Well my Christmas project was to use the cold snap to find the location of Bokey Sough tail (my local coal sough) and now the snow and then frost has crushed all the greenery it was pretty easy to actually see the deliberate excavated route into the Ripley Brook from the sough's approx entrance. I have had area maps of drains and culverts and there are non in the area other than the Sough on Twiggs plan of 1827 which exactly surfaces right where the water rises today from nowhere, pretty easy to locate as the field boundaries and brook have not changed at all. I think its entrance was a culvert (cut n cover) taking it gradually into the rising terain behind gradually! Without the clutter of undergrowth it was also easy to see the amounts of Ocherous deposits (Not sewage!!) where the tailrace meets the stream. I was also able to go along the stream and check for any other possible location in the deeper cutting area downstream, seeing as non found I am happy that I have located my local sough! The amount of water simply just rising there is significant and I have never seen it dry up. Unlike the local brooks it never seems to have any oil film and even in summer the water here has been really really cold and clear, even when it rains.
The sough was described as ancient in 1802 and 1827, I am advised it could go back to the 1500s being driven to drain the Ripley Old Hard Coals. Whilst there are no signs of a physical adit I will be visiting avec spade and having a proper look shortly!! Finding this without the aid of the bad weather would have been horrendous as the whole area is mega overgrown.
🔗Bokey-Sough-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-57414[linkphoto]Bokey-Sough-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-57414[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Bokey-Sough-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-57416[linkphoto]Bokey-Sough-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-57416[/linkphoto][/link]

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You will turn a funny colour orange. 😉

Does the stream go to the reservoir? It disappears just before the main road (A610) on my newish maps

How far down is the top of the portal, do you reckon?

We aren't allowed to talk about anything like this in Cornwall, due to any "orange" causing utter hand wringing terror amongst most.

Before you know it, your dig could be as infamous as Wheal Jane's "Orange" incident.

Sounds awesome!

Not far down.... it can't be deep due to the Geography of the place. I reckon 2 ft down max and a cut and cover type entrance as it went into the hill. The water is very clean, the slime you can see seems to be years of accumulation local to entrance, there is non further down or at the entrance. The water flow is variable but certainly not under any pressure. To be honest not interested in opening her up just in finding it. There are no local coal soughs open around here at surface but off same survey as covered on this one there are at least 3 others in Ripley (1 other found too but dry and filled). The sough here predates Butterley res and the canal and fed into a bigger stream along the the valley bottom from old land plans. The A610 road passes over the stream (culverted) and re-appears to the Nth of it behind the house on the RH cottages in Hammersmith.
The outfall of the Sough I estimate to the Ripley hard coal to be an inclination of around 1 in 100 if not less, but the seam details under Ripley are pretty tough to get accurately.
The top hard coal was well worked in Ripley and on the same plans are references to Whim pits and even Engine pits which makes this a well fascinating area.... shame I never realised before just how interesting.... :thumbup:

EDIT... Behind the cottages there is another level to the Ripley Old Hard Coal, "Lowes Hill Level".... thats the next target... just as an aside my research shows at least 6 soughs/drainage levels just in the immediate Ripley area.

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Morlock, Below is the area down stream of Bokey also showing the now lost Lowes Hill Level (Sough) driven to same coal as at 1900... No trace of this can be seen... well thus far 😉 The A610 crosses the stream just South of Padley Hall.
🔗Lowes-Hill-Level-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-57428[linkphoto]Lowes-Hill-Level-Coal-Mine-User-Album-Image-57428[/linkphoto][/link]

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Thanks ICLOK, I managed to get a few rough surface elevations from MemoryMap, still thinking about their sigificance.

Good luck with finding the actual sough - looking at the photos of the ground, I'd expect there to be a slabbed bolt between 2 and 3 feet square, although it's probably heavily silted up inside! The iron deposits at the entrance may be down to a change in pH as the sough flow emerges and mixes with less acidic groundwater.

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Hi AR, Found the map location of Swanwick Sough!! Thats quite a biggy with its outfall at Oakerthorpe but not yet found the physical locn despite looking, another beauty in prospect is an un-named one that seems to have drained the Heage, Ridgeway and Hartshay Pits .... map just says sough mouth. That means in the area in total I have some 9 to go at!!! Plus more in prospect on upper Erewash valley!

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I've had a few looks for Swanwick Sough. The sough is likely to in part be collapsed. And possibly affected by the A38. I've never found the mouth although allegedly the lock gates to the sough were visible some years ago. Oakerthorpe Brook is ochreous in parts of which the main source is from an old borehole in the garden of the big house. However there are the bridge supports for the old tramway(?) nearby.

I've got a thing in the back of my head saying I thought there is a sough between Lower Hartshay and the sewage works and one towards Buckland (Ambergate Colliery). Only thing I now of around Heage is an ochreous discharge in Ridgeway (Caultons Drift), although there are some Ganister workings to the north.

I'd be interested in any results or leads for soughs, especially along the Erewash, I've come across the names of a few including Loscoe, Cossal and Awlgrave which are marked on an old general map of the area - Although these are more Mid Erewash. I assume by upper Erewash you're meaning Ironville type area?

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I've got the Buckland Ambergate Sough sorted and will put it on shortly for you. There are some earthworks and I managed to suss the latter history. I also found another Sough in Ripley at Waingroves, again the outfall is blocked but you can see the old discharge pool as the land form has not changed. Let me dig out the pics and I will put them on here.

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Ambergate Sough and Coopercote (Ripley) added to DB. Lee this opening is just below sewage works onto Sth Bank of Cromford Canal, I have seen local drainage and water board plans and there is no record of this, however there is no record of this on the MRO records either, but like you was aware that some sort of drainage level was supposed to exit the Lower Hartshay workings...
🔗Personal-Album-856-Image-57730[linkphoto]Personal-Album-856-Image-57730[/linkphoto][/link]
🔗Personal-Album-856-Image-57731[linkphoto]Personal-Album-856-Image-57731[/linkphoto][/link]
Another theory for this as equally valid is that the water from Bokey Sough and Lowes Hill drainage Level just seems to disappear at Butterley Lane, it has been mooted that this could be a culvert taking that water to the Canal, this has a little credence as on the site were the brook from Bokey and Lowes Hill Level meet there is a Severn Trent pump/treatment structure. Hence I wonder if this water was directed via a culvert to the canal, it would make sense. Who knows, I have asked my Severn Trent guy and will advise when I know.

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I've not walked on the canal stretch between the A610 embankment and the Butterley tunnel for some time, but in the long-ago days when I was a kid, that culvert exit had a noticeably ochreous discharge. Is there still any water coming out of it? It used to be very close to an extensive badger sett that might have interfered with the water passage.

Hello Chris, Hope you are well.... Yes still a little water coming out but not that much... and NO sewage. Me and Dan had a good look and there were a couple of small falls in the first section. I was told that it was to do with colliery water hence my theory around Bokey and Lowes Hill Level... However both LeeW and I have heard of a sough or drain supposedly from the Hartshay mines... this could be that as its in the right place and nicely post dates the canal..... trouble is it would be recorded on the MRO plans for the Hartshay mines but it ain't.

EDIT did you see the Coopercote and Ambergate soughs... plus I think I have another one in Ripley maybe late 1600s.

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Yes that drain is intriging. I would of though Lower Hartshay would of drained further to the west and indeed there are two soughs (or one sough and two mouths?) just to the south of Lower Harthshay (need to check records locations etc).

The only other thing which is mine related for the drain is a former pumpway type drain - which may not be shown on mine plans and the most logical location for the mine would be to the south on the hill.

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I have the locations of the two outlets at Lower Hartshay but I think they are gone. I visited recently been and talking to locals there used to be a shallow shaft adjacent to the Canal near bridle lane, I went up and its been filled but I think Its on one of the soughs as there appears to be a water course lower down... Water certainly was issuing from the ground... SLOWLY... yawn!!
Gonna have another look at Weekend for Swanwick... Regs ICLOK

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The earlier 1:2500 map (the version before the one that is available on CD), shows "Padley Hall Dam", with what looks like a streamway down to the canal at about this point. Might this have some connection with this culvert?

I did a screen capture from the 'Old Maps' site but I can't see how to paste images from my PC into here.

Go to top right My Adit Now, Personal Album, upload it then past link into your reply on here.... 😉

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