Honister is England's largest underground slate quarry, and has been working on and off from the 1700s.
Honister is an impressive place underground, and although having some pretty large chambers, does differ from quarries such as Oakeley or Cwmorthin in North Wales.
The most notable differences are:
.Slate, even even through into the 20th century was dressed underground rather than in a mill complex.
.Most of the tip was not removed as it was in Wales, but dumped into the workings below.
.A arched tunneling method known as 'Matt-Spedding' was used to allow access to quarrying areas via going beneath these tips.
Today Honister is a major tourist attraction, with the bottom Kimberley level and Lancaster levels 3 & 4 on the Honister vein being open to the public.
The uppermost Kimberley levels are also now being re-worked by Mark Wier. Although on quite a small scale.
The Uppermost Honister workings are however more or less abandoned, but Mark does have planns to restore the Honister Incline leading to these areas, as well as allowing access to some of these upper levels.