Wapping Mine & Cumberland Cavern
So today I went for a walk through the famous Old showcave that cumberland cavern, and obviously through wapping mine to get there.
In the past the West Midlands hells angels have lived here.
It has a pet snake!
It is a very well trodden, very mistreated system, covered in litter and to be honest it's quite disgusting that it's been treated as a place to drink and hang out. Which is a shame, as there are some awesome formations and it is a lovely little "stroll".
Bearing in mind, I left "the maze" for another day.
Some history on the two:
Wapping mine:
A former lead mine during the 18th and 19th centuries and a former fluorspar mine during the 1950s, Wapping Mine has an impressive entrance and a complex of large vein and pipe workings. The remains show as mainly modern workings with roadways, stoping methods, ore-chutes etc. Wapping Mine is the most accessible mine in the area and shows the close relationship of the Toadstone [local name for Basalt] and dolomitised limestone with mineralization.
Wapping Mine together with Cumberland Cavern, are the two ends of one complex ore deposit. Wapping Mine at the southern end was driven west along Moletrap Rake.
Cumberland Cavern: (in a little more detail, but not full)
The Cumberland had opened in the late eighteenth century and was owned for many years by various members of the Smedley family. When John Smedley, "the son of the late Mr Wm. Smedley", died at Portland House in 1900 at the age of 63 it was said that he belonged to one of the oldest established families in the district. He was a well known local businessman who, as well as owning the cavern, quarried for tufa in the Via Gellia.
John Smedley's widowed sister, Mrs. Mary Brocklehurst, then became the proprietress and after her death her daughter, Edith Nash, took over. During her tenure one 1925 visitor was to comment that "We drank at the Wishing Well inside, and saw the Queen's Palace and the Str. of Gibraltar etc as described in the Guide. ... It is much finer than the Masson".
In March 1927 the Cumberland Cavern was sold at public auction, with adjoining land, to Mr Frank Taylor of Hope Terrace for £400. This was the first time one of the caverns had been auctioned. It was then said that the cavern had been discovered by lead miners some 200 years before [a slight exaggeration], and that "volcanic disturbances in the cavern had left large blocks of dislodged rock. One detached from the roof weighs 40 tons, and stands poised on two points of rock". This was presumably the same rock noted by the Victorian visitor.
Cyril Edmonds of Portland House bought the cavern in the 1930s. Mr. Edmonds is on the left in the photograph above, wearing a cap. His son, Cyril Rowland Edmonds, was to die in a flying accident in the second World War.
The cavern was advertised for sale once again in May 1950, though was not sold until a year or so after Mr. Edmonds' death in 1954. His two assistants ran the cavern for Mrs. Edmonds for a while, but then took over the tenancy and purchased the cavern around 1956. It remained open for the rest of the 1950s and for some of the 1960s but has been closed for a long time. One thing remained for many years from Cyril Edmonds time. When the Matlock Bath Cricket Pavilion was no longer needed by the club it was removed to the Cumberland Cavern and acted as a shelter. It was still there about 2013, although it is no longer in situ.
Now some pictures
A nice greeting, about 3 metres in
Slalom
One of many calcite formations
Lots of calcite covered deads
Mineralization
Very hard to capture the scale of how high these were, and that they continued for another 15 yards or so
Not even sure what this used to be, but it's rusty
Ladder to nowhere
More mineralization
Biker graffiti
Somebody had to somewhere didn't they....
The graffiti is all around the area of where the 2 systems meet as far as I'm aware, I could be wrong.
The first staircase, being a reasonably straight one
A passageway between caverns
In no particular order, Staircases! And spiral staircases!
Bonus handrail shot
And a few pics for the journey back.
The end
So today I went for a walk through the famous Old showcave that cumberland cavern, and obviously through wapping mine to get there.
In the past the West Midlands hells angels have lived here.
It has a pet snake!
It is a very well trodden, very mistreated system, covered in litter and to be honest it's quite disgusting that it's been treated as a place to drink and hang out. Which is a shame, as there are some awesome formations and it is a lovely little "stroll".
Bearing in mind, I left "the maze" for another day.
Some history on the two:
Wapping mine:
A former lead mine during the 18th and 19th centuries and a former fluorspar mine during the 1950s, Wapping Mine has an impressive entrance and a complex of large vein and pipe workings. The remains show as mainly modern workings with roadways, stoping methods, ore-chutes etc. Wapping Mine is the most accessible mine in the area and shows the close relationship of the Toadstone [local name for Basalt] and dolomitised limestone with mineralization.
Wapping Mine together with Cumberland Cavern, are the two ends of one complex ore deposit. Wapping Mine at the southern end was driven west along Moletrap Rake.
Cumberland Cavern: (in a little more detail, but not full)
The Cumberland had opened in the late eighteenth century and was owned for many years by various members of the Smedley family. When John Smedley, "the son of the late Mr Wm. Smedley", died at Portland House in 1900 at the age of 63 it was said that he belonged to one of the oldest established families in the district. He was a well known local businessman who, as well as owning the cavern, quarried for tufa in the Via Gellia.
John Smedley's widowed sister, Mrs. Mary Brocklehurst, then became the proprietress and after her death her daughter, Edith Nash, took over. During her tenure one 1925 visitor was to comment that "We drank at the Wishing Well inside, and saw the Queen's Palace and the Str. of Gibraltar etc as described in the Guide. ... It is much finer than the Masson".
In March 1927 the Cumberland Cavern was sold at public auction, with adjoining land, to Mr Frank Taylor of Hope Terrace for £400. This was the first time one of the caverns had been auctioned. It was then said that the cavern had been discovered by lead miners some 200 years before [a slight exaggeration], and that "volcanic disturbances in the cavern had left large blocks of dislodged rock. One detached from the roof weighs 40 tons, and stands poised on two points of rock". This was presumably the same rock noted by the Victorian visitor.
Cyril Edmonds of Portland House bought the cavern in the 1930s. Mr. Edmonds is on the left in the photograph above, wearing a cap. His son, Cyril Rowland Edmonds, was to die in a flying accident in the second World War.
The cavern was advertised for sale once again in May 1950, though was not sold until a year or so after Mr. Edmonds' death in 1954. His two assistants ran the cavern for Mrs. Edmonds for a while, but then took over the tenancy and purchased the cavern around 1956. It remained open for the rest of the 1950s and for some of the 1960s but has been closed for a long time. One thing remained for many years from Cyril Edmonds time. When the Matlock Bath Cricket Pavilion was no longer needed by the club it was removed to the Cumberland Cavern and acted as a shelter. It was still there about 2013, although it is no longer in situ.
Now some pictures
A nice greeting, about 3 metres in
Slalom
One of many calcite formations
Lots of calcite covered deads
Mineralization
Very hard to capture the scale of how high these were, and that they continued for another 15 yards or so
Not even sure what this used to be, but it's rusty
Ladder to nowhere
More mineralization
Biker graffiti
Somebody had to somewhere didn't they....
The graffiti is all around the area of where the 2 systems meet as far as I'm aware, I could be wrong.
The first staircase, being a reasonably straight one
A passageway between caverns
In no particular order, Staircases! And spiral staircases!
Bonus handrail shot
And a few pics for the journey back.
The end
