Trip to Hendre Spar Mine -- 31st Jul 2005

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Trip to Hendre Spar Mine -- 31st Jul 2005

Group: Paul, Dave, Dennis, (Graham, Mary)

We hadn't done a trip to Hendre Spar mine for a while and Paul had never been in it so Dennis & Dave decided it would make a pleasant day out. We parked up at the side of the track not far from the 'Old Oak' public house, SJ188677 and got changed. We decided to take rope, ladders and 8mm anchors so that Dave could show Paul the lower section which needs rigging. The weather was dull, but dry as we walked along the track for 400yds till we came to the demolished remains of the mill and then headed up hill to find the airshaft.

A climb down the (slightly dodgy) ladders leads to a short level which has several passages. Two of these are blocked, the other one leads into the mine.

The passage opens out into a wide stope and there is a big drop on the LHS protected by a tatty fence.

Holes in the ceiling betray inaccessible upper levels.

The passage continues and crosses a big hole in the floor with ladders to a lower level. This ultimately gives access to the bottom level of the mine where the original entrance (now blown in) was situated - Electron ladders and lifeline are necessary as there is a drop of 35' to negotiate. Crossing the slightly wobbly metal rail and plank leads onward to a narrower passage and a dead-end. The way on is up a climb, there used to be a ladder here, but it was moved elsewhere and a length of old fire-hose acts as a rope.

At the top of the climb is a level area with a window to a natural chasm which reaches the surface and would provide access to the mine if the airshaft became inaccessible. The trip continued down the ladder which anchors the fire-hose

At the bottom of the ladder the passage continues and the remains of an old truck are encountered followed by a drop into a huge stoped area complete with fixed ladder.

At the bottom of the ladder is another short level section complete with safety sign and various artifacts. A small passage has a nice collection of cave pearls and a partially vitrified spade.`

The trip continued down more ladders and fixed chains until the bottom level was reached and there is a short scramble by some compressed air pipe to a deep blue pool of water. This marks the limit of of the mine in this area.

At this point Paul had gone down to look at the water pool and Dave and Dennis were waiting a bit higher up when Dennis thought he saw a light and heard a scream. We shouted for Paul and then turned off our lights to make it easier to see any others, none were visible but we did hear a faint noise. Paul rejoined us and we pondered if it was local kids. We started back up and were slightly surprised to see Graham & Mary skulking in a side passage to scare us...

They were bored and decided to join the trip late and not tell us! We all headed back towards the upper passage and then, while they went to the pub, we descended the ladders into the hole near the start of the trip. At the bottom of the ladders is a short passage and at one side is a hole which leads to the drop into the bottom section. This has been bolted with 8mm splits and after a bit of effort a ladder and lifeline where dropped down so Paul and Dave could descend. Dennis remained at the top. The bottom of the pitch revealed a big chamber with a entrance passage (now blocked) to the surface and another water pool. There are quite a few lengths of pipe and compressed air driver pumps from when the mine was a going concern.

A quick pull back up the ladder took us back to the passage and after derigging we returned to the surface for a well earned pint.

Total trip time about 4 hours