Yeah you've got me thumbing thru my Derbyshire stuff, from my limited experience the perils of shale I remember well from the loose sections of Cromford Sough on a trip up that... one touch and it fell away.... So how far do you reckon would have to be re-opened in Horizontal terms and what stowed up water risk would there be? Surely this would be a real dangerous dig on a sough. How long is the sough for that matter? Are there full plans any where?

Yatestoop is a pretty lengthy sough - the lower part is very similar to Cromford sough and the blockage is not much further up than the side branch off to the shafts at Millclose. So, there's a lot of sough still to go as it extends almost as far as Winster village, and then links up with other soughs as far as I know (there's an 18th century map of the Alport and Winster mines and soughs, reproduced in Lynn Willies and Harry Parker's book which shows its length). Nellie Kirkham's article on it is also online: http://www.pdmhs.com/PDFs/From%20PDMHS%20Bulletin%20Vol.%201%20No.%207.pdf 

In terms of pent-up water, I really don't know what the risk is - the deep shafts at Millclose are suspected to have changed the drainage a lot, and most of the present flow in the sough comes from those shafts. The flow at the run-in doesn't suggest much behind but as it's a shale blockage, that's not a reliable guide to the back-up levels! So, this would certainly be a long-term project for anyone determined enough to try it, given the length and potential for further major blockages. You could say the same about Cromford, Stanton and Stoke soughs too.... 😉

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Cheers for link. Just found my old derbyshire Soughs book by PDMHS....

Still like Cromford. Just a daft question Where was Vermoydens? in Cromford as in where would it come out today.

Regs ICLOK

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I can't remember the exact place, but both Vermuyden's and Bates' soughs were further up the hill towards Wirksworth. Dene quarry is thought to have removed a large part of Vermuyden's sough although the tail and connection to Dovegang rake may still be there. It was covered in a recent mining history (16:2) as part of Trevor Ford's work on the geology of the Wirksworth mines, and will be covered in more depth when part 3 of Jim Rieuwert's major revision of the soughs book comes out (part 1 is already out, and part 2 will be out this summer so part 3 will probably be early next year).

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Will watch for that and thanks for pointers... sad to say I spent so much time in SW I forgot the peaks offerings. I think the soughs are incredible... partic the older ones.

just another aside, anything re colliery soughs in my neck of the woods in Ripley, Heanor etc.... think I've found a couple but... well ?

Regs IC

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I'm not aware of anyone having done any work on coalmine soughs down your end of the county. Chris Heathcote has been researching the North-West Derbyshire ones, but I'm not aware of him doing any work outside of the Peak. Could be a research project for you.... 😉

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There are a number of rough maps and I mean basic plotting around 4 in heanor and 2 in Ripley but real detail is lacking... suppose I should really look at this.... I have my pet theories on were they were... don't honestly know were to start. :blink:

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There may be abandonment plans lodged with the mining record office, which could be a starting point for research - after that, estate records might produce some information, but it'll probably take a fair bit of archive searching to pin down information - good luck!

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Cheers, I'll have a look and let you know. 😉

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Is anyone ferretting around the Yatestoop area at present? Forgive my ignorance but I've been off the scene for a while. I remember the fun of doing the Winster Shuffle in 1978 and have often thought that this engine would look good in The Pavilion with the one from up the road. Can shale be pumped? Only joking.

There's an ongoing dig just above Painter's Way farm, which has hit some interesting workings suggestive of an underground waterwheel somewhere in the vicintity. AFAIK, John Peel & co have considered having another serious crack at Yatestoop sough via one of the shafts upsteam of Enthoven's (who won't allow digging from their end), but they were still trying to push old Milclose Sough last I heard. Further exploration from Old Bess shaft is also a possiblility, but the engine shaft needs examination first as its stability is questionable....

As for can shale be pumped, haven't you heard about the hydraulic sough clearance technique used on OMC sough?

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