Hi all, just a quick message to introduce myself. My name is Nigel & I'm a landscape photographer from Warwickshire, although my subjects are usually the mountains of the Lake District, Scotland & Wales.

I first started exploring mines on Wednesday last week! Never been in one before, other than guided tours like Honister slate mine or some coal mining museum as a child on a school trip.

I was walking back down from the summit of Coniston Old Man & took an alternative from the main tourist route through the old slate mine workings & decided to have a quick look in one of the open levels I'd passed many times before. Well, I was completely blown away by what I saw & have to say I'm probably hooked! It also complements my mountain walking activities perfectly 8-)

Here's a video from my GoPro taken during a quick return visit on Saturday ?list=UUdTuhJf6gjsCVz7c-KouJnQ

I'm hoping to check out a few more of the Coniston levels over the next few weekends & post some photos of my findings. Any help in finding & accessing the best/longest/deepest/biggest mines will be greatly appreciated, hence joining this forum.

You were in Spion Kop there, rather than Moss Head.

(although the big chamber you were looking down into is Moss Head where it's broken through from below)

If you follow your nose down the tip you can get into that large chamber and some others via two lower levels.

Slate from Coniston by Alastair Cameron covers the whole area in great detail, theres also a cheaper leaflet both available from CATMHS

http://www.catmhs.org.uk/pubs.php 

Thanks Chris. I've since realised where I was by looking through the photos on this site. Slate from Coniston just ordered :thumbup:

It always helps if you know what you're looking at! 🙂