A trip into the dark damp depths of Watersaw Mine, Derbyshire.
Over the last year and a bit, since finding the first disused mine in the market town of Bakewell; I spent a lot of time researching and finding other locations to explore.
We find ourselves near Bakewell again for this explore. I thought we had found all the 'accessible mines' in the area but I had been informed by one of my brother's work colleagues about a hidden little gem just 10 minutes down the road from Lathkill Dale.
We parked the cars and geared up. Kingston (my brothers work colleague) met up with us and after a few introductions between the group, we headed off up the 'standard procedure' huge hill climb usually associated with finding a mine entrance.
We arrived at the top, blowing heavily from the steep hill we had just scoured up in the light snow. We continued across the top and over a few fences into a small quarry, sunk into the hillside and hidden from sight of any roads or pathways.
"Torches on lads" Kingston said as we all grabbed our breath before entering the quarry site where our large adit awaited.
I'd done the usual research of the mine once finding out its true name on the map I have. It's known to the locals as 'Watersaw Mine' however, it's actual name is Sallet Hole adit no.2. This is the reason I had missed it and once making the hit, the historical photographs (which can be found on Aditnow) showed us what we could expect. Large iron frames and timber sided passages, much different to most of the mines in the Peak District.
We followed Kingston across the yard of the quarry and there it was, but it had a gate on!
"Don't worry lads, it's not locked" Kingston assured us, with a smirk on his face as if he knew why.
He swung open the gate and we entered. What a find! Since closing down, the tunnels had decayed and the timbers had a green fungus growing on them. Out came the trusty Samsung S8+ and the 1000 lumen head torch.
Excitement built amongst the group and we began descending the concrete incline ramp, deeper and deeper into the hillside. "This place is huge" I said out loud in utter disbelief at never being here before.
"Its mostly collapsed now, some of it looks intentional in places as if to stop people like us risking our lives on their land." Kingston replied. It made sense to me, this mine was once occupied by large dumper trucks and machinery, was a huge danger, collapses were frequent and often very large.
We arrived at the bottom of the ramp after about 400m of constant steep decline. The road forked off, east ramp or west ramp. "Go left, on the west ramp" Kingston shouted. "I'll lead, watch your step and don't touch the sides".
Things were starting to get dangerous, but we had been set a mission by Kingston to get down a shaft he had found on a previous visit.
We continued to follow our 'tour guide for the evening' down a series of left and right turns, climbing over collapses and trudging through sticky mud and soft rotting timbers. The we arrived at a ladder, small for a change, leading up on to a false floor level to the shaft checkpoint.
"There's a ladder down, but it's snapped halfway I can't see what's at bottom" Kingston said as we all peered through the metal grille over the shaft. We all began to lift the grille and slide it out of the way. I took off my bag and pulled out the 8m wire rope ladder. We fixed it up to steel bar which we lay over the shaft frame, then dropped the ladder down the shaft... 5 head torches peered down as the end of the ladder disappeared underneath us.
"Its filled in that is" I thought out loud. "I'll throw a stone down, be silent".
Sure enough the stone received a heavy thud very soon after leaving my hand.
"Definitely mate, I'm not risking it on these ladders they're awful to use, feel free though boys, I'll stay up here for when you fail climbing back up them".
I knew that wire ladders were terrible for vertical climbing, they move and twist and if the technique was wrong, you would tire out and fall long before the top.
The group I had brought in my car agreed with me, but Kingston wasn't to be defeated that easily. He was clearly fitter and younger than the rest of us and he fancied his chances of being able to climb down far enough to see if it was blocked or not.
He sat on the edge testing the ladders and his nerves for about 10 minutes. None of us had even met him until just a few hours earlier, at this point we all thought we'd been following a mad man.
"Just leave it man, I'll do some research and I'll find out for sure then we come back with ropes instead the ladder and be safe not sorry".
He agreed, much the relief of everybody else. We packed up the ladder and headed back towards the small ladder we climbed earlier.
"There's a shortcut this way, it brings us out on the east ramp, we can get out in 15 minutes from here" Kingston said, after a short while of silence.
We came to a passage which was sealed off by a plastic sheet, in no way properly sealed, but enough to say don't go this way!
"You sure about this?" One of my mates muttered aloud.
Kingston turned around and gave us that same smirk from the gate earlier. He obviously knew his way around this far so we reluctantly followed him through the sheet.
Sure enough, we came out a few minutes later at the bottom of the ramp leading to the surface. "Nice one for showing us this" I said thankfully to Kingston as we neared the gate and our exit.
"No worries man, let me know what's down that hole, it's eating at me!" he laughed and he closed the gate as the last man reached fresh air. It was much needed after the ascent of the 400m ramp we had enjoyed so much on the way in!
We headed back to the cars, over the hill and down the steep slope we had struggled up earlier. After saying our goodbyes, we separated with Kingston and headed home.
A brilliant, adrenaline fuelled adventure yet again!
Since this trip I have discovered that Sallet hole adit no.1 does indeed link to adit no.2 via the shaft, which was indeed filled in to stop the link.
Stay tuned for more from me and the team. If you enjoyed this explore then please feel free to visit my other blogs linked below.
Exploring what lies beneath our feet
A trip into North Wales, Snowdonia National Park
A Horseshoe Bat in Hibernation
1 year anniversary of our first ever Welsh Slate mine explore
Exploring The Dale, Stoney Middleton
Rock Climbing and Abseiling at Masson Leas Quarry
great post, loved reading it .stay safe on your adventures and i look forward to your next post. have a good day
why did you say that no one should have touched the sides on the way in?
these pictures were especially creepy this time! hehehehe loved them - except snow?!?!?! blah! :)
The wooden sides were rotten and if they went through it would be game over for all of us lol! It tends to be the sides that go before the roof comes after...
@praada!!!!!! What will we do if you get hurt on one of these!?!! Aghhhhh you're a cave maniac lololol.
Be very very careful pleeeeease! Lol