Report - Crank Caverns - Merseyside, Jan 2015

[paulpowers]

It's Monday and I had two jobs over Merseyside way so decided to find something easy.

Crank Caverns is the common name of the remains of the Rainford Delph Quarry near Crank in Merseyside. It is a network of underground tunnels and caverns, as well as an extensive woodland. Information in the St. Helens local history archives states that sandstone quarrying began here as early as 1730. As the quarry expanded, the cost of purchasing land to open cast mine it increased, so it was decided to opt for a different method. Instead of quarrying out the stone, they would mine it out, following a seam of stone until it ran out. This resulted in the network of caves, tunnels and shafts we see today. Rainford Delph is listed as a Colliery by 1854, under the ownership of Charles Howarth or Yorkshire Charlie as he was known locally by 1880. Mining finally ceased and the woods and caverns were used as a game reserve by the Earl of Derby until 1939, when they became a storage facility for ammunition for the anti-aircraft position at Crank. After the war, the caverns ceased use as a game reserve. Today, Crank Caverns are not officially open to the public, and due to their increasing instability, attempts have been made to close access to the caverns and tunnels themselves. Despite this, the site is still physically accessible from a nearby public footpath and is still a draw for generations of curious locals who wish to explore, many having heard the numerous local myths and legends from an early age.

View attachment 622188

The other bit

Fucksticks, blurry

 

[The Lone Ranger]

Looks a good mooch Somewhere I still haven't managed to visit myself. I have heard various tales as to how extensive the caves are.

 

[ledgehammer]

Nice,

captured it pretty well to be fair.

Theres a tricky little tunnel at the back of one of the lesser caves, which is good fun but the belly crawl at the start of the main cavern kills it every time! ;-)

theres some other caverns around this area, some have been filled in - rumours about others, not been able to check them out yet but Id say its an area that needs a second look.

best...

 

[Ojay]

blimey, 2009 I think I was last in there, quite a bit more to see actually if you spend longer

 

[GAJ]

Used to camp out here in my youth, they do go on for quite a bit but as kids we always turned back as we really weren't prepared for it with our 1980s Eveready torches. Always meant to go back & have a proper look but never got round to it.

Good stuff Paul, nice to see them pop up

 

[Bigjobs]

Same here Gaj, I'm surprised we never ran into each other

 

[Lavino]

I'm goin go have a look for there at weekend look interesting just read the story about the four boys and the little people .. Hope there still not there .

 

[Janedoe]

I'm goin go have a look for there at weekend look interesting just read the story about the four boys and the little people .. Hope there still not there .

Please elaborate??!!

 

[Janedoe]

Surprised I've never heard of this before. Pretty close to me. Thanks for the heads up

 

[xnozhx]

Was here not long ago and a group of wildlife conservationists were knocking about and after realising my group weren't a bunch of fools offered to take us into a deeper cavern. Think he said they were there to protect the area due to bats who now use the cave networks as their homes.

Great pictures! Difficult one to properly capture.

 

[Lavino]

Hope the bats have there Cree torches it's really dark down there..