Hey hello guys, i'm Keith, a new user and new to exploring mines.

Wondering if anyone has explored the Charlestown Lime Mines recently just off West Road. There are also mines north and East of those which i'd love to know if there's any access to!

There even appears to be mining onto the banks of Lyne Burn alongside the old abandoned Charlestown foundry!!

I've been in the mines quite a few times because they are quite local to me.

The mines off West Road extend northwards almost to the top of Rocks Road but the north half of them is flooded and all the north adits have been backfilled. Only the two southernmost adits lead to an explorable bit, which you can spend maybe an hour exploring.

There is a drainage level that leads to a pond beside the railway viaduct but both ends of it are underwater. There is also an adit that leads to a former quarry that is now somebody's garden. The inner end of this adit is backfilled and I've never seen the outside because it's in a garden.

There are three adits beside the foundry but they don't go anywhere, they just lead to a passage that links the three of them. Having spoken to a geologist at a similar site elsewhere I think these would have been a trial for more limestone. The foundry itself is moderately interesting, having been built into the ruins of a castle (or made to look as if it was).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30854514@N08/sets/72157624115125304/ 

Thanks for the reply Richard. I've spent a few hours exploring the Charlestown area and found the extent of mining operations appear to have been huge.

At the West Road end of adits i've been in the one that has the railway buffers and walking north from there along the line of adits, as the ground level starts to rise with back fill, i've been in the last accessible adit to find that it forms a long passage continuing north and joining up an unknown number of adits. For all i know it joins up the full length of the quarry but i didn't have appropriate safety equipment to travel far.

The two open air quarries appear to be very well filled in with no access to any of the mines, i was in the western one today and found a couple of entrances with a shallow crawl space but that was all. The quarry is now used as a rifle range!

I ventured into the Lyne Burn mine too. A passage of maybe 50 metres in length with 3 entrances and evidence of major cave ins. Two entrances are useable and it really is just a crawl space. From what i understand the two towers were watch towers over the Forth and later incorporated into the foundry.

Given how effectively most of the mines were buried i find it strange that the large entrances near West Road have been left fully accessible. I also heard a story of large quantities of WWII munitions buried in mines in this area. Wonder if there's any truth to that!?

You can only get a little bit north before you hit flooding. In January we went in with a small inflatable and found that the mine does indeed continue the full length of the west quarry and turn the corner at the top. The last time I looked properly in the west quarry, which was a while ago, I couldn't see any ways in, but there were a few bits that looked as if they might open themselves up, you can certainly see all the backfilled adits from the inside.

I'd love to be proved wrong but I'm almost certain that the only underground activity in Charlestown is what we've already seen. The quarries are, as you say, extensive but I'm pretty sure they are all above ground. None of the various sources I have checked have so much as hinted at any other mines there. It hasn't stopped me looking for them though.

Fascinating stuff Richard, must have been eerie paddling up the inside of the mines! I had a quick look at the eastern quarry over Rocks Road, much the same as West Quarry with the back fill and the tops of the adits visible behind vegetation which made close inspection impossible at the time. I hadn't realised that there was a fairly sizeable loch there! Is this natural or flooded mining? I want to explore more over this side and work my way down the Eastern side of the village.