Report - Sallet Hole No 1 & No 2, Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire – July 2020

[MotionlessMike]

Some history borrow from Peak District Mines Historical Society;

Sallet Hole Mine was originally driven as a sough to the workings under Longstone Edge, before being modified into a haulage level in 1840-42. A 32ft diameter waterwheel originally powered crushing rollers here, but all traces of it have been destroyed by later workings. In the C20th, Sallet Hole Mine was worked for fluorspar, first from 1926-30, and then from 1965. It worked Deep Rake below the depth of the opencast workings on Longstone Edge, and in 1990 produced 73,000 tonnes of ore. It finally closed in 1998.

Seen this one pop up here a couple of times recently, but had never even heard of it before – so thanks to the previous folk for sharing it. O2 was good throughout, although we had several spikes of Carbon Monoxide and a smelly patch of Hydrogen Sulphide, so proper equipment here is definitely a must.

We managed the first set of ladders of doom, but bottled the second set! The ladders - although very long – seemed very solid, but the rotting false floors separating them… No ta.

We also had a poke about in Sallet Hole No 2 (more commonly referred to as Watersaw Mine) which is situated a couple of miles away. A fantastic looking place again but unfortunately mostly collapsed and knowing nothing about this particular mine we thought it wise not to cross any collapses and remain alive.

Visited with @Gsxrwayne

No 1

Going up

As far as we got

Hmmm...

And a few shots from Watersaw

Thanks for looking​

 

[Calamity Jane]

Very well lite, some really good shots there. I dont blame ya not going further. Safety is paramount and all. Good job. Properly prepared for it too. Spot on :

 

[alex17595]

I had a look at them both last weekend. Didn't get to far in Sallet hole because of the mud but Watersaw we had a fair mooch about climbing over a couple of the collapses down the east ramp. Does not seem like there is much to see other than the same looking tunnel over and over tbh

 

[MotionlessMike]

Very well lite, some really good shots there. I dont blame ya not going further. Safety is paramount and all. Good job. Properly prepared for it too. Spot on :

Cheers CJ!

I had a look at them both last weekend. Didn't get to far in Sallet hole because of the mud but Watersaw we had a fair mooch about climbing over a couple of the collapses down the east ramp. Does not seem like there is much to see other than the same looking tunnel over and over tbh

Yeah man that mud is evil in places! And fair play, didn't know if there was any niceness hiding away in watersaw...

 

[alex17595]

Yeah man that mud is evil in places! And fair play, didn't know if there was any niceness hiding away in watersaw...

Quite a bit of it is misleading, there are loads of piles of dirt which seem to have been put there with a loader rather than falling from the roof.

The rock does seem very friable though, It does seem better in Sallet Hole.

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Lovely that must put it on list ';-)

 

[tumbles]

Sheesh that looks a bit sketchy! Lovely pics tho

 

[raisinwing]

That's really nice, quality photos there!

 

[HughieD]

Absolutely stunning set of pix mate and a fab place.

 

[Gsxrwayne]

Awesome pics mate as always. A Decent explore they was.

 

[ikkdjct]

Amazing pictures, love them.