Originally posted this in Regional to keep it abit more low key but thought I'd share on the main forum now....
After a bit of a dry spell in the Sussex area I decided to do abit of research online and see what I could come up with, that's when I stumbled upon Snape wood.
After speaking to some of the kent lads wevs & obs (I think) who had also done abit of research on the mine
It didn't take to long to work out roughly where it was
So after a drinking session from hell and a major hang over myself & sparky decided to go on the hunt for it.
Forty five minutes of following the path through the woods and we were standing above a very suspect manhole, to ill to do anymore we sacked it off for the day and decided a return visit would be in order.
Couple of weeks later myself and Ridds return, this time fit and prepared we open the manhole cover and are met with a blue tube and a ladder.
We made our way down the ladder very slowly, due to the size of the tube we couldnt bend our legs properly.
Not a massive mine but extremely nice all the same, with a few carvings and dates which was a nice surprise, we spent a good hour inside checking it out pretty pleased with what we'd found.
A bit of history
'The mine was commenced in August 1857 and abandoned in September 1858; the ore was sent into Staffordshire. The ironstone was worked on both sides of the railway, just west of the 53rd milestone, by levels and cross cuts. On the north side of the railway only one bed was worked, this was 1ft 9ins thick, underlain by hard sandstone. The roof is sometimes bad and required timbering. On the south side of the railway two beds were worked, only one of which could be examined … as the level contained much water; this bed was 2ft thick. In this level the ground was softer and required more timber. The beds of ironstone were very irregular but were found to be better on the south than on the north side; in both cases, however, the beds died out suddenly and reappeared at intervals. Several shafts have been sunk from the higher ground. The ore, a clay-ironstone, was sometimes calcined on the spot. A great deal of raw ore still lies by the side of the railway.'
On to the rest of the pictures..
At the bottom of the blue pipe just off the ladder and into a bit of a scramble under the supports.
Remains of the tracks are still hanging on.
Bridge over a sump.
Strong enough to walk over, above this is a grilled vent 20ft high, give or take.
Some carvings & old graff.
Was made up when we found this.
Managed to take quite a few of the local exploring lads down this one, by keeping it under wraps for quite some time,
One of many trips this time with Mark lighting up the carvings.
A day time shot of the blue tube, on yet another visit.
After a bit of a dry spell in the Sussex area I decided to do abit of research online and see what I could come up with, that's when I stumbled upon Snape wood.
After speaking to some of the kent lads wevs & obs (I think) who had also done abit of research on the mine
It didn't take to long to work out roughly where it was
So after a drinking session from hell and a major hang over myself & sparky decided to go on the hunt for it.
Forty five minutes of following the path through the woods and we were standing above a very suspect manhole, to ill to do anymore we sacked it off for the day and decided a return visit would be in order.
Couple of weeks later myself and Ridds return, this time fit and prepared we open the manhole cover and are met with a blue tube and a ladder.
We made our way down the ladder very slowly, due to the size of the tube we couldnt bend our legs properly.
Not a massive mine but extremely nice all the same, with a few carvings and dates which was a nice surprise, we spent a good hour inside checking it out pretty pleased with what we'd found.
A bit of history
'The mine was commenced in August 1857 and abandoned in September 1858; the ore was sent into Staffordshire. The ironstone was worked on both sides of the railway, just west of the 53rd milestone, by levels and cross cuts. On the north side of the railway only one bed was worked, this was 1ft 9ins thick, underlain by hard sandstone. The roof is sometimes bad and required timbering. On the south side of the railway two beds were worked, only one of which could be examined … as the level contained much water; this bed was 2ft thick. In this level the ground was softer and required more timber. The beds of ironstone were very irregular but were found to be better on the south than on the north side; in both cases, however, the beds died out suddenly and reappeared at intervals. Several shafts have been sunk from the higher ground. The ore, a clay-ironstone, was sometimes calcined on the spot. A great deal of raw ore still lies by the side of the railway.'
On to the rest of the pictures..
At the bottom of the blue pipe just off the ladder and into a bit of a scramble under the supports.
Remains of the tracks are still hanging on.
Bridge over a sump.
Strong enough to walk over, above this is a grilled vent 20ft high, give or take.
Some carvings & old graff.
Was made up when we found this.
Managed to take quite a few of the local exploring lads down this one, by keeping it under wraps for quite some time,
One of many trips this time with Mark lighting up the carvings.
A day time shot of the blue tube, on yet another visit.
