[Edus1]

Well day 3 was planned as a through trip but as time was short after packing up tents and checking out a few surface workings we opted for a simple trip into the Haggs level and off up High Raise Vein. This was complete new stuff for us as neither of us had explored these levels and it has now opened up many plans for further trips.

A Bit of History -

High Raise Vein was discovered in 1789 by the Brownleyhill Company who worked the ore from the firestone sill which when followeed into the high slate sill petered out to nothing. By 1852 the Haggs level reached the vein and a raise was driven into the vein which offered a 6ft thick vein of ore. The ore was found to be a bit weak but the vein was worked right to the county boundry. Witherite and barytes were also found and available in comercial quantities and this was worked by the Nentsberry Mining Company from 1895 - 1908 and then by the Lugdale Chemical Comapny till the lease was taken over by the Vielle Montagne Zinc Company in 1913. After 1923 all the workings were being pushed out of cumbria and over into northumberland. In 1925 wellhope shaft was sunk to the vein to offer an easier way to extract the ore and an arial rope way was installed to transport the ore to the Nenthead mill. This was soon found to be a failure and was abandoned. The mine was then worked by a few other companies up untill 1952 when it eventually closed.

A couple of surface pics from Google




We proceeded up the horse level (again in deep water ) till we hit the junction for Brownley hills Mine and took the left turn up the level. The colour of the water gave the game away for the colour of the day



We then followed the level a long way till we hit a bit of a collapse and an interesting looking ladder.



When up the ladder we found our way up an ore shoot and into some very old looking workings.





The ore shoots in this high level are tiny compared to the others found in the main nent mines



As time was getting on and we still had a 3 hour drive home to face we decided to head out checking out the rope to Admiralty Flats on the way (yet another trip for another day )

I got a few fleeting shots before heading out into the sun for fish and chips





That was then the end of the weekend but plans are already underway for the next return trip