upper and lower gunnis" the upper one being the most spectacular and the one which was used as a bin in recent-ish times.

Without resorting to diagrams, if you take the distance between Webb's and Vent Pipe (matthews shaft) footway aka engine is the same-ish distance away from webbs uphill and stamps shaft the sameish distance way from Matthew's (downhill).

Either way, it's a very interesting place. It's a shame the upper gunnis was used as a bin. The section suggests that if you could get into the majority of it, it would be a boat job!

Without resorting to diagrams, if you take the distance between Webb's and Vent Pipe (matthews shaft) footway aka engine is the same-ish distance away from webbs uphill and stamps shaft the sameish distance way from Matthew's (downhill).

Either way, it's a very interesting place. It's a shame the upper gunnis was used as a bin. The section suggests that if you could get into the majority of it, it would be a boat job!

Matthews shaft on every map I have ever seen has been marked in one of two places. Either the bat castle, or the one directly across the road from the vent pipe. Never the main engine shaft?

Are you suggesting that webbs is the bat castle, and matthews is the main engine (vent pipe) shaft? Looks like apart from the 2 obvious shafts it has been "consolidated" pretty well by CCC. Pour a load of rubbish down it, grass over it and make a useless visitor centre that no one goes to on top of it!

and make a useless visitor centre that no one goes to on top of it!

Every time I have been down there they have been closed.
Now that is useless!

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I went in it once expecting it to be about the mine etc... Nope, its just some pointless rubbish about the tamar valley. Only open wednesday afternoons afaik.

Only open wednesday afternoons afaik.

What a way to run a bloody railroad!
:lol:

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Only open wednesday afternoons afaik.

What a way to run a bloody railroad!
:lol:

Oh yeah, top quality. Its saving everyone the hassle of having to waste their time going in there though! 🙂

Let's just wait for Stu's rant about yoghurt weavers....

Thanks for everyones input. Seems like I have a lot more research to do on this one!

Just to complicate things. The 1848 Symons map confuses things even more.

You have West footway, which probably corresponds to Brunton's Footway. BrEnton's engine shaft with a different spelling. Old machine shaft which looks to correspond with Machine Shaft and New Machine Shaft which appears to have been lost by 1857. Then there is a big gap of nothing and Footway which looks to correspond to Webb's Shaft and East Footway which appears to correspond to Matthew's Shaft.

There is also a New Engine Shaft further down the hill.

I imagine if you went back even further, it would be something totally different again.

I presume some of the machine shafts got lost when they stoped everything right out....which they did. Which would be a reason that the engine shafts went elsewhere. I don't really recall ever reading about pitwork being randomly slung down huge stopes.