Bit of a mystery this one. Spot How Gill Mine near Eskdale certainly claims the prize for location, with the main adit being in a river bank in the beautiful Eskdale Valley (now unfortunately famous for where Derrick Bird ended his life!).
What the mine doesn’t seem to have is history! There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information about on this one at all. This is an area that is dotted with various old mines, some of which I’ve explored, but most do have some info floating around on them – unfortunately Spot How Gill doesn’t. One can only assume that the workings here were predominantly for iron ore, although seams of quartz and some copper were present throughout. Quite an interesting place that has workings over two levels, the upper level being accessible only with ropes... that we didn’t have. One for another day.
Visited on a scorching hot day with Superkev. Pics turned out pretty nice but I’m told that is due to Superkev’s fetish for torches and his headlamp that is brighter than the sun.
The magnificent Eskdale Valley
Looking in from the riverbank...
...and looking out from inside
A few timber-supported areas. Note the characteristically red earth of an iron ore mine
My favourite shot of the day
At times a bit of a tight squeeze
One of the drier mines I’ve been in, especially as the river flows over it at one point
Superkev’s arse as he squeezes through to the next area. It’s around this point that the river flows above us
Leading through to the stopes
Looking up the stopes. There was clearly another seam above although not visible on this pic, but no way we could get up there without ropes
Off to the side, there was an area that led off to what we thought must be a ventilation shaft. Looking up from here you can see daylight coming in from an upper adit. Looking up the shaft as water drips down
Looking down the shaft from the upper level. Beyond this shaft an opening led out to the stopes from above where we were previously. Again, there was nowhere decent to get a foothold without using ropes
Pleased with our morning’s work upon exit. Self-shots and flat caps FTW
Thanks for looking!