Obvious spectre:glad you had fun,it's a great place:thumbsup:

Prada:to echo the above comments,and suggest thumpers sitch aswell,couple more adits (henstocks and spencers) in this area worth a poke.masson as always although I suspect you may have done this.brightgate cave is worth a poke.call at the farm for permission.old ash is a great trip,coupled with lords this would make a great evening out.mr greatorex at the farm is a great bloke and very helpful.

I saw the old ash and lords mines on the DCA cave registry map but it says that mr greatorex will ask me for BCA membership which i do not have? I am pretty well experienced in mine exploring but just never signed up to BCA or any other body of the sort. Do you think he would reject my request to enter those mines?

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I would give him a ring and ask.mr and Mrs greatorex are a good people.i have insurance and have been asked in the past.hower,I wouldn't discount it it if you are an experienced mine explorer.I would defiantly recommend getting insurance,it's cheap,opens many doors and the money goes to good use.

Bump

BCA insurance in my view is a must and isn't expensive

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I read these posts with some nostalgia, recalling my first trips through that system with school friends. I was even driving along Salters Lane today thinking about the walk up from Matlock railway station a lot of years ago. All the reports I have read have concerned the through route and some of the "beehive slopes" section but none have mentioned other possibilities, including an alternative entrance or possible connections. I know that the following have been discussed before - and dismissed - but I believe that story about a connection with Oxclose Mine as it came from a (1950s) historical source and at least one present day mine explorer. A story about another entrance to Jugholes came, I was told, from a fellow club member whose skill in reaching difficult places I would have great confidence in. In addition to these does anyone know who reported " --- caverns" accessed via Hut Shaft. That shaft was open when I first saw it and I know it has been explored down to a rubble blockage. Does anyone know when the workings from it were accessible and what was found there? The other intriguing possibilities must lie towards Salters Lane and Masson Hill - if anything was there it would have been removed or blocked by the quarrying behind the main entrance chamber. It is the usual story of course of how much is left from what must have been a much more extensive system.

Doug Nash and Op Mole did a lot of investigation in the area, I've been going through some of his stuff at the BCL recently and I've seen in passing documents relating to it. Unfortunately as I was rushing through a lot of stuff I didn't look closely. Some other of his material has gone to the DRO but until it gets catalogued it won't be available for viewing.

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I explored Jug Holes in about 1975 with a friend that didn't like mucky places and a Premier carbide cap lamp, I was looking for the barking dog mentioned in the T.D. Ford 'Caves of Derbyshire' (Price 10/6) We only found mud.

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My first trip to Jugholes was probably in 1966 - I had the book, Premier lamp, found the mud but the "barking dog" had gone. On that first trip one of the party discovered a rotting Sheep carcass that had been dropped down the shaft into the adit - he did not see it - he stepped in it. The sump in those days looked like a deep, green pool but we (lads) did not test its depth. Hut shaft had not been covered and was big, impressive with fine ginging. We did not have ladders or rope. Some very loose mine workings past the climb out (adit route) and small stream if I remember correctly. There must have been more to see which we missed completely.