crystals in UK · AditNow Community

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chrystalla
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

17 years ago

Hi guys, any ideas where to go to and find some nice crystals in the UK - South.

Mines or Quarries- no idea where to go, Fascinating beauty of crystals

Many thanks
🙂

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jagman
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

"chrystalla" wrote:
Hi guys, any ideas where to go to and find some nice crystals in the UK - South.

Mines or Quarries- no idea where to go, Fascinating beauty of crystals

Many thanks

Quote:

Ebay 😠

LeeW
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

chrystalla,

Jagman is trying to tell you (very politely) that you have come to the wrong place to find out where to get in-situ minerals (crystals) from.
Generally you have to buy them from shops etc.

This site is for Mine Explorers who like to explore mines and take a few photos and have a good look around, we don't take anything out of the mines or from the surface other than mud and pictures.

This topic has come up before and is probably still in the forum somewhere.

Ofcourse if you wish to just look and photograph crystals then that's ok and someone could help you out. Just remeber to post your photos on here.

I went in a mine once.... it was dark and scary..... full of weirdos

When do I get my soapbox, I need to rant on about some b***cks

chrystalla
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

17 years ago

thanks for the quick responses. Not very encouraging. Any idea where the shop keeper gets the crystals from then?

:-)

Where is the key word search engine here?

carnkie
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

You could try:

http://www.mindat.org/photosearch.php

Malcolm

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

"chrystalla" wrote:
thanks for the quick responses. Not very encouraging. Any idea where the shop keeper gets the crystals from then?

:-)

Where is the key word search engine here?

The lack of encouragement is probably because SOME crystal hunters have done considerable damage to mines in the past (long past and recent past) even to the extent, on occasions, of using explosives!

carnkie
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

You could of course go to famous mineral localities (with permission of course) such as Greystone Quarry that are still being worked. Have added it to the data base.

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.

Barney
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

"chrystalla" wrote:
thanks for the quick responses. Not very encouraging. Any idea where the shop keeper gets the crystals from then?

They are imported 😉

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

There is a mine in this country (sorry, can't remember details) that is only operated for 2 or 3 months a year by a couple of americans. It is specifically mined for crystal samples. There was a discussion about it on here a while back, have a hunt through the archives.

AR
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#10

That's Rogerley mine up in Weardale - it produces particularly nice green fluorite specimens.

Follow the horses, Johnny my laddie, follow the horses canny lad-oh!

Jimbo
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#11

They sell show quality specimens, so it will save certain mineral collecting scum the bother of breaking in & trashing the place 😉

http://www.ukminingventures.com/history.htm

Remember - Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures....

"PDHMS, WMRG, DCC, Welsh Mines Society, Northern Mines Research Group, Nenthead Mines Society and General Forum Gobshite!"

ben88800
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#12

Hello All

Jimbo i am a mineral collecter amd a mine explorer and i dislike being called scum jimbo there are people out there who will trash a place to get to the minerals which is terrible for all of use but i do not have a hugh problem with people who collect in a responcable way and do not damage the site.

carnkie
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#13

If you are ever Cornwall it might be worthwhile getting permission to have a look around Clowance. It used to be the home of the St Aubyn family and they built a Crystal Grotto in the garden from minerals collected from the mines they owned, none of which are now accessible as far as I know, so it's no good going rooting around. Here is part of the grotto. (I know I've shown this photo before 😉

🔗Personal-Album-272-Image-021[linkphoto]Personal-Album-272-Image-021[/linkphoto][/link]

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.

sparty_lea
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#14

Hi Chrystalla,
Try this site if you're interested in minerals, most branches have field trips to various sites during the summer. The majority of the places visited are working quarries or surface exposures so no specialised kit is required beyond hi vis gear and a hard hat.

http://www.russellsoc.org/

I dont like being called scum either Jimbo.
I have spent alot of time and effort learning about geology and mineralogy and that includes university study as well as collecting specimens.

I have mined specimens commercially under a lease from the owners of the mineral rights and collected both above and below ground. I think there is room for many different interests in mines as long as people act reasonably. Specimens I have found are in major museums and collections around the UK and abroad and I dont see why people who are not able to go underground should not be able to share the experience of seeing both beautiful and interesting minerals.

People who nick aretfacts, scrawl graffitti and do mindless damage to places are just as likely to be 'explorers' as 'mineral collectors' in my experience.

There are 10 types of people in the world.

Those that understand binary and those that do not!

Jimbo
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#15

Yeh ben, there the type I'm talking about too, the ones who have wrecked several mines in the past & got others sealed up for good = scum of the earth :guns:

Just look what happened in the Lakes with the over collecting.

If your into mineral collecting you may be better off on the mindat site as we tend to go in for preservation here 😉

"PDHMS, WMRG, DCC, Welsh Mines Society, Northern Mines Research Group, Nenthead Mines Society and General Forum Gobshite!"

Jimbo
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#16

"sparty_lea" wrote:

I dont like being called scum either Jimbo.
I have spent alot of time and effort learning about geology and mineralogy and that includes university study as well as collecting specimens.

Ditto Sparty have also spent my youth studying Engineering Geology to degree level, but get annoyed when I see wanton destruction of formations in mines through overzealous hammering/mineral collecting, as I would guess a lot of others do on this forum (hence the general hostility to mineral collectors).

As you say it can easily be compared to people who nick artefacts, scrawl graffiti and do mindless damage to places, but these are usually chav scum & not the mine explorers I know.

It’s a bit suspect for someone to join a forum and immediately ask for locations to go collecting without anyone knowing anything about them & whether they are a responsible collector or just one of the ‘scum’ that many of us have come to hate 😠

"PDHMS, WMRG, DCC, Welsh Mines Society, Northern Mines Research Group, Nenthead Mines Society and General Forum Gobshite!"

ben88800
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#17

Hello Jimbo

How many mineral collectors do you know that go out and collect there own minerals from surface or underground? i know alot of them and these people care about the mines they enjoy going underground exploreing as i do many off them have large amounts of infomation about the mines which has nothing to do with the minerals because mines like minerals are fasinating things. yes there are peolpe out there that do not collect responceably and they are out casts in the mineral world. jimbo just because you do not like some things that people do does not mean you should go off the deep end this just goes to show the ignorance that there is out there about mineral collecters.

to any one who is reading this are there any other mineral collecters on this website or is there just the two of use

jimbo i am a member of mindat but came to this website because there is no minerals on it i wanted to know more about the mines

ben88800
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#18

Jimbo it is not grim up north its the best place on earth

Jimbo
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#19

The comment is meant to be tongue in cheek 😉

We know how good it is up here, just don't tell too many other people 😉

"PDHMS, WMRG, DCC, Welsh Mines Society, Northern Mines Research Group, Nenthead Mines Society and General Forum Gobshite!"

carnkie
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

17 years ago

#20

Just as well there were mineral collectors in the 18th and 19th centuries as many would never have been discovered. Quote;

"Philip Rashleigh is famous among mineral collectors for the superb Cornish mineral collection he assembled, and among book collectors for the beautifully illustrated two-volume description of his best specimens which he published in 1797 and 1802. These two volumes, with their handcolored engravings, stand with the works of James Sowerby as the finest English colored mineralogies produced in their day. Much of Rashleigh's mineral collection is still preserved, and is one of the few private mineral collections in the world to have survived more or less intact for nearly two centuries."

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.