Greetings! It is I Rustynail. Long time no explore...
I had a mooch round Rampgill at the weekend where I'm told that there are over 20 miles of tunnels. Despite being in there for over 5 hours and walking/wading/crawling for a couple of miles in, we only scratched the surface, if you can say that when you're underground lol. You really need a whole day at this just to see the parts you can get to without SRT and all that.
Brewery shaft - pipework from the compressed air system.
Wadorz needed here. In fact they're needed in the whole place. I don't think there's a dry bit in the whole mine.
Ore chute from a higher level in the mine.
Whiskey Bottle Corner.
Tunnel...
More pipework at another shaft.
Calcite deposits forming stalactites.
Although this looks like it could be dogshit, I am assured it is dynamite.
More tunnels but with stonework.
A crawl through water.
Roof supports in former collapsed/blown in section. At some time after closure this area was dynamited but was dug out by explorers in the 1980s/90s.
In some sections of tunnel the original constructors had used concrete and when fitting the shuttering they had covered it with newspaper to help it come unstuck once the concrete was set. This pic shows remains of the newspaper that they used over 100 years ago - still stuck to the concrete ceiling.
Point lever from underground narrow gauge railway.
More tunnel...
I had a mooch round Rampgill at the weekend where I'm told that there are over 20 miles of tunnels. Despite being in there for over 5 hours and walking/wading/crawling for a couple of miles in, we only scratched the surface, if you can say that when you're underground lol. You really need a whole day at this just to see the parts you can get to without SRT and all that.
Rampgill Horse Level was started by the Greenwich Hospital in 1736 following the Scaleburn Moss Vein until it reached Fairhill Vein, this then followed into Rampgill Vein. Rampgill Vein may have been worked as early as 1690. There are references to other veins being worked from much earlier on which join into Rampgill Mine. In 1745 the lease was sold to the London Lead Company who developed the mine at an impressive rate and found the Rampgill Vein and others to be incredibly rich in ore. Altogether Rampgill with all its veins yielded 140,000 tons of lead ore between 1703 and 1886.
By the end of the 19th century most of Rampgill Vein above the water table had been worked out. Between 1899 and 1921 the Vieille Montagne Zinc Company reworked some of the veins in Rampgill Mine and Coalcleugh Mine for zinc ore, with the Rampgill Horse Level being used for access to Coalcleugh Mine. The Rampgill Horse Level was also used as a haulage way via the Hanginshaw Branch Level for the eastern workings of the Middlecleugh and Longcleugh Veins in Smallcleugh Mine.
Brewery shaft - pipework from the compressed air system.
Wadorz needed here. In fact they're needed in the whole place. I don't think there's a dry bit in the whole mine.
Ore chute from a higher level in the mine.
Whiskey Bottle Corner.
Tunnel...
More pipework at another shaft.
Calcite deposits forming stalactites.
Although this looks like it could be dogshit, I am assured it is dynamite.
More tunnels but with stonework.
A crawl through water.
Roof supports in former collapsed/blown in section. At some time after closure this area was dynamited but was dug out by explorers in the 1980s/90s.
In some sections of tunnel the original constructors had used concrete and when fitting the shuttering they had covered it with newspaper to help it come unstuck once the concrete was set. This pic shows remains of the newspaper that they used over 100 years ago - still stuck to the concrete ceiling.
Point lever from underground narrow gauge railway.
More tunnel...