Report - Harford Hills Chalk Mine - Norwich- August 2013

[Kubix_UK]

Visited here with Altair who kindly offered to show me some sites that day so this was the first we visited. Also took my girlfriend who hadn't explored anything before and was a complete newbie spent a good hour or so exploring and experimenting with my camera as i'd never done pictures like that before. thanks to Altair for showing me this amazing place and showing me not only how to do some great pics but also how to do writing in pics. and finally no thanks to my girlfriend who decided to slide down a slope of chalk on her backside and cover my car in it.

anyway on with the report and thanks Altair for allowing me to steal the history on this place.

History;

Norwich has been mined for chalk and flints since the middle ages right up until WW2, while others date back to the 12th century although no accurate dates can be found. This particular mine is on the site of an old chalk quarry but the workers were forced to tunnel underground to keep supplying the chalk. It was used to make lime and there are also lime kilns in the area, while the flint was used in construction.

Not bad for a first attempt eh?

 

[dinkey coCk]

Is it safe to go in harford hill chalk mine people have been saying about breathing difficulties in places like that because of the sulphar any help?

 

[Altair]

Rosary Road is a definite no go these days as full of gas and collapsing but Harford is generally fine. Yes there are a few patches of bad air but if your sensible etc should be okay.

Disclaimer - I take no responsibility for others stupidity though!

 

[Cuuvin]

If you smell rotten eggs, haul ass or die. Hydrogen sulfide is not to be fucked with.

 

[dinkey coCk]

thanks for the reply i went in there today and seemed ok after a hour it felt abit shitty. do u no them well?

 

[dinkey coCk]

Thanks i couldnt smell anything like that. for such a small entrance now im suprised any air can flow down there as them tunnels go on for ages

 

[Altair]

Yeah I know them pretty well. Worst places for air quality are the smaller tunnels and crawl spaces off to the left of the main adit despite being closest to the entrance. Remember a couple of times feeling a bit 'weird' while pushing to the far reaching parts of the tunnels, trying to map them. It's the lack of air flow/ventilation that's the problem as there is only that one entrance.

 

[dinkey coCk]

it was the 1st time we had been down there. that entrance is tiny now compared to videos iv seen and theres barbed wire in there looks like part of the hill has come down in front of the entrance. So i take it u havent found anyother way out of there? We explored the right hand side of the map just not the left as it looks like it goes well out of the way. Do u no where the entrance to the mine is on newmarket road. I no norwich fairly well but newmarket road is a huge road lol

 

[Altair]

I do but it's not worth the effort. The mine itself is locked up with massive grill/grates and only a couple of short tunnels. The whole area is also now fenced off with that horrible tall and spiky palisade fencing as it's a site of scientific interest or whatever it's called due to the bats roosting in the mine and the lime kiln.

 

[dinkey coCk]

i did see videos of the kiln etc in there just didnt no if it was worth a look. Would u say the map for harford hills is correct? or are there places people havent explored as on 1 of the videos there looked to be a large drop... i really want to see the whole of that mine but not get lost at the same time. Theres blue and brown arrows but crawl spaces with a question mark so i assume they havent been explored

 

[Altair]

Tbh dont think the kiln etc are worth the ball ache, especially if the bat brigade gets a sniff.

If memory serves me right, the dark blues arrows/crosses etc are the best and cover pretty much all areas. They should all point towards the entrance/exit.

As far as maps go, depends where you got it from. The one we had seemed ok but too easy to loose track of where you were so relied on the blue marks and later went back and slowly devised our own map covering most of the place except some of the tighter crawl spaces. Be buggered if can find the map though, must be on old computer or hard drive

 

[dinkey coCk]

Bat brigade haha like that round there is it? The blue arrows are the 1s that we followed but didnt go to far iv got the norfolk uncovered map it was with a video on youtube but i noticed bits were missing. Did u come across a drop any where in there? u live in norwich btw mate ?

 

[Altair]

I can definitely think of one drop, which you come to if you wander off to the right of main adit and try to loop back around to the main hall. Pile of chalk/earth from a roof fall with a steep slope going down into the tunnel. another is ringing bells in my head but not sure if that's even Harford or not as haven't been down for ages. And yeah I'm a six fingered slack jawed yocal lol!

 

[dinkey coCk]

The entrance has changed loads to the pictures iv seen theres loads of barbed wire as u go through the gap dunno whos put it there... im gonna have a look again soon but all this shitty english weather we keep havin is puttin me off lol. Do u no of any other decent places to look around in this area derelict buildings etc?

 

[dinkey coCk]

Harford hills chalk mine has now been welded up