A bit of history/info
The mines at Hosey Common, Westerham are believed to date from the 17th century but little is known of their history at present. Again, they produced building stone and this was used for Westerham Church. They lie on the side of a shallow valley and the area is now heavily wooded. Four separate sets of workings have been identified and it is believed that more exist but are inaccessible due to roof falls. The mines were worked on the pillar and stall principle and the original passages were up to 7ft high by 8ft wide. Transport underground was by sledges and excavation in the floor has revealed sledge marks with a gauge of 14.5ins. At some time in the past, however, the passages were backfilled with waste rock and this has only left a gap of a few feet. It is believed that this was carried out at a time when the price for the stone dropped drastically and the only economical way of working was to extract the best quality stone only. This meant that a great deal of poorer quality rock was no longer required and it was more convenient to stack it in abandoned passages rather than carry it out of the mine.
A survey of the mine
These mines have suffered several roof falls in the past and they are a maze of passages so exploration by inexperienced persons is not recommended (but knee and elbow pads are!)
The Explore
So this was another one of those explores after work as we were working close to it. Visited as always with @richiemelon and a few work mates.
Gaining entry was easy but that’s all that was as the rest of the afternoon was spent on our hands and knees! Navigating around the was was simple enough although at one point I did loose my bearings and had to look at my compass to reorient myself. I’d been here back in 2015 as a spare of the moment thing and didn’t get any photos so it was nice to go and get some for a report (although the mine is not very photogenic). The majority of the galleries are backfilled with dead’s so you don’t do much walking, it’s more crawling and sliding through little holes as the photos will show. Enjoy
The galleries
The boys getting ready for crawling
Let the fun begin!
Old sign printed on the wall
If anybody knows what that sign is let us know please 👍
An old beer can
All in all a good way to spend a couple of hours! I’m Glad to finally get a report up for this mine too 👌
The mines at Hosey Common, Westerham are believed to date from the 17th century but little is known of their history at present. Again, they produced building stone and this was used for Westerham Church. They lie on the side of a shallow valley and the area is now heavily wooded. Four separate sets of workings have been identified and it is believed that more exist but are inaccessible due to roof falls. The mines were worked on the pillar and stall principle and the original passages were up to 7ft high by 8ft wide. Transport underground was by sledges and excavation in the floor has revealed sledge marks with a gauge of 14.5ins. At some time in the past, however, the passages were backfilled with waste rock and this has only left a gap of a few feet. It is believed that this was carried out at a time when the price for the stone dropped drastically and the only economical way of working was to extract the best quality stone only. This meant that a great deal of poorer quality rock was no longer required and it was more convenient to stack it in abandoned passages rather than carry it out of the mine.
A survey of the mine
These mines have suffered several roof falls in the past and they are a maze of passages so exploration by inexperienced persons is not recommended (but knee and elbow pads are!)
The Explore
So this was another one of those explores after work as we were working close to it. Visited as always with @richiemelon and a few work mates.
Gaining entry was easy but that’s all that was as the rest of the afternoon was spent on our hands and knees! Navigating around the was was simple enough although at one point I did loose my bearings and had to look at my compass to reorient myself. I’d been here back in 2015 as a spare of the moment thing and didn’t get any photos so it was nice to go and get some for a report (although the mine is not very photogenic). The majority of the galleries are backfilled with dead’s so you don’t do much walking, it’s more crawling and sliding through little holes as the photos will show. Enjoy
The galleries
The boys getting ready for crawling
Let the fun begin!
Old sign printed on the wall
If anybody knows what that sign is let us know please 👍
An old beer can
All in all a good way to spend a couple of hours! I’m Glad to finally get a report up for this mine too 👌
