WHY NENTHEAD? – Mole.

As most of you know, I spend a lot of time (about 8 weeks a year), up (or under) the North Pennines, at a place called Nenthead.  I hope this brief article will explain why I, and others from all over the Country, are ‘hooked’ on the area.

I started caving 31 ½ years ago, and was impressed on my 1^st trip, at what nature had created in the shape and form of the main stream of OFD 2.  Within a year, I was introduced to Wigpool – my first mine.  The large, square pre-conceived passages which go for miles were not there!  Most of what I saw , was more reminiscent of the bedding planes of Eastwater Cavern, but carved out by man, before the use of gunpowder, over 320 years ago.  I marvelled even more at what man had created by hand, and was thus hooked on mine exploration.

5 years on, having poked around a lot in the iron mines of the Royal Forest of Dean, and the Firestone / Hearthstone mines of Surrey, I first heard of NENTHEAD – 24 miles of horse levels, all interconnected.  Trouble is, nobody I knew, knew where it was!  11 years ago, I found out, and went on my first trip.

Nenthead, England’s highest inhabited village, is up the M6, past the Lake District, and turn right for 23 miles.  This makes it 270 miles away, and in the top right hand corner of Cumbria, on the borders of Co Durham, and Northumberland.  It is 3 miles east of Alston, the country’s highest market town, on the ‘Coast to Coast’ route ( the shortest distance across the country, E-W), and about ½ mile to the west of the peak of the Pennines, at that point.

The area, a small part of Alston Moor,  hosts what must be the largest explore-able complex of mines in the country.  Lead ore (galena), and more latterly zinc ore (blende)were the main minerals extracted.  The method of deposition of the ores, in veins, or near vertical fissures, mean that the underground scenery is totally different to that of the Forest.  A small amount of deposition is in horizontal layers, or ‘flatts’ which give a little scenery similar to parts of Old Ham.

The complex covers an area of 7 miles, SW/NE, and 6 miles NW/SE, taking as the markers the furthermost points that were known to connect.  Some of these are out on a limb, so this gives a false impression of the true size.

To compound the issue of the size of the complex, some veins are worked by different levels, at different heights, one above the other, producing a layering of workings that used to interconnect.  A portion of the complex contains 3 horse levels, at about 120’ height apart each, with sub-levels in between.

The inter-layering of workings gives sumps (underground vertical hole, i.e. rises or winzes), wooden ladder-ways ( still climbable), underground whimseys (drawing sumps), and ore hoppers, all of which can be in solid rock, flat stone lined, or lumpy stone lined.

            The foregoing complexity of the mines, makes possible a through trip of approximately 5 1/2 miles, involving several changes of height, both up and down.  Any caves boast a through trip that long?  The above mentioned trip is by the most direct route- it could easily be doubled or even trebled!  There are of course, other potential through trips to unblock, each adding another couple of miles at least.

            From the foregoing, it can be seen that there is plenty of scope for the exploration of what is accessible, including many ‘classic’ trips.  There is also plenty of scope for probing into what are now inaccessible portions of the complex: at least 5 major projects are underway, to my knowledge, at present.  The complex is so huge, that many many more digs could be carried on, with plenty of scope, room for everyone, with the potential to extend our actual, rather than theoretical knowledge of the area.  At present, I, and the loosely knit team, are involved in about ½ a dozen different sites, within the complex, with some measure of success.

            The scenery is different in many ways, and very photogenic, even for snapshots!  The horse levels are still railed most of the way.  This is because the price of lead went down, work transferred to reworking the tips on the surface, until the price went up.  All the rails, tools etc were left underground, so work could resume when the price went up.  This of course never happened!  Zinc was then required, ‘until someone then invented the rubber bucket’, leaving rails, tools, etc. in situ.  This is obviously a generalisation, but there  are many relics to be seen: something scarce here in the Forest.

Because of the nature of working, and the rocks encountered by the miners, many of the horse levels are lined by dry stone arching (later dry concrete block arching, manufactured from mine waste),- miles of it.  Some of this still existing arching could be over 200 years old, or more, and still standing.  Most of this stone was quarried on the surface, dragged down the hillside, and then horse drawn many miles underground, and then built into arches by stone masons.  Some arching, being of more recent origin, is constructed from irregular limestone chunks, a by-product of flatt work

 I feel the masons who made the arches would be more than proud to know that most of them are still doing their job, under considerable load!  Some have obviously succumbed to the forces of nature.  Nature always wins!  Some of the arches are only of 2 rocks wide, some are full arches, whilst others are only one side and the roof - plenty of variety.  Some of these arches are not to support the roof- they are to support tons of waste, deposited on top of them, and yet still keep a roadway open.

Formations wise, common in the area, but not here, are yellow ochreous flows, stals, and silted passage floors, sometimes 12” deep.  Black straws, stals and flows also exist, but, not found at all in the Forest are whiter than white flows, stals and straws, made of calcium hydro-zincite, sometimes encrusting the wooden ladder-ways.  Calcite is rarely seen as white, having seen these!  Some flooded levels, where there is plenty of air flow, the surface of the water is coated in a floating layer of this mineral- it reforms very quickly.  Of course in some areas, the whiter than white, calcite, blacks and yellows are all interwoven into a fine tracery of mixed colours.

Techniques wise, there is also much variety: ½ wetsuit, full wetsuit, abseiling, SRT, maypoleing, triple extension ladder intricacies, and of course, scaffold, pick and shovel work- something for everyone.

The ‘team’ referred to earlier, is a group of like-minded mine explorers, from all over the Country: sometimes there are persons from 7 or 8 different clubs present: all the spirit of NAMHO.

Fancy a visit for a week?  The 4 dates  are on the Club notice board, or contact Mole on 01594 833217: