very nice little limestone mine in kent, unfortunately it has been backfilled in most places to leave about three foot headroom, which means a lot of crawling\ducking as you make your way round, not really that photogenic and it suffers from a bit of mist in places
The mines at Hosey Common, Westerham are believed to date from the 17th century but little is known of their history at present. Again, they produced building stone and this was used for Westerham Church. They lie on the side of a shallow valley and the area is now heavily wooded. Four separate sets of workings have been identified and it is believed that more exist but are inaccessible due to roof falls. The mines were worked on the pillar and stall principle and the original passages were up to 7ft high by 8ft wide. Transport underground was by sledges and excavation in the floor has revealed sledge marks with a gauge of 14.5ins.
At some time in the past, however, the passages were backfilled with waste rock and this has only left a gap of a few feet. It is believed that this was carried out at a time when the price for the stone dropped drastically and the only economical way of working was to extract the best quality stone only. This meant that a great deal of poorer quality rock was no longer required and it was more convenient to stack it in abandoned passages rather than carry it out of the mine.
These mines have suffered several roof falls in the past and they are a maze of passages so exploration by inexperienced persons is not recommended.
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thanks for looking
The mines at Hosey Common, Westerham are believed to date from the 17th century but little is known of their history at present. Again, they produced building stone and this was used for Westerham Church. They lie on the side of a shallow valley and the area is now heavily wooded. Four separate sets of workings have been identified and it is believed that more exist but are inaccessible due to roof falls. The mines were worked on the pillar and stall principle and the original passages were up to 7ft high by 8ft wide. Transport underground was by sledges and excavation in the floor has revealed sledge marks with a gauge of 14.5ins.
At some time in the past, however, the passages were backfilled with waste rock and this has only left a gap of a few feet. It is believed that this was carried out at a time when the price for the stone dropped drastically and the only economical way of working was to extract the best quality stone only. This meant that a great deal of poorer quality rock was no longer required and it was more convenient to stack it in abandoned passages rather than carry it out of the mine.
These mines have suffered several roof falls in the past and they are a maze of passages so exploration by inexperienced persons is not recommended.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
9.
thanks for looking
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