	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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Sub-headings

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

Original entrance	Railway incline in 1920s	Original entrance with gate intact	Picture from 1923 of entrance with rough fence	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	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	Earlier picture, may be 1940s	1923	Entrance bricked up, maybe 1960s, hole in wall

1960s, fairly well infilled	1951	1950s or 60s, bricked up	1950s or 60s	Block End in the 1950s

Block End in the 1950s	Block End in 1951	Supposed to be West Mine but might be Engine Vein	Above West Mine in 1957
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	In the top passages	First ladder down at the end of the Roman Gallery	The crawl near the entrance	Second ladder down

Third ladder down	Descending ladders (second ladder on right, third below)	Fourth ladder down	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
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 (The Svart Alfar of Alan Garner's book)

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
Trip with novices in October 2009

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.	In the Main Chamber *	Twisted Pillar Chamber *