Report - Grotto/Side Mine/High Tor Colour Works/Rockwood Pigments, Matlock, Derbyshire - July 2021

[FalloutShelter]

Brief history on the place

High Tor Works was last inhabited by Rockwood Pigments, who were 'colour manufacturers'. However the site also has two mines; "The Grotto" and the "Side Mine" - a former lead mine. Mining finished in 1844 when the owner gave up his attempts to drain the workings of water. The red colour on the walls and roof comes from residue from the pigment factory when excess pigment was blown into the mine via ventilation fans.

The Explore

@Jl.urbex , "A", and I began by mooching around the warehouses and the various derpy buildings. We didn't spend too much time in the structures as we were far more interested in the mines.
Consider them hors d'oeuvres, or antipasti... (if you'll indulge the references)

There is some impressive graffiti about the place if that's your thing.

@Jl.urbex said he could see the ceiling flex when I was walking above him but they held. Stick to the boards or anything that looks solid...

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Mine Time

Now we move to the primo...

We began with the "Grotto"

Nobody was in the mood to finish the game of Family Jenga...

Some cool little nooks and crannies...

These angular formations were everywhere in this cave.

End of the line... We weren't sure if it continued below water, but we were sure it wasn't worth the wet socks..​

 

[FalloutShelter]

Seconda Parte

By this time we were all ready to dive into the main attraction and see how far we could get. @MotionlessMike set the bar high.

This place is red... and by the end of it, so were we, but more on that later.

Lots of stemples.. Not many I'd really trust. We could see both ends on a few of them, and the 5th one from the top/4th from bottom was wedged into place
using another smaller rock.

That said, they do hold up a decent amount of weight...

We assumed that they would lead to another shaft however the upper horizontal passage was blocked in and we were unsure if the vertical shaft led anywhere.
There were several tight little passages leading to other adits/shafts along the mine: one had an anchoring ring attached for descending to another shaft (approx 5m below) but we had neither the equipment,
nor the expertise for that.

One of the several "holes of death". They led straight down to a flooded level, perhaps 10-15m below us.

Another one

This is as far as we dared go... The yellowish stuff in-between the red rocks is a mountain of thick, thick mud/clay. We just sank into it as we tried to climb up it.
Then it would be a case of gently squeezing through that window formed by the rotting support. It just felt like things were too hairy past this point, but maybe doable
with the right equipment and time.

 

[Jl.urbex]

Some more pictures - including a huge shaft we found ourselves at the bottom of.

It wasn't far off being in a shower, and we had to wade through about 4/5 inches of water, bedded with the red sandy silt.

We threw some rocks in for make shift stepping stones - but the view was worth the wet feet.

Some really high stemples

Some really vivid colours in this wall

And the shaft.

And finally, nature starting to reclaim parts on the surface.

 

[FalloutShelter]

Dolce e Digestivo

We were absolutely caked in the stuff... After two showers using a kitchen scourer, I'm still finding patches of red. My torch will never be the same again.
Most of it came out in the wash but the shoes are going to be a nightmare to clean.

Upon leaving the site we headed down to the rivers edge to clean our hands and faces... but to no avail. The three of us were lying face down in the river trying to get this stuff off us. We were quite the sight
and a lot of the tourists in the area gave us some pretty funny looks as we stained the river red.

Derwentem multo spumantem sanguine cerno

Absolutely incredible day out. @Jl.urbex took a cracking photo of one huge vertical shaft we managed to find off one of the many small branches off the main adit.
That spot was probably the highlight of the mine for me and I'm sure many haven't seen it before.​

 

[Jl.urbex]

@FalloutShelter - such a good day man. Never forget it.

 

[MotionlessMike]

Nice work... Enjoy finding red on everything for weeks to come!

 

[Jl.urbex]

@MotionlessMike . My misses is refusing to put my clothes in the washing machine haha

 

[Down and beyond]

I Am glad no one banged their head and fell down that winze would of been a shame if the death caused the mine to shut

get a helmet could save your life

 

[Jl.urbex]

I Am glad no one banged their head and fell down that winze would of been a shame if the death caused the mine to shut

get a helmet could save your life

Thanks for the advice mate - you will see from the report that we avoided dangerous stuff due to lack of equipment. We will be investing in some and continuing to investigate the mine.

Was a great day none the less and there was nothing dangerous, the balancing was over a winze about 3 foot deep, the pipe had extra support to, we did test its strength multiple times before standing on it.

 

[Calamity Jane]

I know absolutely nothing about mines, but they do fascinate me. You've really caught the pigment in bedded there. That residue really has got everywhere. Makes for lovely shots though.
I don't blame the missus for not wanting to put those clothes through the machine lol.

 

[pirate]

Lol mines are dangerous everywhere.
Get a helmet or at least head torches then you have 2 hands free

 

[urbex4667]

Some great photos! Looks like a really good explore!

 

[Jl.urbex]

Lol mines are dangerous everywhere.
Get a helmet or at least head torches then you have 2 hands free

Will eventually have all of the above mate. Only been back into a month after 5/6 years of nothing.

Thanks for the advice mate

 

[HughieD]

That's a really top notch effort on that second mine especially. But as @Down and beyond says, get a helmet and stay safe!

 

[Down and beyond]

The winzes I can see from ya photo is a hell of a drop should be on cow tails their but I assume they haven’t been bolted to keep the YouTube idiots out most likely I no their is a permission system set up for this mine is not my area so I don’t no much , I love the stone stemples very unique I believe their only used here ? as pirate has said a head torch is just as important as a helmet well spotted .

fair play for having a good time but you always have to think if the worst was to happen the rescue team has to get you out , could this have been avoided with a head torch ,helmet ? These eliminate a lot of risks I have seen a few near misses 1st hand and it’s scary .