Killifrith Mine, Cornwall, December 2009

[Pasty]

Last year we heard talk of a mine which may still have some pumping gear in place at the bottom of the shaft so decided to go take a look.

Killifrith engine house is not hard to find, hawks shaft engine house having the tallest stack of any engine house in cornwall, it is visible for miles.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k1.jpg

Brief history.

Killifrith mine was worked for copper from 1826-1860, then for tin until 1897. It was re opened from 1912 to 1924 closing breifly over the first world war.
Towards the end of 1920 the price of tin had fallen considerably, while the price of arsenic had rised very high indeed. It was decided by the owners to acquire the great wheal busy mine (next door) and to work it for arsenic.

Pumping operations on killifrith were accordingly suspended and all future efforts were concentrated on the great wheal busy mine.


So back to the site...
Next to this engine house is hawks shaft which has been capped, at the bottom of which, rumor had it, were the remains of the giant pumps.
Our plan was to find and drop an open shaft and see if it was possible to work our way underground back to the bottom of this capped shaft.

This mine had two main shafts, both 100 fathoms deep, (600ft/183m).
And a short distance away we found the other which luckily was open.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k4.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k2.jpg
The above photo is taken from the grilled open shaft looking back at the engine house, and gives a good idea of the distance required to walk underground to reach the bottom of the pumps.

Before attempting we did some research and the internet threw up some great information including a plan of the old workings.
The plan threw up a few issues, firstly it was a long way down to the first level, almost 100m, secondly it was wet, very wet, and thirdly, if we could get down the open shaft and try to get back under hawks shaft there were two winces (holes in the floor) that needed crossing,
these were around 60m deep!

So the research and recon were complete, we gathered the gear required to rig/drop the shaft and construct 2 bridges underground out of scaffold.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k3.jpg

This is a collection of pitures from our two visits, one during daylight, the other at night.
On the first trip we cleared tunnels and constructed bridges, but unfortunately i dropped my
tripod from the very top of the shaft, after nearly 100m of free fall there wasnt much left,
so we returned a week later for better pictures.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k5.jpg
This hole was huge, you could easily fit a transit van down wheels first and it wouldnt have touched the sides on the way down, and because of the funnel shapped top of the first 10-20m, the ropes had to be rigged so that they hung out from the centre of the cone to avoid rope rub further down.
This unfortunately required a start of descent which envolved swinging out into the middle of the shaft under the cage before going down, which happened to be scary as hell!

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k6.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k7.jpg

There was a massive blockage in the shaft around the first level, with the tunnel in requiring some digging and moving of dumped rubbish, but we were soon in and found the first hole to cross
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k8.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k9.jpg

Tubes were carried in and a simple bridge constructed, the drop below was quite deep, you could see water at the bottom.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k10.jpg
Tunnels after the crossing had not had visitors for some time, there were no footsteps and some great mineral deposits.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k12.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k11.jpg

Second crossing wasnt so bad, the hole in the floor was slightly of centre from the tunnel so you could use the tunnel side and one scaffold tube to safely cross...
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k13.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k14.jpg

At last, the bottom of Hawks pumping shaft was reached....

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k15.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/ammended.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k17.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k18.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k19.jpg
The pump was driven by an 80 inch cornish pumping engine, capable of dealing with 750gallons of water per minute.
The giant clack valves in the pictures above were used in the pump line as a one way valve to make it possible to get the water to the surface.
After having a good look at the massive valves we ventured further into the workings

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k20.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/t19.jpg

several tunnels and junctions later we encountered some patches of bad air, so decided to call it a day.
We heading back and got ready for our long climb back out.

[Oxygen Thief]

...Ridiculous !

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f167/bin_dustbin/mining/k5.jpg

...that shaft is ridiculous as well !

[rookinella]

Awesome! I'd love to see some more Cornish undergroundy stuff. Those rock formations look so gruesome!

[Pasty]

cheers for the comments, yeah theres some pretty interesting formations down them, theres an even weirder set down another mine weve been down, i will sort out a report. Cornwall has some great mines but most require SRT gear.
The rope was going through the cage after it was rigged off several large trees, it could have been rigged off a series of tensioned ropes above the cage, but it would have got quite technical. The cage itself was strengthed up by a rope pulled tight against a tree, this is visible in the pictures of the guy getting ready to go through the access hatch, which requires spanners and was already there.
:popcorn

[Cenator]

Amazing looking deposits down there - looks great!

[jontz01]

Very well done guys. Looks brilliant down there, it just shows that good planning pays off.

[Rude Dog]

For those of you who don't know, there has been a bit of a rumpus regarding mine rescue in Cornwall. Due to various dogs falling down shafts, holes are quite high priority and give people something to worry about and the council are always up for capping shafts. Those cages were put over shafts in the 80's and often they are plugged underneath, it's only the biggest ones which aren't (as they would have taken too much concrete-and the men were paid by unit). The 90's saw a more serious plugging programme in which many mines like Wheal Basset and Wheal Buller got plugged. The local underground chaps got a few access points under the auspice of bats. There was another plugging programme in the pipes and it got held up/is still in the process.

What we don't want to see is remaining holes being plugged by these muppets because "nanny knows best and must protect you from everything".

Please can we be a bit more careful about what we stick up as I know for a fact that "people" look at this stuff and then get their arses in their hands and the bloody council start wanting to plug stuff. Out of sight, out of mind.

Can we be less specific about mines in Cornwall as one day you'll turn up to find a load of blokes tipping 3m of concrete onto steel beams they have put in the shaft. It has happened and landowners/authorities/public really don't give 2 monkeys about history, bats, geology. They see them as huge scary pits for bonzo to fall down CAP THEM ALL!!!

Please bear this in mind in Cornwall. It's why sites like mine explorer and aditnow show very little in the way of "stuff". It's not because we're all secretive wankers, it's because of the bloody authorities!

[Pasty]

:tumbleweed
Telling off noted.
:p

[goan]

would cost a shit load to cap that :thumb stop getting so personal

[mcdermit]

amazing fantastic pics what a report !

[Pasty]

Rude dog, I didnt realise cornwall had a mine police, but obviously its you.... :D
Point noted though about access details, the last thing we want is more shafts capped.
I always think its strange on mine explorer and aditnow how if you look through the pictures archives theres some serious stuff in there which is offically off limits, but nothing gets said...
Its a pity theres little in the way of text with them as without a story they mean very little, other than show it is possible to get in, if you look hard enough.....

If my latest few reports are causing a bit of a sturr, they are going to love my next few when they are finished!!!
:popcorn

[Oxygen Thief]

If my latest few reports are causing a bit of a sturr, they are going to love my next few when they are finished!!!
:popcorn

Good stuff, can't wait...

[rookinella]

Ooh dog skeletons!! :D

[Mr Sam]

hats off to you guys :crazy



:thumb:thumb

[Promethius]

I only got a couple of other shots that Pasty didn't, but there was some ochre staining on the walls from where it has previously flooded to:

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll183/Red_Shift123/Picture784.jpg

Some more ochrous formations:

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll183/Red_Shift123/Picture786.jpg

Evidence copper sulphate deposition. The bridge is over a 40' winze shaft.

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll183/Red_Shift123/Picture793.jpg

Anyone wondering why we didn't keep going when the air got thin should probably be aware that low o2 is quite unpleasant. Feels like someone is sat on your chest!

Climbing out of this one was a beast. 20mins of srt!

[Raptor Jesus]

Wow indeed! :eek:

Top stuff guys, looks absolutely awesome!

[djflava]

Great report and photos well done.

[mcdermit]

Team Pasty if your ever exploring Bodmin Moor please please let me know, I would love to tag along ive found many adits and shafts across the moor but lack knowledge and experience on proper underground explores also im not a member of the mine police ! just interested in the history and geology cheers Kevin.

[Promethius]

If you want to pm me a short list of adits/shafts you've seen I'll let you know. Stowes shaft up behind minions (where the path has fallen in) is interesting and caradon is worth a look. Could do a trip report for stowes actually if there is enough interest.

[mcdermit]

Hi I wrote a list tried to pm, cant do ! must be too new a newbie ! if that makes sense.

[Promethius]

Yep, just realised this board might not have pm's (...) If you don't mind putting a list up here or in your bodmin moor thread I'll have a look at it. Am potentially up for coming up that way to have a look around, especially if you have some interesting tunnels.

[mcdermit]

Hi right here goes
Wheal jenkin 2 adits,south caradon 1 adit marke valley 2 adits 1 blocked, 1 huge shaft . East caradon 1 adit and one tunnel in the middle of nowhere, walked around stowes over christmas and found adits, shafts and dead sheep funnily enough spoke to a farmer today I know who pointed me in the direction of 2 more openings a few miles down the road im bound to think of more .........:)

[Promethius]

I'e dropped stowe's shaft, which is the big one near the cheesewring where the path has fallen in. It's 80m to some caernous stoping but the adit is unfortunately blocked. South Caradon adit is near crow's nest and goes a fair distance. Could potentially do a trip there next week. It might be a good idea for you to register on adit now, where they hae priate messages. I'm on there as redshift.

[mcdermit]

thought of more today whilst painting (ie mind wandering from work) anyway will follow advice cheers kevin.

[Henkels]

Having read this report, and living so close to Killifreth, I had to see this for myself! I found the shaft relatively easily and damn, you guys weren't messing about!! :eek: That is one almighty hole in the ground. Just out of interest, do you think people had been down before you, or is that your iron bar?

Amazing digging effort by those lads and a quality report.

[Pasty]

Yeah its certainly a big scary hole... also the top of the collor isnt the nicest in the world, lots of loose stones and dirt that can wash in if its raining, also as we were climbing back out the cage flexes slightly, causing small stones and soil to roll down and fall into the shaft, it was pretty errie listening to them whistle down past. Even the very small ones hurt like hell if they hit your hands/shoulders, i would imagine a big one would probably take you out.

We had heard people had been down a long while back, there was some old photos of people down there on mine explorer in the 1970s i think, but they may have dropped the pumping house shaft itself as it was open then with just a few strands of barbed wire around it.
:popcorn

[Henkels]

Ye I was reading on the side of the engine house that there had been some relatively recent project to restore the building as part of the Mineral Tramways project. I'd imagine up until this point that the place was overgrown and unknown, and most likely a complete liability in terms of the massive holes and the crumbling building.

I'm keen to get down into some old workings sooner rather than later as I keep reading tales of shafts being capped permanently and the whole lot being buried more underground than it already is. Ye surface buildings have been shored up, just hoping they don't extend the same courtesy to below ground.

Incidentally I went past Poldice the same day and down to Botallack the week prior. I got the nerve, but no ropes.

:)

[Thorn]

I've cycled past that mine many times, on cold days I've noticed mist coming out of the shaft by the engine house, was it warm down there?

[Promethius]

I've cycled past that mine many times, on cold days I've noticed mist coming out of the shaft by the engine house, was it warm down there?

It's always warm underground. Closer to the earth's core and all that. I don't remember it being especially warm in killifreth though.

@Henkels - I really wouldn't recommend srt/rope work unless you have some training, just ebaying a kit and going for it is a good way to get yourself injured/killed. Kilifreth especially is a monster abseil and we had a large number of safety devices and back-ups in place so that we didn't bite it.

[Pasty]

They are a bit warmer, but not too noticable. The Rising air helps them vent which backs up my theory if your worried about low oxygen levels at the bottom of a shaft, your better of doing it in the winter on a cold day.
Not far from this mine is another set, with an equally big scary hole, as far as i know it hasnt been dropped... watch this space.....

[Henkels]

@Henkels - I really wouldn't recommend srt/rope work unless you have some training, just ebaying a kit and going for it is a good way to get yourself injured/killed. Kilifreth especially is a monster abseil and we had a large number of safety devices and back-ups in place so that we didn't bite it.

Ye thanks for the advice. Rest assured I'm not going down that hole. I wasn't implying that I was thinking about doing it soon, rather that I would like to in the future, after some training and experience, if the opportunity presented itself etc :)