Crisp Delf Flagstone Mine
So a few weeks ago me and @Bigjobs said we'd meet up with @Lavino and go and take a mooch round Crisp Delf. To be fair on the day I was dying from an epic hangover thanks to spending the previous night out in Manchester celebrating@KM_Punks birthday (but that's a whole different story!) and was really not up for traipsing through fields in the dark......but how glad am I that I did!
It's a gorgeous little mine with some cracking features. My photos are shite and certainly do not do it justice! I'm really disappointed with them but I've been somewhat inactive of late so now I've been and done something you get the rather dubious honour of viewing them lol!
We parked in a car park which is apparently a popular dogging spot, a couple of cars did turn up but left pretty damn quick when they spotted us lol. We got our gear together and trundled off down the road to see if the entrance was open and hell yeah we were in luck. Only had a slight scare when it looked like there was someone else wandering around with a torch on as we climbed in but once we were in it was all good.
Visited with @Bigjobs, @Lavino, @Dangle_Angle and Tom.
I can't find a great deal of history on this place so this is the best Ive got.
Located in a distinct area of Upholland on the eastern slopes of Ashurst Beacon. A linear hamlet of mainly 18th and 19th-century miners’ and quarrymen’s cottages strung out along the secondary road (called Roby Mill) between Upholland and Appley Bridge. Most buildings nearby are constructed of sandstone rubble using the local stone giving a strong sense of unity. It is a designated conservation area. Above the village on the higher slopes of Ashurst Beacon there were a number of historic quarries working what is now known as Crutchman Sandstone, producing building stone, flags and roofing slates. Some mining of flags took place. This may have been the original source of the ‘Upholland Flags’ used extensively in Liverpool and elsewhere. These quarries are mostly no longer visible having been infilled in the late 1960s.
The stone used in the buildings in the village are consistent. Important quarries of Upholland Flags (now named as Crutchman Sandstone/ Milnrow Sandstone) were located in the village about 800-1000m west along Fairly Lane (Crisp Delf and Knowles Delf.) in the 1830/40s a tramway from the quarries passed through the village terminating at the Leeds Liverpool Canal near Gathurst (in Douglas valley), but there little evidence of it remains. There is some evidence that the stone was mined as well as quarried.
Lavino did manage to find a post on ukurbex.com allegedly from the son of the landowner. Rumour had it that the landowner used to backfill the entrance to stop his son going down there and doing drugs.
This is what his son posted:
"haha! I am the son of the land owner, and I must say its rather amusing seeing people post comments about my back garden....nice pics! I personally haven't been down there for years now as I live down south, but I know my dad kept putting locks and gates only for one of you intrepid trespassers to break em down....as a squatter and a traveler of many years, I can totally understand this! If I had my way I'd give tours of the place but my dad has not been too forthcoming with the key, and I don't make it back home very often these days. My first trip down there was when I was 7 years old, I dug out the entrance with a trowel I'd got for Christmas (dad had blocked it with soil and sticks) and went down with a gameboy magnifying light, which emitted a dull orange glow...I didn't get very far but it was my first foray into the unknown, which had a noticeable effect on my developing consciousness....when I got older I'd take my mates down and hang out there smoking spliffs and generally freak em out..........more than once I got lost down there, but I never let on I didn't know the way out! None of this was known to my folks at the time, but after a while I let on and had the pleasure of going down with dad, the old chap certainly knows his history of the place, next time I visit I'll chat to him and post up an accurate backstory of the mine....when he was a kid he used to go for railroad rides down there! My family never actually mined the quarry, rather they used it for other things, when the war was on they used it as an ammo dump, it was the army who installed those big white pillars you can see down there. When I was exploring my garden I used to find old sheds made entirely of old ammo boxes. In my lifetime I have noticed more recent fall-ins. I know before I was born it stretched for miles under what used to be the golf course. The area is actually riddled with caves, though as far as I know they are all closed bar crisp delph. Anyway glad my garden has been of service!
The follow up post doesn't appear to have been made but I found the original interesting enough.
Anyway heres a few well dodgy pics
So a few weeks ago me and @Bigjobs said we'd meet up with @Lavino and go and take a mooch round Crisp Delf. To be fair on the day I was dying from an epic hangover thanks to spending the previous night out in Manchester celebrating@KM_Punks birthday (but that's a whole different story!) and was really not up for traipsing through fields in the dark......but how glad am I that I did!
It's a gorgeous little mine with some cracking features. My photos are shite and certainly do not do it justice! I'm really disappointed with them but I've been somewhat inactive of late so now I've been and done something you get the rather dubious honour of viewing them lol!
We parked in a car park which is apparently a popular dogging spot, a couple of cars did turn up but left pretty damn quick when they spotted us lol. We got our gear together and trundled off down the road to see if the entrance was open and hell yeah we were in luck. Only had a slight scare when it looked like there was someone else wandering around with a torch on as we climbed in but once we were in it was all good.
Visited with @Bigjobs, @Lavino, @Dangle_Angle and Tom.
I can't find a great deal of history on this place so this is the best Ive got.
Located in a distinct area of Upholland on the eastern slopes of Ashurst Beacon. A linear hamlet of mainly 18th and 19th-century miners’ and quarrymen’s cottages strung out along the secondary road (called Roby Mill) between Upholland and Appley Bridge. Most buildings nearby are constructed of sandstone rubble using the local stone giving a strong sense of unity. It is a designated conservation area. Above the village on the higher slopes of Ashurst Beacon there were a number of historic quarries working what is now known as Crutchman Sandstone, producing building stone, flags and roofing slates. Some mining of flags took place. This may have been the original source of the ‘Upholland Flags’ used extensively in Liverpool and elsewhere. These quarries are mostly no longer visible having been infilled in the late 1960s.
The stone used in the buildings in the village are consistent. Important quarries of Upholland Flags (now named as Crutchman Sandstone/ Milnrow Sandstone) were located in the village about 800-1000m west along Fairly Lane (Crisp Delf and Knowles Delf.) in the 1830/40s a tramway from the quarries passed through the village terminating at the Leeds Liverpool Canal near Gathurst (in Douglas valley), but there little evidence of it remains. There is some evidence that the stone was mined as well as quarried.
Lavino did manage to find a post on ukurbex.com allegedly from the son of the landowner. Rumour had it that the landowner used to backfill the entrance to stop his son going down there and doing drugs.
This is what his son posted:
"haha! I am the son of the land owner, and I must say its rather amusing seeing people post comments about my back garden....nice pics! I personally haven't been down there for years now as I live down south, but I know my dad kept putting locks and gates only for one of you intrepid trespassers to break em down....as a squatter and a traveler of many years, I can totally understand this! If I had my way I'd give tours of the place but my dad has not been too forthcoming with the key, and I don't make it back home very often these days. My first trip down there was when I was 7 years old, I dug out the entrance with a trowel I'd got for Christmas (dad had blocked it with soil and sticks) and went down with a gameboy magnifying light, which emitted a dull orange glow...I didn't get very far but it was my first foray into the unknown, which had a noticeable effect on my developing consciousness....when I got older I'd take my mates down and hang out there smoking spliffs and generally freak em out..........more than once I got lost down there, but I never let on I didn't know the way out! None of this was known to my folks at the time, but after a while I let on and had the pleasure of going down with dad, the old chap certainly knows his history of the place, next time I visit I'll chat to him and post up an accurate backstory of the mine....when he was a kid he used to go for railroad rides down there! My family never actually mined the quarry, rather they used it for other things, when the war was on they used it as an ammo dump, it was the army who installed those big white pillars you can see down there. When I was exploring my garden I used to find old sheds made entirely of old ammo boxes. In my lifetime I have noticed more recent fall-ins. I know before I was born it stretched for miles under what used to be the golf course. The area is actually riddled with caves, though as far as I know they are all closed bar crisp delph. Anyway glad my garden has been of service!
The follow up post doesn't appear to have been made but I found the original interesting enough.
Anyway heres a few well dodgy pics
