Facit Mine
My first mine explore outside of the fairly standard North Wales slate mine tours. Visited with @TunnelMon on his fourth or fifth trip, and judging by the size of the place it's not hard to see why he keeps coming back for more (that, and the bloody crane!). The place is full of 'hanging death' so be warned if you're planning a trip here yourself.
History (borrowed from TLR): Facit Mine taps into the Haslingden series of sandstone deposits, a quite hard rock, which was used for paving flags, machine beds, construction and later hardcore and aggregate for motorway construction . Some quarries in the area are now reopened with small scale production of flag stones and other products. Despite the abundance of quarries in the area: Facit, Britannia, Lands, Abraham etc; mine workings are very common as the best stone is often found under thousands of tons of overburden and inferior stone, so adits were sunk and the stone excavated from pillar and stall workings.
The crane is something TM has been after for a while now, and after seeing a lot of old pics from Morrisey we set out on another trip (with TunnelMon's girlfriend in tow) but had no luck. Will hopefully be going back soon. Apologies for the lack of pictures, most of the time was spent just exploring.
Will definitely be back for more.
My first mine explore outside of the fairly standard North Wales slate mine tours. Visited with @TunnelMon on his fourth or fifth trip, and judging by the size of the place it's not hard to see why he keeps coming back for more (that, and the bloody crane!). The place is full of 'hanging death' so be warned if you're planning a trip here yourself.
History (borrowed from TLR): Facit Mine taps into the Haslingden series of sandstone deposits, a quite hard rock, which was used for paving flags, machine beds, construction and later hardcore and aggregate for motorway construction . Some quarries in the area are now reopened with small scale production of flag stones and other products. Despite the abundance of quarries in the area: Facit, Britannia, Lands, Abraham etc; mine workings are very common as the best stone is often found under thousands of tons of overburden and inferior stone, so adits were sunk and the stone excavated from pillar and stall workings.
The crane is something TM has been after for a while now, and after seeing a lot of old pics from Morrisey we set out on another trip (with TunnelMon's girlfriend in tow) but had no luck. Will hopefully be going back soon. Apologies for the lack of pictures, most of the time was spent just exploring.
Will definitely be back for more.
