Mining operations for 'Bath stone' started here as early as the roman occupation on Britian in 43AD and the mine is part of the 'Bath and bradford on avon bats speacial area of conversation'.
Wiltshire is known for its historical stone mining significance and this the largest underground stone quarries in the area and the UK
Box mine is made up of numerous mines that were once owned by different companies, Pictors, Nobles and Stone who began mining commercially after 1841.
A section of the mine known as 'The cathedral' something ive been wanting to see for years sits around the middle of the complex at 100ft high and 25ft wide.
Stone was hauled out of this shaft between 1830 and 1850, currently a row of cottages reside nearby the grilled shaft. there are rumors of someone abseiling into here but ive been unsuccessful in finding proof.
Output reached its peak in the late 19th century before its closer in 1968, to the east is an MOD installation which can be seen by the added structural supports, safety railing over the old wells and blocked up drives.
The 'red door' is now hidden behind layers of defense and ive been told has recently been painted green.
The only official access is a gated adit entrance used by cave rescue for training and rescuing lost groups which has happend numerous times over the years, most recently in 2020 leading to the other commonly used entrances being sealed.
Victorian era graffiti can been seen on every wall even there workings out left behind, unfortunately a lot of this has been vandalized by pointless graffiti.
There are numerous cranes and crab winches left behind ranging from great condition to rubble each with a laminated description nearby.
At one point in time you were able to buy a survey from the nearby pub the quarrymans arms but it seems them days are now in the past.
Photographs are as follows
1 - Cathedral
2 - Cranes
3 - Graffiti
4 - random
A small piece of rope can just about be seen dangling down from the gated shaft, you can also climb up behind here and head to another shaft behind this one but we didn't do it on this trip
Looking behind from where we just came, to the left is what at first glance i thought was a well until looking to the ceiling where its clear to see this was once a smaller shaft of its own
The size of this chamber didn't disappoint
The cranes
number 2 crane was one of the best preserved, these 1800's cranes had a max lift of around 5 tons and were transported all across the mine where and when needed, There are carved out slots all over the mine which show a crane was likely once used there.
number 2 crane was one of the best preserved, these 1800's cranes had a max lift of around 5 tons and were transported all across the mine where and when needed, There are carved out slots all over the mine which show a crane was likely once used there.
Must say im a big fan of the preservation and numbering using brass house numbers
A nice before wood rot picture can be seen here of the crane still standing
Mobile crab winch
Graffiti
This was one of my favorite pieces of graffiti showing the famous tom sawyer who was a victorian bricklayer who became the worlds first heavy weight boxing champion in 1860.
This was one of my favorite pieces of graffiti showing the famous tom sawyer who was a victorian bricklayer who became the worlds first heavy weight boxing champion in 1860.
Last edited:
