There are some places in life that get under your skin and nag away at you insistently until you go back and explore some more. Grinkle Mine is one of those places for me: whilst I'm sticking this report up now, I have no doubt that I'll be back there before too much longer, especially as I found some nice new areas to explore last night!
Context
This is a report based on Grinkle Ironstone Mine (incorporating part of the mine, the two culverts, Ridge Lane tramway tunnel and some other stuff) but it's a case of "too late sunshine" for the gnarliest parts of the culvert in particular (more later but parts of the culvert have gone for good). Others have been here before me and produced some stunning images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/sets/72157622622329330/?detail=1
but let this be a lesson to anyone who visits a place over a period of time then thinks, "I'll save that bit for another day" .... I did the same, went back a couple of nights ago and found a hole in the ground that you could literally bury a 747 in. Grrrrrr.
History
Grinkle Mine was established in a steep-sided valley near Staithes in North Yorkshire after a proving drift found the Cleveland ironstone seam deep in the valley. Due to the terrain the valley (and the fact that the confluence of the Easington and Twizziegill becks is found in the valley bottom), the two streams were culverted and millions of tonnes of mine spoil from local ironstone mines was used to fill in the valley bottom, providing a level plateau some seventy feet above the old floor for the buildings etc.
Opened in the 1880s with production starting in 1882, Grinkle was part of a much larger infrastructure, being linked to the harbour at Port Mulgrave via a tramway which left the mine, headed south under Ridge Lane through a tunnel then around to Dalehouse on a raised embankment before entering a final tunnel which exited in the cliff edge at Mulgrave onto an old iron jetty to serve the Jarrow ore boats. Later in the mine's life, an incline was built to link the mine directly to the standard gauge W&MR track to ship the ore to Middlesbrough.
The culvert caused innumerable issues during the mine's lifetime, with a major collapse in 1927 causing widespread flooding in the mine and necessitating much reinforcement with iron props (now almost all gone ... *sob*).
Some 50 years and 22 fatalities later, Grinkle closed and has been left to the ravages of time ever since. More huge collapses of the Easington Beck culvert occurred (some very recently) and now there is a huge engineering project going on to repair the culvert, necessitating the excavation down from the surface and leaving an enormous hole in the ground: SES Contracting have the job of repairing the culvert to prevent flooding due to culvert blockages (there was going to be a link here but their site appears to be down at the moment).
There are footpaths criss-crossing the site (some of which are now closed as a result of the culvert repairs) and access to the site is ridiculously simple - one thing to watch is the water level .... the day after heavy rains, the water level inside the culvert is markedly higher than in dry weather and this can have a huge impact on your ability to explore properly.
Geography
Easington Beck runs roughly west-east in the valley bottom, being culverted for its path under the mine site. Twizziegill Beck joins from the north-north-west and is also culverted before it joins Easington Beck, 70 yards inside the west portal. The east portal extends out from the mine spoil a few yards, where a further drift/trial entrance can be found. From the mine site, the course of the old tramway runs east then crosses the river over an embankment before entering the Ridge Lane tunnel, running NW-SE. In the old mine site is a drift entrance, heading west into the old mine workings (locked/barred and with a GAS warning sign outside). Back in February, the mine site looked like this:
The collapse of the spoil into the culvert is obvious. The tower in the background is one of the winding towers for the Boulby potash mine (now owned by ICL). This entire area is now obliterated by a gigantic hole, easily big enough to fit a 747 in, descending down in layers to the culvert bottom. I had no idea about this until I walked up through the east portal a few nights ago and was suddenly met by what looked like an open-cast mine. Didn't have the camera either as I'd left it behind, thinking I was in for some belly-crawling through the gnarliest sections of the culvert .....
Right, on with the photos.
The culvert
The east portal is the part you usually spot on a casual stroll through the mine site, being easily visible from the course of the old tramway which now forms the footpath. On closer inspection, it's a fine brick structure that brings Easington Beck back out into daylight after its journey through the gloom.
Culvert portal on the right in this photo; an old mine entrance/exit on the left (more on this later). Water levels were low at this point (March 2015) so access into the culvert was particularly easy.
In we go ..... a mixture of brick and stonework (with some wooden props for reinforcement where certain blocks have gone AWOL).
The water sounds incredibly loud in here, even when levels are low. Rounding the bend in the culvert used to just lead to more brick and stonework, but not any more:
Massive reinforcement of a weak section has taken place. You can still see the original ironwork from the 1927 repairs ahead, with further collapse visible in the gloom.
When I last visited here in March, I promised myself a return visit with all my camera gear in a dry bag and some decent waterpoof clothing on for the inevitable belly-crawl through the original part of the culvert. As it turns out, I didn't get back in time. Standing in this spot now would leave you in the fresh air, as the next forty metre of culvert have been dug out in a monstrous example of civil engineering. RIP Grinkle Culvert. After the al-fresco section, the culvert is now totally blocked by trees etc so access into the rest of the culvert from the east is impossible. Time to retreat.
Handy markers on the wall let you know how far it is back to the east portal.
From the east portal, it used to be an easy stroll through the old mine site to the west portal where Easington Beck begins its subterranean journey. Not possible with the current state of affairs but no problem when I visited in February and March.
The west portal is barred to stop rubbish getting into the culvert and blocking it: it's only been marginally successful and there has been a huge collapse above the portal in the past:
This area has received some serious work from the contractors since this photo was taken and enormous quantities of shale and silt have been removed to level the river bed to that inside the culvert.
Finding your way in from this side used to be a bit tricky without getting drenched but now it's easy:
This is as far into the west side as I've managed so far. The level of the floor drops substantially beyond the trees and rubbish (the Twizziegill culvert comes in on the left immediately after the obstruction) and I didn't feel confident in being able to get back up again if I made my way over the blockage and down into the rest of the culvert. Discretion being the best part of valour, I headed back out, intending to access the rest of the culvert from Twizziegill Beck (more later).
Two shots of the culvert heading back out to the west portal:
The geology in here is fascinating, as the bedrock seems to shift subtly as you head back out.
Twizziegill Culvert
I had seen this entrance on a previous recce of the area but hadn't put two and two together to realise that it ran all the way into the Easington Beck culvert. It's a bit of a squeeze and necessitates crawling for the first ten or fifteen metres (getting very wet as a result) until it opens up a touch and you can crouch:
Entrance shot above.
This is where my efforts to join the main culvert were scuppered once more. The Twizziegill culvert gets VERY low ahead and would need me to belly-crawl through an unknown distance (probably no more than thirty metres or so) to join Easington Beck. Didn't fancy it in a nicely absorbent hoodie last night so will leave it for another time (famous last words).
On the way back out, I explored the start of a cutting that heads off away from the culvert and must have been some sort of ventilation tunnel (complete with original 1880s air door):
This may well have been a drainage tunnel as well as a ventilation tunnel, judging by the ochrous water pouring out of it. I tried to get in a decent position to get a shot up the tunnel past the tree roots and timberwork guarding the entrance:
Again, I intend to come back here with more appropriate clothing and my gas detector and have a wee look up this one (I have a sneaking suspicion it leads eventually into the north drift, the entrance to which is currently locked). Next time .....
The north drift entrance looks promising but is securely locked and chained - a board outside warns of gas.
From here, it's back along to the east portal and a quick explore in the drift/adit/level that is just across Easington Beck.
The South Drift
I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this short section was: there are two chambers leading off from the entrance and both seem to have suffered catastrophic collapses at some point.
You can just see the original roof timbers in the bottom third of this shot. The rock here that has fallen is very very soft and crumbles in the hand.
At this point you are about ten metres or so from the entrance and that's as far as you can get:
Not having my full range of camera gear with me (ND filters and the like), I couldn't get a decent shot of this where I could get the stream correctly exposed too (without having to resort to HDAaaaaaargh) - maybe one to try at a future date.
The post in this shot has some rope tied around it - what it could be used for is anyone's guess ... I don't think it's original.
There has been a stack of roof supports in here at one time as the beautifully-chiselled holes in the rock demonstrate (some complete with iron shims):
That pretty much covers everything that I've explored in the actual mine site itself to date. The next bit is Ridge Lane Tunnel which I guess should really go in a different section as a separate report, but for the sake of completeness, it's going in here.
Ridge Lane Tunnel
The best way to do this is walk in to the southern portal from Dalehouse and appreciate the work that went into the sweeping embankment that once carried the tramway towards Port Mulgrave. Eventually, you come to the portal itself (a soggy, boggy and muddy place):
Once in (and if you're careful not to disturb the silt), you're faced with sights like these:
The calcification up ahead is just beautiful:
I could seriously stay here for hours just gawping, but that doesn't get you down the 400 yards that stand between you and the north portal.
It wouldn't be a proper tunnel without refuges, would it?
This part of the tunnel is starting to show some wear, even in the short period between my several visits: the water ingress has increased and there is some buckling and fracturing in the brickwork. A real shame as this tunnel is in such good condition otherwise.
In the northern half of the tunnel, the original sleepers are still in place. Even some of the retainers are still there to hold the rails in, even if the rails themselves were salvaged long ago ....
In one of the many refuges, there lies an old iron bolt .... its function long since forgotten as it's slowly rusted in the darkness over the last eighty years.
And then you're out in the fresh air - I'd show you a shot of the outside but I'm limited to thirty shots apparently. Perhaps a separate report at another time?
Thanks for reading.
Context
This is a report based on Grinkle Ironstone Mine (incorporating part of the mine, the two culverts, Ridge Lane tramway tunnel and some other stuff) but it's a case of "too late sunshine" for the gnarliest parts of the culvert in particular (more later but parts of the culvert have gone for good). Others have been here before me and produced some stunning images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/sets/72157622622329330/?detail=1
but let this be a lesson to anyone who visits a place over a period of time then thinks, "I'll save that bit for another day" .... I did the same, went back a couple of nights ago and found a hole in the ground that you could literally bury a 747 in. Grrrrrr.
History
Grinkle Mine was established in a steep-sided valley near Staithes in North Yorkshire after a proving drift found the Cleveland ironstone seam deep in the valley. Due to the terrain the valley (and the fact that the confluence of the Easington and Twizziegill becks is found in the valley bottom), the two streams were culverted and millions of tonnes of mine spoil from local ironstone mines was used to fill in the valley bottom, providing a level plateau some seventy feet above the old floor for the buildings etc.
Opened in the 1880s with production starting in 1882, Grinkle was part of a much larger infrastructure, being linked to the harbour at Port Mulgrave via a tramway which left the mine, headed south under Ridge Lane through a tunnel then around to Dalehouse on a raised embankment before entering a final tunnel which exited in the cliff edge at Mulgrave onto an old iron jetty to serve the Jarrow ore boats. Later in the mine's life, an incline was built to link the mine directly to the standard gauge W&MR track to ship the ore to Middlesbrough.
The culvert caused innumerable issues during the mine's lifetime, with a major collapse in 1927 causing widespread flooding in the mine and necessitating much reinforcement with iron props (now almost all gone ... *sob*).
Some 50 years and 22 fatalities later, Grinkle closed and has been left to the ravages of time ever since. More huge collapses of the Easington Beck culvert occurred (some very recently) and now there is a huge engineering project going on to repair the culvert, necessitating the excavation down from the surface and leaving an enormous hole in the ground: SES Contracting have the job of repairing the culvert to prevent flooding due to culvert blockages (there was going to be a link here but their site appears to be down at the moment).
There are footpaths criss-crossing the site (some of which are now closed as a result of the culvert repairs) and access to the site is ridiculously simple - one thing to watch is the water level .... the day after heavy rains, the water level inside the culvert is markedly higher than in dry weather and this can have a huge impact on your ability to explore properly.
Geography
Easington Beck runs roughly west-east in the valley bottom, being culverted for its path under the mine site. Twizziegill Beck joins from the north-north-west and is also culverted before it joins Easington Beck, 70 yards inside the west portal. The east portal extends out from the mine spoil a few yards, where a further drift/trial entrance can be found. From the mine site, the course of the old tramway runs east then crosses the river over an embankment before entering the Ridge Lane tunnel, running NW-SE. In the old mine site is a drift entrance, heading west into the old mine workings (locked/barred and with a GAS warning sign outside). Back in February, the mine site looked like this:
The collapse of the spoil into the culvert is obvious. The tower in the background is one of the winding towers for the Boulby potash mine (now owned by ICL). This entire area is now obliterated by a gigantic hole, easily big enough to fit a 747 in, descending down in layers to the culvert bottom. I had no idea about this until I walked up through the east portal a few nights ago and was suddenly met by what looked like an open-cast mine. Didn't have the camera either as I'd left it behind, thinking I was in for some belly-crawling through the gnarliest sections of the culvert .....
Right, on with the photos.
The culvert
The east portal is the part you usually spot on a casual stroll through the mine site, being easily visible from the course of the old tramway which now forms the footpath. On closer inspection, it's a fine brick structure that brings Easington Beck back out into daylight after its journey through the gloom.
Culvert portal on the right in this photo; an old mine entrance/exit on the left (more on this later). Water levels were low at this point (March 2015) so access into the culvert was particularly easy.
In we go ..... a mixture of brick and stonework (with some wooden props for reinforcement where certain blocks have gone AWOL).
The water sounds incredibly loud in here, even when levels are low. Rounding the bend in the culvert used to just lead to more brick and stonework, but not any more:
Massive reinforcement of a weak section has taken place. You can still see the original ironwork from the 1927 repairs ahead, with further collapse visible in the gloom.
When I last visited here in March, I promised myself a return visit with all my camera gear in a dry bag and some decent waterpoof clothing on for the inevitable belly-crawl through the original part of the culvert. As it turns out, I didn't get back in time. Standing in this spot now would leave you in the fresh air, as the next forty metre of culvert have been dug out in a monstrous example of civil engineering. RIP Grinkle Culvert. After the al-fresco section, the culvert is now totally blocked by trees etc so access into the rest of the culvert from the east is impossible. Time to retreat.
Handy markers on the wall let you know how far it is back to the east portal.
From the east portal, it used to be an easy stroll through the old mine site to the west portal where Easington Beck begins its subterranean journey. Not possible with the current state of affairs but no problem when I visited in February and March.
The west portal is barred to stop rubbish getting into the culvert and blocking it: it's only been marginally successful and there has been a huge collapse above the portal in the past:
This area has received some serious work from the contractors since this photo was taken and enormous quantities of shale and silt have been removed to level the river bed to that inside the culvert.
Finding your way in from this side used to be a bit tricky without getting drenched but now it's easy:
This is as far into the west side as I've managed so far. The level of the floor drops substantially beyond the trees and rubbish (the Twizziegill culvert comes in on the left immediately after the obstruction) and I didn't feel confident in being able to get back up again if I made my way over the blockage and down into the rest of the culvert. Discretion being the best part of valour, I headed back out, intending to access the rest of the culvert from Twizziegill Beck (more later).
Two shots of the culvert heading back out to the west portal:
The geology in here is fascinating, as the bedrock seems to shift subtly as you head back out.
Twizziegill Culvert
I had seen this entrance on a previous recce of the area but hadn't put two and two together to realise that it ran all the way into the Easington Beck culvert. It's a bit of a squeeze and necessitates crawling for the first ten or fifteen metres (getting very wet as a result) until it opens up a touch and you can crouch:
Entrance shot above.
This is where my efforts to join the main culvert were scuppered once more. The Twizziegill culvert gets VERY low ahead and would need me to belly-crawl through an unknown distance (probably no more than thirty metres or so) to join Easington Beck. Didn't fancy it in a nicely absorbent hoodie last night so will leave it for another time (famous last words).
On the way back out, I explored the start of a cutting that heads off away from the culvert and must have been some sort of ventilation tunnel (complete with original 1880s air door):
This may well have been a drainage tunnel as well as a ventilation tunnel, judging by the ochrous water pouring out of it. I tried to get in a decent position to get a shot up the tunnel past the tree roots and timberwork guarding the entrance:
Again, I intend to come back here with more appropriate clothing and my gas detector and have a wee look up this one (I have a sneaking suspicion it leads eventually into the north drift, the entrance to which is currently locked). Next time .....
The north drift entrance looks promising but is securely locked and chained - a board outside warns of gas.
From here, it's back along to the east portal and a quick explore in the drift/adit/level that is just across Easington Beck.
The South Drift
I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this short section was: there are two chambers leading off from the entrance and both seem to have suffered catastrophic collapses at some point.
You can just see the original roof timbers in the bottom third of this shot. The rock here that has fallen is very very soft and crumbles in the hand.
At this point you are about ten metres or so from the entrance and that's as far as you can get:
Not having my full range of camera gear with me (ND filters and the like), I couldn't get a decent shot of this where I could get the stream correctly exposed too (without having to resort to HDAaaaaaargh) - maybe one to try at a future date.
The post in this shot has some rope tied around it - what it could be used for is anyone's guess ... I don't think it's original.
There has been a stack of roof supports in here at one time as the beautifully-chiselled holes in the rock demonstrate (some complete with iron shims):
That pretty much covers everything that I've explored in the actual mine site itself to date. The next bit is Ridge Lane Tunnel which I guess should really go in a different section as a separate report, but for the sake of completeness, it's going in here.
Ridge Lane Tunnel
The best way to do this is walk in to the southern portal from Dalehouse and appreciate the work that went into the sweeping embankment that once carried the tramway towards Port Mulgrave. Eventually, you come to the portal itself (a soggy, boggy and muddy place):
Once in (and if you're careful not to disturb the silt), you're faced with sights like these:
The calcification up ahead is just beautiful:
I could seriously stay here for hours just gawping, but that doesn't get you down the 400 yards that stand between you and the north portal.
It wouldn't be a proper tunnel without refuges, would it?
This part of the tunnel is starting to show some wear, even in the short period between my several visits: the water ingress has increased and there is some buckling and fracturing in the brickwork. A real shame as this tunnel is in such good condition otherwise.
In the northern half of the tunnel, the original sleepers are still in place. Even some of the retainers are still there to hold the rails in, even if the rails themselves were salvaged long ago ....
In one of the many refuges, there lies an old iron bolt .... its function long since forgotten as it's slowly rusted in the darkness over the last eighty years.
And then you're out in the fresh air - I'd show you a shot of the outside but I'm limited to thirty shots apparently. Perhaps a separate report at another time?
Thanks for reading.
thanks for sharing them.
& i was back with Mr Secca, who i could see in his cabin, i just walked up to his cabin & just moved the Arris off the side of his hut blocking my way & walked off. Not like he could do anything & I was too f@cked to care. I"m sure Snails were passing me by this time anyway lol
