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THE PHOTOGRAPH GALLERY

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West Mine

West Mine is the largest mine on the Edge and was worked between 1858 and 1878. However, some parts appear to be a bit earlier and others later with clear signs of twentieth century workings.  

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Old surface pictures of West Mine
Before Plank Shaft
Plank Shaft and beyond
Trip with novices in October 2009

Old surface pictures of West Mine Some pictures of the entrance area in the early 1900s
			Enlargement available
Original entrance	Railway incline in 1920s	Original entrance with gate intact	Picture from 1923 of entrance with rough fence
Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available
1943 with what appears to be some infilling	Date unknown but probably late 50s as entrance is bricked, partly filled and has hole in centre	From Coward's 1911 book	Picture in Jim Lovelock's book. We think this is West Mine but it could be Wood Mine
Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available
View in snow, same comment as previous picture that it could be Wood Mine.	Date unknown but almost certainly 1960s	1949, entrance bricked up. The Block End is visible on the right. Note square corner suggesting quarrying for stone.	Probably 1960s again
Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available
Earlier picture, may be 1940s	1923	Entrance bricked up, maybe 1960s, hole in wall	1960s, fairly well infilled
Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available
1960s, hole in center of wall	1951 (source: Michael Jones)	1950s or 60s, bricked up (source: Ken Drummond)	1950s or 60s (source: Granville Shillito)
Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available
Block End in the 1950s (source: Ken Drummond)	Block End in the 1950s (source: Ken Drummond)	Block End in 1951 (source: Ken Drummond)	Supposed to be West Mine but might be Engine Vein
Enlargement available
Above West Mine in 1957 (source: Ken Drummond)
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Before Plank Shaft
New entrance in 18 acre field	Inside the new entrance	Inside the new entrance	Inside the new entrance
Shaft in the top level with rope rigged for abseiling	Abseiling down the 1st shaft	End of 'Roman Gallery'	In the top passages
Descending ladders	The crawl near the entrance	Inside the old entrance	Main chamber in the 1950s
The Main Chamber now	Main chamber	Main chamber - a practice rescue	The pillar in Main Chamber
Nigel's Nightmare	... and again	Look no hands!
Second traverse	Second traverse
In the main chamber	Main Chamber	Traverse at Manhattan
Below H Planks	H Planks - so-called because there was once a plank between the other two making an H-shape	H Planks	Climbing down above H Planks
Below the H Planks	Traverse at H Planks	Traverse at H Planks	Dropping down to Canyon
The Canyon	Green River	Green River	Bottom of the railway incline
Start of Twisted Pillar	Twisted Pillar	Climbing out of Twisted Pillar	Above Twisted Pillar
Old rope climb at Flight Deck	New ladder at Flight Deck	Flight Deck - the purple band is a fungus	Flight Deck
Sphinx Chamber	Sphinx Chamber	Above the Sphinx
Squeeze in Sphinx Chamber	... in	... middle	... out
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Plank Shaft and beyond
Plank shaft	Plank Shaft	Headframe over Plank Shaft	Levelling the headframe at Plank Shaft
Passage at the bottom of Plank Shaft	Looking up Plank Shaft
The Great Arroyo	The Great Arroyo	Cottage floor ceiling	Chain Shaft
Chain Shaft	Chain Shaft - preparing to abseil down to the bottom level	Chain Shaft - abseiling down	Looking down Chain Shaft
The Lion	Climbing the Lion	Climbing the Lion	Beyond Chain Shaft
Joining the Road to Rome	Laundry Chute	At the end of the mine	Shaft at the end of the mine
Upper Springboard Cavern	Upper Springboard Cavern
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Trip with novices in October 2009
Enlargement available	Enlargement available	Enlargement available
It's wet in some of the passages	Looking up Doctor's Shaft with Tom on the ladder.	Resting at the far end of the mine.
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© Copyright DCC and Nigel Dibben: 2013 Last updated: 22/11/2012				Larger text | Smaller text | Site map