Lathkill Dale & Mandale Mine Sough

Hi all, we had a lie in this week and set off at 7:30 but it was still dark and raining.
There were only 3 of us today, Geoff had family commitment's and was away for the weekend.
On last weeks Countryfile tv show they mentioned how the river in Lathkill Dale had dried up and so we thought we would go and have a look.
We parked up in the layby just above the medieval Conksbury Bridge, this bridge served the Turnpike from Newhaven to Grindleford and was also a sheepwash until the end of WW2.
We set off along a nice flat track alongside the river Lathkill.

Rob & Ike in wet weather gear.

River Lathkill in full flow

We walked up towards the Lathkill Lodge and the water had gone before we got there.
There is a section of the river that dries up every year but this year its much worse than normal. The latest theory assumes there has been some sort of breach from the soughs to join up with the Magpie mine sough and then down to the river Wye.

What river???

 We arrived at the remains of the 15th century corn mill & fishing lodge to find no sign of any water and the river bed was completely dry.

That's me stood in the middle of the river Lathkill

Clapper Bridge over the dry river bed.

Nice brace of pheasants

We pressed on towards "Batemans House" and on the way we passed by the remains of the old Mandale Mine pumphouse. This mine has been worked since the 13th century and didn't finish until 1851. 200 years ago this lead mine and surrounding area was like the equivalent to our modern Trading Estates, it would have been a hive of activity. The pumphouse housed a giant waterwheel which was the largest known to be used in mining history.

You can just see the remains of the pumphouse through the trees.

We carried on and saw the exit to Mandale Mine sough was clear of water, so we decided to investigate.
A sough is the passage where the drainage water from the mine flows to join the river.
Some of these soughs can be miles long and cut through solid rock. They often took years to construct but the benefits to miners were enormous. The soughs were part of a system where the water was drawn up with large pumps from below the mine workings and this would ensure dry conditions for miners to extract the lead ore.

Rob & Ike on top of the sough

Exit of the Mandale sough

Inside the sough

From inside looking out.

After having a stomp around inside the sough we decided we might go back next week with some torches. We pressed on to "Batemans House" to have a look around there.

Remains of Batemans House

Footbridge over the Lathkill river to Batemans House
This was constructed in 2004 by Natural England.

Rob & Ike going down to the see one of the shafts.

Shaft viewing level.

The house was built over a very deep mine shaft sometime in the 1840's for Thomas Bateman who was agent of the Lathkill Mine, he lived there with his family.
The remains have been made secure by Natural England so visitors can safely have a look around.
When you descend the access ladder to the shaft viewing level there is a hand crank which generates electricity to power some display lights.
We left Batemans House and headed back to the corn mill where we saw a dry area to stop and have breakfast.

Ike heading for the chuck wagon

Well it was dry and out of the wind.

Spotted this little beaut sitting on a wall.

After brekki it was out of the chuck wagon and back off to the car. The sun started to come through and made the walk back a lot more comfortable. I spotted a little fungi of some sort on a wall amongst some moss, it was only about an inch high.
A last note in 1854 there was a section of the river where gold fever took hold. A mine was started and shares were sold for £1 each and quickly zoomed to £30 each and then they found out it was only Fools Gold, the mine was closed as quick as it opened. No doubt somebody made a profit!!
A trek back to the car and off home.
Cheers
see you next week.