Finally had time to visit Coniston after planning it for a while. Unfortunately the weather was not the best, it hailed for most of the a trip and combined with high guests of 40+ mph made for interesting walk up. Anybody who has been here will know that it's a fair walk up the mountain, even more so when there is snow on the ground. After we visited the lower levels which have mainly collapsed or are about to. There is some interesting surface remains including a blacksmiths with a pelton wheel and dynamo. Further up are the remains of an aerial ropeway where there is some collapsed towers along with the ropes still going down the mountain. There was an interesting scramble up to one of the levels because we couldn't see the path - there was a couple of brown pants moments thrown in there as well.
We never made it to the top because it was getting later and @Mr Sam had a 3.5 hour drive home.
History (Fron Wikipedia)
The Old Man slate quarries were believed to have started in the 12-13th centuries, although there is little evidence on site of this. By the 1500s the quarries, working a kind of volcanic slate silver-grey in colour, were well established. The earliest major working shortly after this period was probably at Low Water Quarry, where slate was prized in an opencast manner from cuttings near the summit, Scald Kop Quarry, where a large cavern was formed from slate extraction on the surface, and the Saddlestone Quarry, again consisting of two 'caves' where slate had been quarried to form underground workings
Even though the weather was awful, it's still a glorious walk so I'm going to start with a few photos of the walk up.
Looks like someone had rolled it off the top of tip at some point.
An old wagon, it looks like the top has been rotated. This is possibly to make it easy to tip the contents out.
A Pelton Wheel
Dynamo
Air compressor (Centre right)
Air tank (left)
A drill
The Pelton wheel which was fed from a piple coming down from higher up on the mountain.
Here is remains of trackwork and the possible remains of a tower from the ropeway.
No idea what this is. Possibly some sort of saw?
Inscription:
Bramley Engineering Co.
No. 10995
Leeds
The second level we came across. This makes a right turn and is blocked shortly after.
A couple of collapsed tower from the ropeway.
A steam winch located next to the second tower.
Looking down the valley towards Coniston you can see the mining landscape.
Standing on top of the partially collapsed adit you can see the layout.
A slightly lower level, where you can get in without getting wet. There is another tank in the foreground.
Tracks going off the end of the tips, a brief bit of sun shines down on Coniston water.
This is the level with the possible 'saw'
Another steam winch, built in Glasgow
And now for a few photos of random bits of tramway.
There must be a leak somewhere otherwise It should be full considering ther rain in the past few weeks.
Moss chamber is massive, there is a big drop to the left and it goes up even further on the far end. You wouldn't want to be in here in the dark!
Stood on the far end. The lowest bit you can see is where the previous photo was taken.
We never made it to the top because it was getting later and @Mr Sam had a 3.5 hour drive home.
History (Fron Wikipedia)
The Old Man slate quarries were believed to have started in the 12-13th centuries, although there is little evidence on site of this. By the 1500s the quarries, working a kind of volcanic slate silver-grey in colour, were well established. The earliest major working shortly after this period was probably at Low Water Quarry, where slate was prized in an opencast manner from cuttings near the summit, Scald Kop Quarry, where a large cavern was formed from slate extraction on the surface, and the Saddlestone Quarry, again consisting of two 'caves' where slate had been quarried to form underground workings
Even though the weather was awful, it's still a glorious walk so I'm going to start with a few photos of the walk up.
Looks like someone had rolled it off the top of tip at some point.
An old wagon, it looks like the top has been rotated. This is possibly to make it easy to tip the contents out.
A Pelton Wheel
Dynamo
Air compressor (Centre right)
Air tank (left)
A drill
The Pelton wheel which was fed from a piple coming down from higher up on the mountain.
Here is remains of trackwork and the possible remains of a tower from the ropeway.
No idea what this is. Possibly some sort of saw?
Inscription:
Bramley Engineering Co.
No. 10995
Leeds
The second level we came across. This makes a right turn and is blocked shortly after.
A couple of collapsed tower from the ropeway.
A steam winch located next to the second tower.
Looking down the valley towards Coniston you can see the mining landscape.
Standing on top of the partially collapsed adit you can see the layout.
A slightly lower level, where you can get in without getting wet. There is another tank in the foreground.
Tracks going off the end of the tips, a brief bit of sun shines down on Coniston water.
This is the level with the possible 'saw'
Another steam winch, built in Glasgow
And now for a few photos of random bits of tramway.
There must be a leak somewhere otherwise It should be full considering ther rain in the past few weeks.
Moss chamber is massive, there is a big drop to the left and it goes up even further on the far end. You wouldn't want to be in here in the dark!
Stood on the far end. The lowest bit you can see is where the previous photo was taken.
