As mentioned in my previous blog about Dudley Tunnel, its very
being was due mainly to the vast quantity of Limestone that Dudley, Wrens Nest
and Mons hills are made of. From the
Tipton portal, the first section of tunnel which leads through Shirts Mill and
on to Castle Mill basins are known as the ‘Lord Ward’s’ tunnel after the Earl
of Dudley who owned all the mineral rights for this area and built this tunnel
in 1776 to enable him to extract the limestone and transport it to his lime
kilns located in what is now the Black Country Living Museum.
The lime kilns, as now in the Black Country
Museum.© BCLM.
Early
beginnings
Limestone has been a valuable commodity since Roman times when
it was used for making lime mortar and also used in agriculture as a
fertiliser. During the 18th
and 19th centuries, it was extensively used in the developing Black
Country iron industry as a flux that could be used to clean and purify the iron
in the blast furnace. To give some idea
of the demand, at the height of the Industrial revolution there were 220 blast
furnaces spread across the town’s of Darlaston, Wednesbury, Bilston, Tipton,
Dudley and parts of Wolverhampton, and at about the same time (1796) Castle
Hill and Wrens Nest quarries were producing 60,000 tons of limestone per year To
make a usable product, the limestone was burnt in a kiln at a very high
temperature (calcinated ) resulting in quick lime and if then mixed with water,
known as slaking, it produced a stable powder.
Limestone has been mined in the Dudley area for centuries
starting in the 11th century for stone to build Dudley castle and
then in the 12th century to build St James’ priory all being
obtained from surface quarries on Castle Hill.
The earliest record of permission for a lime works in Dudley was in 1634
on Wrens Nest Hill. The limestone in the
Dudley area was laid down during the Silurian period (443 million years to 419
million years ago) and it resulted in two parallel seams running through
Dudley, Wrens Nest and Mons Hill at an angle of roughly 45 degrees.
Originally, Lord Wards canal terminated in an underground
basin at Castle Mill, later other tunnels were built leading off Castle Mill to
connect to the limestone mines under Castle Hill via Cathedral arch, then
onwards to take the canal through Dudley Hill and connect the Birmingham canal
with the Stourbridge canal and so on to Stourport via the Staffs &
Worcester (1792). Another tunnel built
in 1815 connected Castle Mill basin to the mines under Wrens Nest Hill.
Castle Mill Basin in 1975
showing the lord Wards tunnel(top right) the Wrens Nest Tunnel(top left) and
the main Dudley tunnel(bottom left ©Dudley CanalTrust
The limestone mines themselves were a combination of underground
workings connected by tunnels with underground basins and wharves for loading
boats, and these in turn were connected around the mines by plate way railways
for limestone to be transported from the working face to these wharves by
waggons. The main centre for both the
Castle Hill and Wrens Nest systems was Castle Mill basin which originally was
underground, but along with Shirts Mill Basin, had the roof taken off opening them
up to the daylight and to give some idea of how productive they were, in 1853
more than 41,ooo boats transported limestone from these mines to the kilns.
A 1926 view of the lime kilns and canal
basin, now part of BCLM ©blackcountrymuse.
By the middle of the 19th century the limestone in
the Castle Hill mines was stating to run out but their use wasn’t over. Lord Dudley installed gas lighting and a
bandstand in one large cavern called The Dark Cavern, using it concerts balls
and scientific lectures. In 1849 a
leading geologist Sir Roderick Murchison gave a lecture in this cavern said to
have been attended by 15,000 people covering the fossil evidence provided by
this mine network, most of this collection held by Dudley Council Museum
Service.
Sir Roderick
Murchison’s Silurian lecture in the Dark Cavern © Illustrated London News
The final stone was extracted from the Wrens Nest mines in
1924 and the accompanying lime works until 1935 all finally closing by 1939when
the ’black out’ of the second world war forces them to stop firing the kilns.
The Wrens
Nest mines
As stated, the limestone was removed from the Wrens Nest mines
by means of a canal tunnel from Castle Mill basin. After just over 780 yards the tunnel opened
out into an underground wharf within the East Mine where
boats were loaded from the first of the mines
The Step Pit canal basin © Birmingham Mail
The step pit basin looking in the opposite
direction ©G Worton
This mine was called the ‘Step Pit’ due to a cast iron spiral
staircase with 240 steps leading to the surface.
Inside the step pit ©Birmingham live
Another gallery (South workings of Wrens Nest East mine) that
was connected to this mine was known as the Cathedral cavern, due mainly to its
gigantic size and also the Minstral gallery
The Cathedral Cavern ©Dudley News.
After a further 447 yards a second loading basin is reached
which worked the West Mines, which are better known as ‘The Seven Sisters’
The canal basin within the Seven Sisters
mine. © Dudley Council
This mine was so called because of the seven pillars of stone
left in on each gallery to support the roof.
A 1984 view inside the first gallery of the
Seven Sisters mine showing four of the pillars. © Peter Parkes
Weekends
underground.
Although some time was spent exploring the Wrens Nest system
it was mainly around the Seven Sisters and sadly only on a couple of occasions
as most of our scrabbling around underground was spent in the Castle Hill Mines
what follows is an account of a typical Saturday/Sunday’s exploration which I
have previously posted on another blog.
A sketch map of the Castle Hill mines
The DCTPS had been formed in 1963 when the tunnel was
under threat of closure from British Rail wanting to build an embankment over
it’s Tipton portal to support/replace a collapsing viaduct, their first
bulletin was produced in September 1964 and I joined in early in 1965. As the tunnel went through and was linked to
the Limestone workings it was only natural for me to be also interested in the
‘Caves’. Through the 1960’s and 70’s I
spent many hours poking about down the mines mainly under Castle Hill and less
time under Wrens Nest Hill, and even one sortie in the middle of the night
within the Zoo grounds and under the castle itself into the Stores Cavern. The main reason for this ‘midnight trip’ was
the result of an article in the Express & star newspaper where suggestion
had again been raised, and strongly denied by the authorities, that the mines
under the Castle had been used as an ammunition stores during the war. So we had to find out as one of our party knew
of a mine entrance within the zoo grounds.
So, after midnight we gathered and climbed over the zoo perimeter fence
behind the Plaza cinema and made our way to the entrance. When once we descended into the mine our suspicions
were confirmed. The evidence was
there. Huge fans to remove fume, lifts
with signs stating ‘no more than so much explosive to be carried at any one
time’ Brick built ‘offices’.
A view inside the Store cavern during a feasibility
study in 2017 for opening up to the public.
The
Castle Mill system of mines were directly connected to and serviced by the
canal network in the same way as the Wrens Nest Mines, I thought this may be of
some interest to my blog readers as it is part of our ‘canal system’ that is no
longer available in the main to the general public apart from the ‘Disneyfied’
sections seen on the current tunnel trips undertaken by the Dudley Canal Trust.
The network of mines were served by a series of
interconnecting canals, sometimes through brick lined tunnels, sometimes
through rock tunnels and sometimes in open sections (although inside the mine
of course) There was also underground brick built loading wharfs which in some
cases were served in turn by tub type tramways/railways although long gone,
visible evidence of their existence was still in place such as in the brick
lined tunnel sections of Flooded Mine where the imprints of the sleepers
were still clearly visible. The craft that were used in this subterranean
network of canals were of very crude construction being similar, but much
shorter, to the ‘Starvationers’ used in the Duke of Bridgewater’s coal mines at
Worsley.
(A mine boat in Castle
Mill Basin in 1900, 25 years before limestone extraction finished in Dudley)
I
remember spending a couple of weekends in about 1967 along with several other
DCTPS members trying to clear away all the limestone rocks and mud in and
around one of these mine boats which was sunk just inside the rock tunnel
leading from Singer Cavern to Little Tess.
What follows is a reflection of a typical Saturday
or Sunday down the mines. I will attempt to remember as much detail as I can. Equipment
we would take with us would be :- a complete change of dry clothes, 2 pairs of
boots (1 dry, 1 wet. The wet ones had ½ “ holes drilled in the soles,
overalls, hard hat, ex-miners battery pack & lamp, a carbide lamp, various
ropework and climbing equipment, an inflatable ex-RAF one man survival dinghy
(although we have had three in it) Flask of hot soup/drink, sandwiches, small
emergency tin (match/candle/safety pin/plaster)
We would all meet at a pre-arranged time at Castle
Mill House, which at the time was owned by the DCTPS and situated above the top
of the construction shaft in the Lord Wards Tunnel close to Shirts Mill Basin,
it actually came up into the kitchen floor of the house by means of a square
access manhole.
The construction shaft
which was under Castle Mill house. ©DCT.
All
unnecessary items including dry clothes and food were stowed in Castle Mill
House and then we would set off to make the short walk past the Hexagon shaped
‘gatehouse’ to the Zoo grounds/castle hill, which at this time was still
inhabited, then follow the pathway off up the gradual climb up the back of
castle hill. The ground around this area was pitted with depressions where
early limestone excavation had taken place and also some the result of
subsidence where the mines below had suffered with roof falls and collapse,
some of these occurring while the mine was still active the miners response
being to drive a brick lined tunnel through the roof fall accessing the
remaining mine such as at Sam’s Dig in Mud Hole.
After a walk of just under a mile the entrance of
Big Ben would be reached, a large triangular shaped entrance in the bottom of
one of the larger depressions.
View from the bottom of
Big Ben looking back up towards the surface ©Blossom
With lamps lit we would start our descent into the
mines. The entrance sloped down at an angle of about 45° and this ‘ramp’ would
be approached by a succession of continuous jumps, with each jump managing to
cover about 20feet in distance. The other way to travel down (for the less
ambitious) was sitting either on your bum or on your own feet and ‘skiing’ down
the limestone screed. After about 100 yards the bottom of the mine would be
reached and we would either turn left for about a further 150 yards towards a
total collapse of the mine although many hours of fun could be had crawling
over, under, around the huge slabs of fallen limestone, some as big as a car. Turn
right and it was about 100 yards to the roof fall at the other end of Big
Ben. At the very bottom of this mine, it was about 100feet wide and about
75 feet from floor to roof and before the roof had collapsed, it was all part
of the Dark Cavern or144 making the Dark Cavern originally
in excess of ½ mile long. Over the years, cavers/potholes etc had
found/dug/opened up a very small passage through the roof fall going over,
under, around the slabs of fallen limestone which lead out into the end of 144.
I’m afraid that nowadays I would not have been able to crawl through it,
but back in those days I flew threw it. It was that small and tight that it was
nicknamed The Virgin so I can safely say that when I was younger I went
through a virgin most Saturday afternoon’s! When once through The Virgin you
dropped down over the other side of the roof fall again made up of huge blocks
of limestone into another cathedral sized mine, Dark Cavern.
Over to the
left and at the very base of the mine was a partially covered brick wall in the
centre of which was a tunnel entrance which led into a brick lined tunnel of
identical design but of smaller section than the associated canal tunnels. This was one of the brick lined tunnels
driven through the roof fall to allow continued extraction of limestone from
the ‘Big Ben’ section of this mine to be taken out via the canal in Dark
Cavern. After a short distance the
brickwork had collapsed and this tunnel closed. There was evidence of ‘sleeper
imprints’ in the floor of this tunnel showing that Big Ben’s limestone
in its latter years was removed in tubs via this tunnel then following along
the rock wall at the base of the Dark Cavern for approximately another 50 yards
then making a 90° curve, terminating alongside a brick built loading wharf.
Running along the right-hand side of the mine was an elevated flat level
‘pathway’ about 20 feet above the base of the mine. The roof along this section of Dark Cavern
was supported by huge pillars of limestone being left in place during limestone
extraction. Due to the beds of limestone running at an angle of about 30° then
these pillars lurched up from the right hand side of the mine at an angle of
about 60° and about half way up their length there was a fault in the limestone
with a 2 foot thick layer of softer material which, on some of the pillars was
supported with large timber sections and wooden wedges, which often fell out. In total there were thirteen of these huge
pillars running in a row along the length of the mine. As I mentioned the tub way from Big Ben ended
alongside a brick loading wharf, at this point was an underground canal basin
from which the canal ran back from this point along the bottom left hand edge
of this mine for about 150 yards then the canal, which was about 20 foot wide
and 5 foot deep entered a brick lined tunnel about 14foot bore and about 50
foot in length. After this the canal emerged into another open section about 50
foot long to disappear into another brick lined tunnel originally about 50
yards long but blocked by a roof fall half way through, which lead the canal
into Little Tess Mine by an open canal about 75 yards long then finally
into a 50 foot section of tunnel leading to the underground junction with the
main bore of the Dudley Canal Tunnel at Cathedral Arch.
Back to the canal basin in Dark Cavern, also
at this point the canal makes a 90° turn then immediately disappears into a
brick lined tunnel about 80 yards long until it opens back out into a mine
about 75 feet in length called Mud Hole. At the far end of this mine the canal
stops but running along each side of the canal are brick-built loading wharves
form where the limestone was loaded into the mine boats described earlier. This
limestone mine actually ran at 90° to the canal and the mine ran off both to
the left and the right. On the right the roof had collapsed and a brick wall
ran parallel with the wharf about 20foot away and at the middle of it was a
partly covered tunnel entrance called Sam’s Dig which lead into a small
brick lined tunnel that had also collapsed a short distance in. On the right-hand side running away from the
loading wharf was a short mine that terminated in a total roof collapse called
The Conference Room. At this point the limestone was quite soft and
crumbly and lumps were easily split open with a welders chipping hammer or a brickie’s
hammer to reveal loads and loads of the famous Trilobite known as ‘The Dudley
Bug’. Continuing straight on from the
loading area, lead through a very unstable section of mine regularly
collapsing, then to a rising passageway leading to the surface and bringing you
out through a small climb/crawl into the bottom of another of the surface
depressions or pits. Back into the Dark Cavern at the canal basin, the
pathway we were following passes over the top of the tunnel entrance to Mud
Hole then past the next limestone pillar and finishes at the base of a
stone set of palatial steps leading up the sloping side of the mine to a higher
level.
A view inside Dark
Cavern showing one of the huge pillars and its fault line. Also the stone steps
which led up to the bandstand and the tunnel leading to Mud Hole ©Roy Fellows
At the top and at the left of this stone staircase,
is the Bandstand a flat ‘stage’ area surrounded by a low stone wall,
again all built out of limestone. It was from this stage that in 1849 Sir
Roderick Murchison gave a lecture on Dudley’s limestone and fossils to an
invited audience of 15,000. Evidence of the gas lighting installed for this and
subsequent visits were around this area with iron gas piping and supporting
brackets. Continuing along this higher
pathway brings us past another six limestone support pillars and then to the
main entrance on the right-hand side which consisted of a large pit breaking
through into the mine with a set of stone steps leading up through the pit to
the surface.
The stone pillars just
inside the Dark Cavern.©madaboutmining.
Continuing on a further 50
yards you are confronted by a most impressive stone arch way in which was a
large iron gate. Between the top of the
arch and the roof, large sections of tree trunk were fitted as supports and
from a distance, especially with a light behind the archway, it looked like a
set of monster teeth hence its name The Dragons Teeth. Behind the
gateway was a pathway that lead up to the surface which I understood to be a
mine workers entrance. As there was no
access forward to link to Little Tess, you had to leave the mine system
here at this point and clime the remains of the 144 steps out into daylight.
The entrance to the
Dark Cavern or 144 as it was also known ©madaboutmining
After a
short walk across to another small surface fissure which led down into Little
Tess via a climb/crawl. Little Tess was only a small mine in
comparison to the Dark Cavern being about 70 yards long, 50 foot wide
and about the same height. At the bottom
was the open section of canal with a tunnel leading off to the right to the
Dudley Tunnel, originally a tunnel went off to the right leading back to Dark
Cavern, but this had been lost in roof fall. Leading off on the left at an angle to the
through canal was another tunnel, this time not brick lined but of natural
rock. This tunnel being about 9 feet wide and with water 5 foot deep. This 80 yard tunnel leads through to the Singing
Cavern, which now forms part of the modern day Tunnel trips and has been
‘altered and landscaped’. In the 60’s
the canal continued along the whole length of the mine up to the roof fall at
the end, approx. 100 yards. About half
way along its length and on each side of the canal were brick-built loading
wharfs. Leading back from these wharfs
were short 25 foot rock tunnels and at the end of each of these tunnels was a
10 foot circular brick lined shaft leading to the surface but capped off and
leading down to a second set of galleries about 70 feet below and totally
flooded.
The new look Singer
Mine just ahead of the boats are where the loading wharves and side shafts
were. ©Express&star
Above where the rock tunnel emerges from Little
Tess, were three large limestone pillars similar to those in the Dark
Cavern and also at this time, above and behind the rock tunnel were two large
holes leading out to the surface giving both fresh air and easy access. Some
say this mine was called ‘singer’ because the wind used to blow through these
two holes and make sounds, but I must say I’ve been down there from slight
breeze to gale force and never hear any sounds, however this mine was very
close to the surface and as a result was always very wet with drips
continuously falling and as the floor of the mine was all canal, if you stood
quietly all you could hear was plop plop plip plop plip plep plip plop plap
plup plip plop! And I was told that this was where it got its name from! The
last two mines I will describe were not connected to any of those previously
described, other than they all connect back to the main Dudley Tunnel.
Castle Mill basin with
main Dudley tunnel to the right, new ‘trip’ tunnel in centre and the entrance
to murder mine to the left.©DCT
Leading off the Castle Mill Basin on the Dudley
side is Murder Mine. Originally both Castle Mill and Shirts Mill
Basins were not basins as such but were roofed over and were limestone
mines in their own right but later had their tops taken off opening them up to
the surface. Murder Mine was named after a dead body found there many
years ago (there’s always a body!) It is a bit non- descript really being about
80 feet wide 30 feet high and 125 yards long and terminating in a roof fall. The other mine, known as Flooded Mine,
for fairly obvious reasons, ran at 90° to the main canal off Shirts Mill
Basin. As you come out of the main Dudley Tunnel into Shirts Mill
Basin, or to give this section it’s proper name, Lord Wards Tunnel, you are
flanked on both sides by brick-built loading wharfs. The tunnel entrance you
had just come out of had two side tunnels, now bricked up, to enable boats to
await loading and leaving a through route open for boats using the main Dudley tunnel.
On
the right a short brick tunnel lead to a round vertical shaft leading both up
presumably originally to winding gear, and down to Tipton Colliery running
through this short tunnel was excavated a short length of tub rail track with
cast rails and sleepers into which was cast the name Ward, the Earls of Dudley
family name. On the left-hand side was a
small triangular mine entrance which leads into Flooded Mine.
The entrance to flooded mine
It starts as a small chamber about 20feet
square then leading off from this was a brick lined tunnel of similar
dimensions to the brick lined tub track tunnels in Dark Cavern and Mud
Hole. This tunnel was about 100
yards long then it opened out into another small mine about 70 feet long and 40
feet wide only to again disappear into another brick lined tunnel about 100
yards long which again opens out into a small mine with a larger section of
mine going off and upwards to the right-hand side. Continuing into a third 100-yard
section of bricked tunnel you finally come out into the main mine. So far you have been wading through 2 feet of
water from the very start of this mine, also the remaining imprints of the tug
rail sleepers can be seen through the whole length of this mine before you
disturb the crystal-clear water that is!
As you emerge into this last part of the mine the water gets shallower
and shallower until over on the left-hand side of the mine you are walking on
dry floor. Over on the right at this
point there is an iron pipe about 4 inches diameter running vertically from
ceiling to floor and into the water. At
a point on the surface that we worked out to be over the top of this point is a
small brick building with a 4 inch pipe coming up through the floor and on the
top of the pipe was a series of ceased levers and mechanism which I would say
was some pumping system. Eventually
after a further 100 yards the floor of the mine gradually gets nearer the roof
as you clamber over another roof fall. In
total you have probably travelled close on half a mile or there about and in
freezing cold water just below your tender bits, (so long as you don’t splash
about too much and walk gently) Well there you go that’s about it, once
again my biggest regret is, same as the canals at this time, that I didn’t take
loads of photo’s. Anyway, I have only one word of warning for you, if you still
could venture down and you did, then as far as those big loose lumps of rock
are concerned –
Don’t bang ‘em about,
Blossom.
