history : the mine began life in the 17th century although it is thought to be a lot older, as far back as the Roman era! The stone quarried from the mine was a soft sandstone called hearthstone, A small seam of flint (Firestone) was also extracted. The mine was worked all through the 18th century and supplied most of London. It closed down in the early years of the 20th century and turned its attention to mushroom growing, that was until the 1930’s/ 40’s when it was used as a unofficial air raid shelter during the Second World War.
The explore: feeling slightly hungover from a heavy night before I pulled up at the meeting point given to me and met with a member of wcms where we made our way towards the entrance. It felt slightly surreal as the grill opened as I’ve been wanting to see this mine since i started exploring 7 years ago. Now i finally get to see what this mine had to offer, it didn’t disappoint! The trip was made better by having a guide with good knowledge of the mine which took away any anxiety about getting lost and also told us about how the miners would of worked all those years ago. This mine has so much history and so many features that I found interesting, After a couple of hours of walking round with my head lent to one side or my back crouched we made it back to the entrance where I could stretch out and take in some fresh air. All in all a good explore and another one to tick off the list. Enjoy
The explore: feeling slightly hungover from a heavy night before I pulled up at the meeting point given to me and met with a member of wcms where we made our way towards the entrance. It felt slightly surreal as the grill opened as I’ve been wanting to see this mine since i started exploring 7 years ago. Now i finally get to see what this mine had to offer, it didn’t disappoint! The trip was made better by having a guide with good knowledge of the mine which took away any anxiety about getting lost and also told us about how the miners would of worked all those years ago. This mine has so much history and so many features that I found interesting, After a couple of hours of walking round with my head lent to one side or my back crouched we made it back to the entrance where I could stretch out and take in some fresh air. All in all a good explore and another one to tick off the list. Enjoy
