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Report - - Honister Slate Mine - May 2018 | Mines and Quarries | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Honister Slate Mine - May 2018

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Hmp-Caver

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
I don't think as far as I'm aware anyone has done a report on Honister, so I thought I would hopefully be the first or one of the few to do so.

Anyway Honister Slate Mine situated in the Lake District is a "Show Mine" where people can go on paid tours where parts of the mine are floodlit to give guests a clear view of the sheer size of some of the Cathedral-like caverns within, There's a lot of history to the place, however I'd like to just get straight to the good stuff, now I've always wanted a look into here but I don't like the thought of a tour guide leading you round on a short trip with commercialised routes and passages, floodlit areas and large groups of (sometimes irritating) people, so me and a friend of mine decided to have a proper look round the place as it should be done, in the dark, after closing time. ;)

The Explore:
Now getting into the place is actually pretty straightforward and easy If you know where to look, we left the car down at the car park which was deserted, and walked up the dirt track to the entrance, greeted by a slate sign saying we should turn back :confused:
Aha, erm... nope! Haven't driven all this way for naff all! :cool: So onwards we went and found that whoever was last in there (probably a worker who wanted to get home) had left the big metal door wide open, so in we went, the place is quite well linked together, most of the passages connecting to a central stope where they would have originally winched up the slate.

We were also greeted by some metal cutout figures of miners put in place for the tour, amongst a bunch of other electrical equipment etc and old relics from the mine itself put on display, and most of the passages lead to the outside of the mountain face where they have a Via Ferrata rigged up, but you'd definitely need some SRT equipment for that, there's also some SRT Via Ferrata points in the mine too which look like tonnes of fun.

Anyways after a couple hours of wandering around we reached our exit point and made our way home. Though I will say I'm Intrigued to see how the place looks during Opening hours :cool:
Enjoy the pictures and thank you for looking.

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Thanks for looking :cool: (I really need to figure out how to caption my photos :confused:)

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The Lone Ranger

Safety is paramount!
Staff member
Moderator
Nice to see, best way to see a show cave or mine is for free :thumb

You don't need SRT equipment for a Via Ferrata, just a harness and a couple of lanyards; helmet and gloves too if Safety is Paramount ;) This is a family stroll up a little dam wall, but shows you how the twin lanyards are used ;)

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Hmp-Caver

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Nice to see, best way to see a show cave or mine is for free :thumb

You don't need SRT equipment for a Via Ferrata, just a harness and a couple of lanyards; helmet and gloves too if Safety is Paramount ;) This is a family stroll up a little dam wall, but shows you how the twin lanyards are used ;)

43071536504_e97504d5b0_k.jpg

Haha nice, yeah I even made a video on my youtube channel lots of swearing and shenanigans, I do occasionally do SRT stuff with Derbyshire Caving Club, just need to get my own gear or loan some equipment, maybe give the via ferrata a try haha the cows tails can be a good life line however if traversing, especially a Dam like above i'd only use them if there were like change overs eveyr so often in case you slip, I've only ever gone vertical with a life line haha.
 

Cumbriaunderground

28DL Member
28DL Member
Hey guys, I would disagree. The best way to see the mine really is to go on the tour, it takes in the best bits (which look way better when properly lit) and some of the history around the mine is fascinating. The Via Ferratta (both inside and out) are nothing like SRT, or even most other via ferattas. For example the outside one has stuff like a burma bridge which is best crossed using pulleys, and a cargo net where its important to know where to clip properly. I wouldn't advise anyone to just go and get on it.
 

Gateopen

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
I don't think as far as I'm aware anyone has done a report on Honister, so I thought I would hopefully be the first or one of the few to do so.

Anyway Honister Slate Mine situated in the Lake District is a "Show Mine" where people can go on paid tours where parts of the mine are floodlit to give guests a clear view of the sheer size of some of the Cathedral-like caverns within, There's a lot of history to the place, however I'd like to just get straight to the good stuff, now I've always wanted a look into here but I don't like the thought of a tour guide leading you round on a short trip with commercialised routes and passages, floodlit areas and large groups of (sometimes irritating) people, so me and a friend of mine decided to have a proper look round the place as it should be done, in the dark, after closing time. ;)

The Explore:
Now getting into the place is actually pretty straightforward and easy If you know where to look, we left the car down at the car park which was deserted, and walked up the dirt track to the entrance, greeted by a slate sign saying we should turn back :confused:
Aha, erm... nope! Haven't driven all this way for naff all! :cool: So onwards we went and found that whoever was last in there (probably a worker who wanted to get home) had left the big metal door wide open, so in we went, the place is quite well linked together, most of the passages connecting to a central stope where they would have originally winched up the slate.

We were also greeted by some metal cutout figures of miners put in place for the tour, amongst a bunch of other electrical equipment etc and old relics from the mine itself put on display, and most of the passages lead to the outside of the mountain face where they have a Via Ferrata rigged up, but you'd definitely need some SRT equipment for that, there's also some SRT Via Ferrata points in the mine too which look like tonnes of fun.

Anyways after a couple hours of wandering around we reached our exit point and made our way home. Though I will say I'm Intrigued to see how the place looks during Opening hours :cool:
Enjoy the pictures and thank you for looking.

DSC_1176.JPG
DSC_1120.JPG
DSC_1141.JPG
DSC_1140.JPG
DSC_1179.JPG
DSC_1101.JPG
DSC_1195.JPG
DSC_1184.JPG
DSC_1163.JPG
DSC_1135.JPG
DSC_1139.JPG
DSC_1138.JPG
DSC_1154.JPG
DSC_1109.JPG
DSC_1108.JPG
DSC_1129.JPG
DSC_1169.JPG
DSC_1205.JPG
DSC_1168.JPG
DSC_1134.JPG
DSC_1194.JPG
DSC_1171.JPG
DSC_1206.JPG
DSC_1146.JPG
DSC_1128.JPG
DSC_1127.JPG
DSC_1149.JPG
DSC_1148.JPG

Thanks for looking :cool: (I really need to figure out how to caption my photos :confused:)

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DSC_1143.JPG
Good bit of work that
 

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