Called out friday morning to check this out on the motorbike , just as well as the car park was rammed full ! everyone and there dog was out and about so would have struggled to park otherwise . have had my eye on this one for some time now looking on maps i became aware of the run off from elsecar reservoir going underneath the heritage centre in to the elsecar branch canal basin .The site as mentioned is now home to elsecar heritage centre complete with shops cafe and museum , The site was inherited by the 4th earl of fitzwilliam from his uncle in 1782 and in 1795 a new colliery pit was sunk also an ironworks was set up and a newcomen beam steam engine was installed to pump water out of the mine it did so until 1923 when it was replaced with electric pumps , the buildings you see today were constructed around 1850 little forges and workshops complete with its own railway it was nationalised in 1947 along with other coal mines , declared a site of special architectural interest in 1986 it was taken over by barnsley council in 1988 and a major programme of conservation and restoration was undertaken .
on with the explore, access was really easy but the site is very busy so i got kitted up in the car park then just walked in
this first bit was a bit deep, top of my thighs deep lucky i had my chest waders on a bit tricky climbing over the branch but i diddnt go for a swim lol
thankfully once around the corner it opened up a little was still thigh deep but could feel it getting shallower
past the pipe and a mini waterfall that was causing the water to back up on the first section the explore got easier
a nice shot of a small culvert discharging in to the main one,
almost big enough to crawl up ( dont get any ideas jezzyboo lol ) looking ahead again a bit further on
you can see the end in sight the small red brick arch leads down to a sump to feed the canal unfortunately my pick of this did not come out but hopefully you get the idea there were a few footballs trapped in the sump at the end and the water smelt stagnant so i diddnt hang around
small drain witch probably served the workshops above
looking back to start
nearly back out
at 310 meters long it was well worth doing enjoyed this one thanks for watching
on with the explore, access was really easy but the site is very busy so i got kitted up in the car park then just walked in
this first bit was a bit deep, top of my thighs deep lucky i had my chest waders on a bit tricky climbing over the branch but i diddnt go for a swim lol
thankfully once around the corner it opened up a little was still thigh deep but could feel it getting shallower
past the pipe and a mini waterfall that was causing the water to back up on the first section the explore got easier
a nice shot of a small culvert discharging in to the main one,
almost big enough to crawl up ( dont get any ideas jezzyboo lol ) looking ahead again a bit further on
you can see the end in sight the small red brick arch leads down to a sump to feed the canal unfortunately my pick of this did not come out but hopefully you get the idea there were a few footballs trapped in the sump at the end and the water smelt stagnant so i diddnt hang around
small drain witch probably served the workshops above
looking back to start
nearly back out
at 310 meters long it was well worth doing enjoyed this one thanks for watching
: Leathers off, waders on haha - yeah where d'ya think I'm goin luv, museums closed. Looks good mate 
