This was the first stop of the day from a day out in matlock a couple weeks back with a few caving friends, non forum members and @MotionlessMike
Masson mine is part of a complex of lead mines and natural caverns spanning accross masson hill, some of the workings date back to as early as 1470 and continue through to
the 17th and onto the 20th century.
There are shafts along the line although in recent years a commonly used shaft above the quarry has been buried by large boulders at request of the new land owner (musnt be a fan of cavers)
There is is a nice connection to Masson from its neighboring 'black ox mine' involving a couple of nice squeezes and a few crawls one of which is through a puddle guaranteed to wet an ear,
as we were lugging camera equipment round we decided to pass on the connection as we had done this before and knew what to expect
(didn't want to be wet for the day when it could be avoided basically).
Surprisingly there are quite a few miners remnants still remaining after all this time and after heavy traffic as this seems to be a popular place at the minute, it also surprised me
to see that i could only find 1 report of this place from @HughieD from the same day we visited.
Love a romp around here its a good place to introduce people who are new to caving and show them whats to be expected in the form some crawls, big ol spiders, few cheeky bits of hanging death, natural caverns walls packed full of minerals and nice vibrant pools.
behind the handsome young chap above is achamber that splits off left and right, take the right turn and your met with the connection right at the puddle to black ox mine
really nice example of a lead miners coffin level
and ofcourse some really needed w*nk graffiti
surprised these havnt been stolen yet
lovely calcified walls
entrance to the great masson show cave
seems the show cave use this as a dumping ground maybe
the avoidable squeeze
Masson mine is part of a complex of lead mines and natural caverns spanning accross masson hill, some of the workings date back to as early as 1470 and continue through to
the 17th and onto the 20th century.
There are shafts along the line although in recent years a commonly used shaft above the quarry has been buried by large boulders at request of the new land owner (musnt be a fan of cavers)
There is is a nice connection to Masson from its neighboring 'black ox mine' involving a couple of nice squeezes and a few crawls one of which is through a puddle guaranteed to wet an ear,
as we were lugging camera equipment round we decided to pass on the connection as we had done this before and knew what to expect
(didn't want to be wet for the day when it could be avoided basically).
Surprisingly there are quite a few miners remnants still remaining after all this time and after heavy traffic as this seems to be a popular place at the minute, it also surprised me
to see that i could only find 1 report of this place from @HughieD from the same day we visited.
Love a romp around here its a good place to introduce people who are new to caving and show them whats to be expected in the form some crawls, big ol spiders, few cheeky bits of hanging death, natural caverns walls packed full of minerals and nice vibrant pools.
behind the handsome young chap above is achamber that splits off left and right, take the right turn and your met with the connection right at the puddle to black ox mine
really nice example of a lead miners coffin level
and ofcourse some really needed w*nk graffiti
surprised these havnt been stolen yet
lovely calcified walls
entrance to the great masson show cave
seems the show cave use this as a dumping ground maybe
the avoidable squeeze
