But, if you've been paying attention, you'll know that my own survival instinct doesn't get much use, and my excellent life just wasn't quite exciting enough. I hadn't found an original way to nearly die in ages! I've always known Shropshire has abandoned mines dotted around, and it was always my dream to get down into some of them. However, I still had enough common sense to know that I should probably contact someone with some mine experience to help me out, so I decided to ask a guy on Instagram. His name is Matt, and he explores almost exclusively underground stuff. Here's his Instagram. I came across him when someone else on Instagram posted a story saying "Forget all you tour bus explorers. Matt is the real deal," and that was enough of a selling point. You can start any phrase with "forget the tour bus explorers," and I'll be interested.
"Forget the tour bus explorers. Have you tried having syphilis?" I'm down. That's just how it is.
As some exposition for those who aren't familiar with urbex lingo, the term "Tour bus" is used when a location starts trending, and we lose a location to over-exposure because ninety people all go to the same place in a week, resulting in it getting destroyed either by vandalism or because the authorities notice and take action. It's one of the primary reasons why any self respecting urbexer doesn't say where their locations are and tends to make their own adventures instead of going with the herd. After all, is it really exploring if someone tells you exactly where to go and shows you exactly what you'll see? You might as well just go to Alton Towers, mate.
Matt wasn't part of the herd, and once he realised I wasn't either, we became good friends. And the cool thing about mine explorers is that they would rather someone explores a mine safely than have them go in without knowing anything, so he was more than happy to help keep me alive.
The cool thing about exploring mines is that, even with the help of old maps, we were still unsure of exactly where we needed to go or what we'd find. We knew the mines were in these woods somewhere, but we didn't know exactly where they'd be, if the means of entry were vertical or horizontal, or even if they were still open. It was a gamble. It was a shot in the dark. It was a real fucking adventure and I loved every minute of it.
Finally we came across some ruins in the woods and we knew we were on the right track.
These concrete pillars are the remains of an old aerial ropeway constructed in 1922. It transported the baryte mined here to a nearby mill. Alas, by comparing old maps to modern maps, I learned that the mill was demolished and replaced with houses years ago.
Initially it was copper that was mined here in the 1860s. This stopped aroud 1867, although some sources say 1869. And then in 1910, the area was repurposed for baryte.
It's weird to mooch around these ruins knowing that mining was once such a defining industry in our country. This was once a hive of activity. It wasn't even that long ago, but all that's left of the once thriving industry is a load of ruins. Nevertheless from its opening in 1910 until its closure in 1945, some 300,000 tons of baryte was pulled from the ground in this area. That's quite impressive.
There's a humongous old chimney lying on the ground.
The chimney appears to be metal but it's also made out of brick on the inside.
The brick structure is apparently the old Transformer house. It would have once housed the electrical doohickeys.
Nearby is this square pit.
At some point something would have stood here, and I'm thinking it may have been part of the old winding house, because the foundations are said to be dotted around here somewhere. This would have been a vital component that used a cable to lower and lift objects down the mines.
Luckily for everyone, whether you're walking through the woods hoping to avoid falling down mine shafts, or walking through the woods hoping to find them, the mine shafts are fenced off with warning signs stuck to them.
On the other side of this fence we found exactly what we were looking for.
At the sight of this colossal hole, Matt was positively giddy. It was great. I mean, I was giddy too. I still get giddy, but I've learned to mask my passion in a world full of neurotypical drudgeons whose idea of fun is Love Island. It's awesome to see someone truly embrace their passions and show it with a fuck-it attitude. He made me a bit wary when he started unpacking his thirty foot rope. No innuendo intended. That's not why I went into the woods with a man I'd just met. At least, not this time.
Check out this hole!
Of course we were going down there. But I've never done
any rope work before, and I have dyspraxia which makes my physical
capabilities rather questionable. I asked Matt if we could first
practice rope climbing on a smaller nearby ditch that I knew I'd be able
to climb out of without a rope, should I turn out to be completely
useless. After a few climbs up and down, I decided I was as ready as I was ever going to be. Matt was confident. I was confident. It's nice to be on the same page. Unfortunately it's the last page of a book called "We're going to die."
Matt tied his rope to a tree, and tossed the rest of it down the hole, where it just about made it to the bottom. He then began climbing down. As he climbed, somewhere in the shadows I saw something flapping around. I thought it was possibly a bat at first but then I realised it was too big, too white, too linear, and aiming right for me. It was a fucking owl!
I ducked to one side as it went rocketing past and exclaimed "That was a big fucking bird!" Matt, half way down the mine, turned his head and said "Where?" just as a second one shot past his head.
Luckily, while the owls had aimed awfully close to our heads, they weren't going to actually hurt us if we ducked out of the way and let them escape, which we did. Animals will hunt food, but they generally won't attack something bigger than them unless they can't escape. I was still a bit shocked though. I've pissed off a lot of wild animals- bats, foxes, boomers on Facebook, but never owls. I wish I had my camera out for it. But with them out of the way it was my turn to make my way down the mine.
So this is at the bottom of the mine shaft. The rope actually ended at that little grassy patch next to the top beam. From there it was a downward slope. Matts in shot, looking upward, so as you can see, it wasn't flat terrain down here at all. I guess the owls had been roosting on the wooden beams.
Of course the presence of wooden beams indicates that this is a mine, and not some natural crevace. This is exciting!
Credit to Matt too- by the time we made our way out of here, the floor around the bottom of the rope was muddy and slippery, and the rope was about six feet from the ground, and my dyspraxia made climbing out really problematic. If it wasn't for Matts help, I'd be owl food!
Also stuck in the wall is this metal mechanism, which Matt thinks may have been part of the old hoisting system to lift things out of the mine.
The mine has mostly collapsed, but look! There's a teeny hole. Only an idiot would crawl through that, right?
Whoopsie!
It brought us into this chamber, which was pretty cool.
However it's obvious that this has collapsed or been filled in. There's a lot of bricks here and an old wooden beam. Above my head was what appeared to be a shaft blocked by rubble.
Amongst the rubble was the remains of old mining machinery.
However with this particular portion, it was blocked up and we couldn't continue. But that didn't mean it was the end of the adventure, because there were other more accesible tunnels. Check it out!
As you can see, there are pools of water forming at the sides, and the ground has horizontal grooves, indicative of a former narrow guage railway that would have once carried mine carts along. It's my ultimate goal to find a mine with rails and carts still intact.
Looking up, much to my delight, I saw this adorable bat looking down at me.
Also looking up, it was possible to see the mine extend upwards to other shafts that I couldn't access. Fortunately there was plenty that I could access, but nevertheless, what I saw was only a fraction of what's hidden down here.
What really intrigues me is that after they mined out this level, they dug downward. The lower levels are now flooded, but there could be loads more to see down there. I assume the further down one goes, the better preserved the rails and carts are, because they'd be harder to remove.
Meanwhile, check out the path ahead of me. There's actually very little of it left before a sudden soggy drop into the lower levels.
Down here we also found this unfortunate creature, dead next to the water.
I'm not sure what animal this is, but given its size I'm suspecting its a cat, or a small fox. Apparently it's not at all uncommon to find animal remains in mines, because the fall down and cant get out. Recently some explorers made the news by rescuing a cow that had fallen down into a coal mine, which was quite impressive. We're too late for this creature though.
Here we can see more of the old trackbed. And I'm sorry, I know these are just horizontal grooves in the ground, but I love finding the little clues of what was once here.
And here we have the end of this tunnel. But there are still some cool little details.
This circular hole in the rock is allegedly where the miners would have stuck some explosives to blast their way through. Evidently they never got around to doing it in this particular rock, and the mine reaches a dead end.
We found another one though! This adventure was far from over.
It's a bit wetter down this one.
Check it out! This bat is clinging to the wall! It's so adorable! How is it tolerating me being this close?
And if the visible trackbed didn't get me excited enough, this tunnel still has the old wooden sleepers.
Evidently the tracks were pulled up, but many of the sleepers were forgotten.
Much to my delight, the mine forked up ahead. However it was a bit of an anticlimax. The one on the right leads to a soggy dead end.
But the one on the left continued onwards, where we found something awesome!
It's a great big hole that's been blocked with warning tape!
See, this is what I mean about mine explorers just wanting to make sure everyone stays safe. Whoever left this warning tape here didn't have to do it, but they did it anyway just in case someone did come down here and accidentally fell down the hole. What a lovely community.
Across the hole, the tunnel continues.
But I can't get over there! Matt chucked a rock down the shaft, and it fell for a bloody long time before we finally heard it splash at the bottom. Matt estimated that the hole was some thirty feet deep before it hit the water level. But even then, the water sounded deep. Matt speculated that maybe if he was to rope down there, he could find other tunnels leading off from the shaft just like this one, but he would have to return with the correct equipment.
But check this out! The rocks still have these old rolling mechanisms fixed to them, which would have once aided in hoisting the minerals out of the mine via the shaft. That's amazing.
Alas, I suppose the only way to get to that tunnel across the hole would be to rope down the vertical shaft from the surface, wherever it is.
Speaking of vertical shafts, this next one was also pretty cool!
As you can see, it comes down from above and straight down through the path, but amazingly, the mines tracks are still here, going over the hole! This is amazing! I finally found some freakin' mine tracks! Also note some mine folks have attached a rope to the wall to help people cross over.
But only a fool would walk across this hole on narrow rusty rails, right?
On closer inspection the hole isn't so bad. It's not flooded, nor is it deep. The good news is, if I fell down that I wouldn't die.
Oh would you look at that? I'm on the other side of the hole. Whoops. But it wasn't too great. After this bit, it reaches a dead end.
In fact it was probably this dead end that prompted the vertical shaft construction next to the rails, because once they were done on the horizontal part they would have dug down.
Isn't it amazing though? As far as my mine wishlist goes, I can tick off tracks at least, even if there are no carts on it.
But at this dead end, it was time to turn back. That was all for today.
In conclusion, I was absolutely knackered, but in a good way. I'd finally done my first mines, and I was excited to do some more! It's so weird to think that this was once a workplace, and would have once had loads of people hard at work, earning a living in such inhospitable conditions. People may well have died down here. It's just so surreal to think about.
If you are an explorer, mines like this are a bit next-level. It's not some derelict cottage with the door wide open that anyone can do, with the only hazard being a few rotten floorboards upstairs. Mines are to be taken seriously. You have to dress appropriately, prepare for an incredibly dangerous environment, always tell someone where you're going and never venture into them alone. If you've never explored a mine before, make sure to bring someone who has. Please, and I know this is asking a lot of the human race, don't be an idiot.
God I loved this adventure. I can't wait to do more mines!
My next blog will be a popular Shropshire care home, and after that I'll be checking out a leisure centre on my other blog. I've never done a leisure centre before so I'm pretty excited.
In the meantime, follow me on Instagram, follow me on Reddit, follow me on my neglected Vero if you really want, follow me on Twitter if that's your thing, and follow me on the hub of misery that is Faceboomer.
Thanks for reading!
