!!!!!! heads up I waited untill this mine was sealed to do this report !!!!!!!
History:
Large quarries existed around Maidstone and it is known to have been mined in at least three locations in the vicinity of Mote Park. These seem to have been underground extensions of surface quarries but the latter two sites have now been built upon.
The tunnels can be traced back to Henry V, who ordered more than 7,000 cannonballs to be made from ragstone mined under Maidstone, including Mote Park, to defend against the French in 1419.
As well as the labyrinth left over from quarrying that took place, there was once a tunnel from the mansion in the heart of the park, Mote House, to the adjacent kitchens.
survey of the mine
Explore:
Now this is the first mine I ever visited back in 2014 and what started my interest in underground exploration so I always pop down to the entrance from time to time to see if someone’s opened it and to my shock/delight someone had put some graft in to open it. So with my head buzzing with excitement I got on the phone to @richiemelon and my brother in law and within an hour we were in! I’d forgotten just how sketchy this place was and it’s gotten worse since my last visit, from the minute you get in there you feel uneasy as everywhere you look there’s some sort of prop holding up the ceiling! After getting some pics we didn’t even stop for a rest or chat it was straight back out grateful to make it out alive!
An old pic of the entrance
The entrance crawl
Immediately met with props
After this it starts to open up
More props
Nice gallery where you can see the layers of limestone
Some old graff
A few of the passageways
Some crawls
I did go back the next day with @Llama @Stumpy_UX and @James Cross but didn’t take no pics, thanks guys for travelling down for it, had a good evening with you’s 👍
History:
Large quarries existed around Maidstone and it is known to have been mined in at least three locations in the vicinity of Mote Park. These seem to have been underground extensions of surface quarries but the latter two sites have now been built upon.
The tunnels can be traced back to Henry V, who ordered more than 7,000 cannonballs to be made from ragstone mined under Maidstone, including Mote Park, to defend against the French in 1419.
As well as the labyrinth left over from quarrying that took place, there was once a tunnel from the mansion in the heart of the park, Mote House, to the adjacent kitchens.
survey of the mine
Explore:
Now this is the first mine I ever visited back in 2014 and what started my interest in underground exploration so I always pop down to the entrance from time to time to see if someone’s opened it and to my shock/delight someone had put some graft in to open it. So with my head buzzing with excitement I got on the phone to @richiemelon and my brother in law and within an hour we were in! I’d forgotten just how sketchy this place was and it’s gotten worse since my last visit, from the minute you get in there you feel uneasy as everywhere you look there’s some sort of prop holding up the ceiling! After getting some pics we didn’t even stop for a rest or chat it was straight back out grateful to make it out alive!
An old pic of the entrance
The entrance crawl
Immediately met with props
After this it starts to open up
More props
Nice gallery where you can see the layers of limestone
Some old graff
A few of the passageways
Some crawls
I did go back the next day with @Llama @Stumpy_UX and @James Cross but didn’t take no pics, thanks guys for travelling down for it, had a good evening with you’s 👍
