TheBogieman
9 years ago
Davel and All

It is Belgrave Mine - it's very local to my old house above Mold. The name comes from the Duke of Westminster in Chester (the Grosvenors, present Duke is Gerald) who had the mineral rights (and present Duke still does IIRC) of most of Halkyn Mountain and adjacent Black Mountain around Eryrys / Llanarmon yn Ial / Maesafn where Belgrave, Bog and Maesafn Mines are located.

Belgravia in London, Belgrave Lodge on the Eaton Hall Estate in Chester - the Grosvenor's own the LOT... A LOT of their wealth came from the NE Wales lead mines...

Clive
Explorans ad inferos
simonrl
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9 years ago
Thanks for the detailed post Clive :thumbup:

I've moved all the photos from 'Bell Grave' to 'Belgrave' and deleted the 'Bell Grave' entry. That should tidy things up correctly.

@TTNers... Hope you all had a good one last night :thumbsup: Spare a thought for those of us who were stuck in the office until 9pm 😢
my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by
nova_turbo
9 years ago
"SimonRL" wrote:

@TTNers... Hope you all had a good one last night :thumbsup: Spare a thought for those of us who were stuck in the office until 9pm ;(



@Simon... Spare a thought for the TTNers walking in torrential rain trying to find the adit! The office was looking more appealing at that point :lol:
simonrl
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9 years ago
"nova_turbo" wrote:

"SimonRL" wrote:

@TTNers... Hope you all had a good one last night :thumbsup: Spare a thought for those of us who were stuck in the office until 9pm ;(



@Simon... Spare a thought for the TTNers walking in torrential rain trying to find the adit! The office was looking more appealing at that point :lol:



Ha! But warm and dry underground I'll bet? Anybody take the brew kit?
my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by
TwllMawr
9 years ago
"nova_turbo" wrote:

@Simon... Spare a thought for the TTNers walking in torrential rain trying to find the adit! The office was looking more appealing at that point :lol:



Yes!.... I made a right decision for a change!... Chickened out 5pm. Even though Mr Sinker nearly convinced me it was shorts weather that end.:lol: Hope it was good otherwise.
Margot
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9 years ago
It didn't quite go as planned! There was some spiffing through trip intended but some new collapse made that impossible. No idea if it is a diggable one. But someone was psychic (I think it was Sinker) and he didn't rig the pitch as a pull-through so we just went back up and a certain not further identified Robert was our uncle! We were all impressed with the venue though, and want to come back. And everyone who mutters about the weather at the scene is a bit soft. :guns:
simonrl
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9 years ago
Collapse? After the 1st pitch or the 2nd pitch? The 2nd pitch is quite a long one if you had to get everybody down it and up it on an evening trip!
my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by
Margot
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9 years ago
I don't know where it was, but we only did one pitch. An easy one to get back up. Good we hadn't brought a (proper) second rope, as then we would have gone down that other pitch, and wouldn't be home yet.

Come to think of it, we may not have brought a proper rope at all.
simonrl
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9 years ago
"Margot" wrote:

I don't know where it was, but we only did one pitch. An easy one to get back up. Good we hadn't brought a (proper) second rope, as then we would have gone down that other pitch, and wouldn't be home yet.

Come to think of it, we may not have brought a proper rope at all.



An improper rope?!

I remember back in '12 when Rockchick and I went there that there was an arched section on the mid-level and some calcite deads on one side of the arching. I wonder if the collapse somewhere around here? This was somewhere between the bottom of the first pitch and the top of the second pitch:

🔗103110[linkphoto]103110[/linkphoto][/link]
my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by
Margot
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9 years ago
Well that rope showed rugged signs of a life well spent, or something. Anyway. I think two people were psychic: the rigger, and the person who said we didn't need two ropes, as that saved us a lot of hassle. We got to that wall on the pic; David took some more pics of it. We clearly couldn't go on without a second rope, collapse or no collapse. The collapse must have been at the bottom level. There was mention of water backing up somewhere but I don't know details. I bet MartyMarty and/or Newstuff will appear here at some point to give a more rigorous explanation.
simonrl
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9 years ago
But if you didn't make it down to the bottom level how do you know there was a collapse on the bottom level :tongue:
my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by
NewStuff
9 years ago
"SimonRL" wrote:

But if you didn't make it down to the bottom level how do you know there was a collapse on the bottom level :tongue:



Marty went down the the other side ;)

Searching for the ever elusive Underground Titty Bar.

DDDWH CC
simonrl
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9 years ago
"NewStuff" wrote:

"SimonRL" wrote:

But if you didn't make it down to the bottom level how do you know there was a collapse on the bottom level :tongue:



Marty went down the the other side ;)



Ah! I didn't think of that :stupid:
my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by
sinker
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9 years ago
"SimonRL" wrote:

"Margot" wrote:



Come to think of it, we may not have brought a proper rope at all.



An improper rope?!



They are being insulting towards my rope. Again. Ok it may be a little bumpy and fluffy but it has never let us down and anyway, I'll have you know that it is a very well-looked after rope that..... after every trip I put it on a boil wash and soak it in bleach before sun baking it dry. I respect my ropes :)

But I have now bowed to public pressure and cut it in half and rejoined it. If we ever need a rope to rig a pull through on a 21.85m pitch, I'm your man :thumbsup:
Yma O Hyd....
Donstuart
9 years ago
Simon, do I gather from your post that there are two pitches to get from the top to bottom levels? We only got down what must be the first pitch to a sub-level with the calcite wall, as in your picture.

There was a shaft going down from this level (in-bye) which had a couple of rather ropey looking bolts at it's head, so I assume that is the way down to the bottom level.

Another visit required methinks.
Margot
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9 years ago
"Donstuart" wrote:

Simon, do I gather from your post that there are two pitches to get from the top to bottom levels? We only got down what must be the first pitch to a sub-level with the calcite wall, as in your picture.

There was a shaft going down from this level (in-bye) which had a couple of rather ropey looking bolts at it's head, so I assume that is the way down to the bottom level.

Another visit required methinks.



From the discussion above I gathered that must have been it! Ropey bolts or not. I agree we should go back with two ropes and have a good look. With a small group I think. If that collapse is impassable and we have to go two pitches back up it will take a while! But as having a look from above probably means significant SRT and some wading it may not be hard to keep numbers down...
Lister
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9 years ago
"Rope looks fine to me"

🔗103151[linkphoto]103151[/linkphoto][/link]
'Adventure is just bad planning' Roald Amundsen
Willy Eckerslyke
9 years ago
That was a great trip. Thanks Marty for showing us around and Sinker for sacrificing the rope. As for the rest of you, you're a waste of space and I trust that you'll join me in apologising for the inconvenience caused by our presence.
"The true crimefighter always carries everything he needs in his utility belt, Robin"
sinker
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9 years ago
:lol::lol::lol:
Yma O Hyd....
TwllMawr
9 years ago
"Willy Eckerslyke" wrote:

That was a great trip. Thanks Marty for showing us around and Sinker for sacrificing the rope. As for the rest of you, you're a waste of space and I trust that you'll join me in apologising for the inconvenience caused by our presence.



... Duly noted, but I wasn't there!:lol:

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