[boboil]

A good lead led us to tother side of Stockport today only to discover the mine had well & truly been filled in, after 30 mins digging we decided we were pissing in the wind, so put plans B & C into action.
First was one of R1's secret tunnels, then some culvert fun in Bollington.
All in all a good time had by all in good company, cheers lads & lass



R1 supervising the dig



On to the tunnel









The end of the road





The culverts









Beconfined up to his neck

[Morrisey]

No wonder the locals were getting a little edgey, what with Cheeta swinging through the trees.

[tarboat]

Originally Posted by Romanian1

We nearly went and found hough hole and had a quick look for the cally mines but light was fading, still i reckon i know where im looking to the nearest couple of hundred yards.

Apart from the ones you mention, there are other interesting things to find in the area. Here are a few examples:

[Coalboard]

Links to mining history stuff in the Bollington area:
http://www.lhi.org.uk/docs/leafllet.pdf

This article mentions the actual tunnel we went in;

Fireclay
Usually mined with coal, seams of fireclay were to be found under Bollington and stretching to Pott Shrigley and Bakestonedale, all part of the wider Poynton coalfield. The coal and the fireclay were usually interleaved with each other so it made considerable economic sense to mine them both, make bricks of the clay and fire them with the coal. This was how it was done at Hammond's brick works at Pott Shrigley.

Just north of Clarence Mill, along the canal a couple of hundred metres, there is a wharf. If you look carefully you will see that the off-side canal edge is formed from large well dressed blocks of stone. This wharf belonged to John Hall & Sons Ltd and served their mine, the drift shaft of which can still be seen, easiest in winter, alongside the field hedge about 150m from the canal. This gently sloping shaft went back under the hill and the output was fireclay. This was loaded onto day boats (those having no living accommodation) at the wharf and, at one time, taken to Dukinfield near Ashton-under-Lyne, to the east of Manchester. So imagine, if you will, the lot of the poor boatman - he would start early in the morning with his horse towing the boat loaded with about 20 tons of clay up the Macclesfield Canal. Almost three hours to Marple then onto the Peak Forest Canal and spend two hours getting down the 16 locks. A couple more hours to Dukinfield, tie up and unload the clay by hand. Turn the boat, head off back up the Peak Forest Canal, two more hours up the Marple flight and back along the Macclesfield to Bollington. A good sixteen hours work; time to knock off! Do it all again in the morning.
Here's the actual web site http://www.happy-valley.org.uk/histo...extractive.htm

Originally Posted by tarboat

Apart from the ones you mention, there are other interesting things to find in the area. Here are a few examples:

Hmm, nice, that bottom ones hough hole isnt it?

Im pretty sure i know the watercourse the second is on too.

As for a meet as suugested by coalboard for some poynton and bollington stuff, definitely, contact morrisey, coalboard, bconfined or boboil and find out their next free weekend as they have quite a busy few next weeks i beleive, as soon as they have a freee weekend we're there.

Originally Posted by Coalboard

Links to mining history stuff in the Bollington area:
http://www.lhi.org.uk/docs/leafllet.pdf

This article mentions the actual tunnel we went in;

Fireclay
Usually mined with coal, seams of fireclay were to be found under Bollington and stretching to Pott Shrigley and Bakestonedale, all part of the wider Poynton coalfield. The coal and the fireclay were usually interleaved with each other so it made considerable economic sense to mine them both, make bricks of the clay and fire them with the coal. This was how it was done at Hammond's brick works at Pott Shrigley.

Just north of Clarence Mill, along the canal a couple of hundred metres, there is a wharf. If you look carefully you will see that the off-side canal edge is formed from large well dressed blocks of stone. This wharf belonged to John Hall & Sons Ltd and served their mine, the drift shaft of which can still be seen, easiest in winter, alongside the field hedge about 150m from the canal. This gently sloping shaft went back under the hill and the output was fireclay. This was loaded onto day boats (those having no living accommodation) at the wharf and, at one time, taken to Dukinfield near Ashton-under-Lyne, to the east of Manchester. So imagine, if you will, the lot of the poor boatman - he would start early in the morning with his horse towing the boat loaded with about 20 tons of clay up the Macclesfield Canal. Almost three hours to Marple then onto the Peak Forest Canal and spend two hours getting down the 16 locks. A couple more hours to Dukinfield, tie up and unload the clay by hand. Turn the boat, head off back up the Peak Forest Canal, two more hours up the Marple flight and back along the Macclesfield to Bollington. A good sixteen hours work; time to knock off! Do it all again in the morning.
Here's the actual web site http://www.happy-valley.org.uk/histo...extractive.htm

Nice find, id been on that site but for some reason not stumbled on that text.

[tarboat]

Originally Posted by Romanian1

Hmm, nice, that bottom ones hough hole isnt it?

No it isn't Hough Hole. This one is some distance away and you would have to work a bit to get in.

[Coalboard]

LOST PHOTOS of the fireclay tunnel at Bollington, I reckon Morrisey pinched em!