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Report - - Scout Mine, Rossendale - Jan & Feb '17 | Mines and Quarries | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Scout Mine, Rossendale - Jan & Feb '17

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Xan_Asmodi

Cave Monster
28DL Full Member
Visited on multiple occasions by myself and with @Gudd87
I found myself with some time on my hands recently so decided to have a look round at some of the underground stuff around me. This is quite cool because as one of the great unwashed bus wankers, I can get here on two buses. Quite nice for a quick jaunt underground and relatively easy to give Gudd87 her first underground experience.
Scout mine is a relatively small pillar and stall affair between Waterfoot and Water in Rossendale, Lancashire. The rock that was worked here is part of the Haslingden Millstone grits deposits which were laid down between 314.5 & 315.5 million years ago, during the Yeadonian stage which was part of the Carboniferous period. The world was a very different place, atmospheric oxygen was at the highest level in history and the reptiles and amphibians were the dominant life forms. In the moist oxygen rich atmosphere flying insects were abundant, and some attained huge size, such as Meganeura, with a wing span of 70 centimetres. According to a source the UK was pretty much covered by a huge tropical delta leading to the muddy nature of the gritstones and relatively small particle size. The delta was a huge elongate delta: the nearest modern equivalent is the Mississippi / Everglades ‘Birds Foot’ type delta. for this reason at least one quarry in the area have been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The rock cleaved from the ground here is quite visually appealing, with different colours across a small area and some very nice patterning. As well as being visually appealing, the hardness and silica content is also great for building, apparently being comparable to granite.

The mine itself is quite nice if you ignore all the rocks littering the floor and the places where the roof is delaminating... It's no worse than some of the dodgy areas of Cwmorthin I've ventured through but very different is how the rock was worked and won. There's a few relics to be seen here and there, old roof supports and even a tiny amount of rail remaining relatively deep in the mine. I'd recommend it as it's a fairly straight forward lay out and you're unlikely to get lost, don't forget though bring multiple torches and spare batteries. Anyway, on with the pics:

[1]
The drop into the mine is relatively straighforward, although don't let the initial vista disappoint you, there's more to Scout than initially meets the eye...
32732153155_4ac67ce9f8_b.jpg


[2]
The first major features you see are the multiple entrances that lead onto people's houses!
31888963834_087734f0ab_b.jpg


[3]
You rather rapidly come to interesting geology and the boundaries between the different types of rock.
31888960694_572e0ed110_b.jpg


[4]
31888962314_b1a233697d_b.jpg


[5]
Press further into the mine and you get to the nice big areas. Sorry, no banana for scale, but I'm 6' 1" / 186 cm tall
32732157135_a49af98c7a_b.jpg


[6]
You come to the pretty much full thickness of the Millstone Grit
32578791332_dc4d34fc6c_b.jpg


[7]
32578797562_3e076d4c6b_b.jpg


It was close to this end of the mine where @Gudd87 and I were sitting and chatting, I decided to give her her first experience of pitch black darkness. I turned my torch out, asked her to do the same and complete darkness reigned. The type of pitch black stillness you only get underground; no traffic noise, no discernible breeze and no light to see your own hand in front of your eyes.

To geek out for a second, there are thousands of particles from passing the sun passing though you every second while you're down there. They're called neutrinos and are such strange particles (relative to electrons, protons & neutrons). They interact with 'normal matter' so infrequently that according to the Ask an Astronomer segment on the Jodcast astrophysics podcast to experience a flash of light from one interacting with your retina, you'd need to be sitting underground for about 5,000 years!


[8]
32578794802_667689e70b_b.jpg


[9]
32608867441_c5b4f974af_b.jpg


[10]
32732160005_1af4b8c050_b.jpg


[11]
I said that there were some nice features, and I hope this doesn't disappoint
32732158095_6bd1d2927a_b.jpg


[12]
32608859011_9115e3be15_b.jpg



I hope you've enjoyed the photos and I'll leave you with one more....
32732155065_3177d43996_b.jpg

Cheers! :thumb
 

The Lone Ranger

Safety is paramount!
Staff member
Moderator
Great report and nicely use of light in the photo :thumb

It's a great place to get that underground experience.
 

Wevsky

A Predisposed Tourist
Regular User
Looks pretty decent that one xan..nice to see more reports popping up
 

Gudd87

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Haha! Not rapey in the slightest dude. It was a great afternoon.
 

Craig Armitage

28DL Member
28DL Member
Hi, I've recently got a taste for exploring caves after a trip to the Moss Head levels on Coniston Old Man and now want to find more similar places. Rossendale is only 10 mins from where I live in Darwen so would like to check these out, where exactly are they?
 

Snake Oil

go in drains
28DL Full Member
Seeing as I missed this thread first time around and it's been bumped.... Nice pics mate, I really should make the effort to get down some more mines, I've not done any since 'the one with the mars bar on the prop' :D
 

bwizz

28DL Member
28DL Member
Re Scout Mine
Hi All.l have just joined this forum to take up with my interest in the Rossendale Valley Mines and quarries.
I have read these posts with great interest . I wondered if " The roumours of Scout Mine being linked underground" is common knowledge!
I have done some investigating over the years. I have a long post on The Rossendale Online Forum which deals with my findings.
I also have a copy of a local "Rossendale Council Survey" done fairly recently of Scouts workings any body interested in exchanging info on Scout. /Chapel Hill quarries .please feel free to contact me

Visited on multiple occasions by myself and with @Gudd87
I found myself with some time on my hands recently so decided to have a look round at some of the underground stuff around me. This is quite cool because as one of the great unwashed bus wankers, I can get here on two buses. Quite nice for a quick jaunt underground and relatively easy to give Gudd87 her first underground experience.
Scout mine is a relatively small pillar and stall affair between Waterfoot and Water in Rossendale, Lancashire. The rock that was worked here is part of the Haslingden Millstone grits deposits which were laid down between 314.5 & 315.5 million years ago, during the Yeadonian stage which was part of the Carboniferous period. The world was a very different place, atmospheric oxygen was at the highest level in history and the reptiles and amphibians were the dominant life forms. In the moist oxygen rich atmosphere flying insects were abundant, and some attained huge size, such as Meganeura, with a wing span of 70 centimetres. According to a source the UK was pretty much covered by a huge tropical delta leading to the muddy nature of the gritstones and relatively small particle size. The delta was a huge elongate delta: the nearest modern equivalent is the Mississippi / Everglades ‘Birds Foot’ type delta. for this reason at least one quarry in the area have been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The rock cleaved from the ground here is quite visually appealing, with different colours across a small area and some very nice patterning. As well as being visually appealing, the hardness and silica content is also great for building, apparently being comparable to granite.

The mine itself is quite nice if you ignore all the rocks littering the floor and the places where the roof is delaminating... It's no worse than some of the dodgy areas of Cwmorthin I've ventured through but very different is how the rock was worked and won. There's a few relics to be seen here and there, old roof supports and even a tiny amount of rail remaining relatively deep in the mine. I'd recommend it as it's a fairly straight forward lay out and you're unlikely to get lost, don't forget though bring multiple torches and spare batteries. Anyway, on with the pics:

[1]
The drop into the mine is relatively straighforward, although don't let the initial vista disappoint you, there's more to Scout than initially meets the eye...
32732153155_4ac67ce9f8_b.jpg


[2]
The first major features you see are the multiple entrances that lead onto people's houses!
31888963834_087734f0ab_b.jpg


[3]
You rather rapidly come to interesting geology and the boundaries between the different types of rock.
31888960694_572e0ed110_b.jpg


[4]
31888962314_b1a233697d_b.jpg


[5]
Press further into the mine and you get to the nice big areas. Sorry, no banana for scale, but I'm 6' 1" / 186 cm tall
32732157135_a49af98c7a_b.jpg


[6]
You come to the pretty much full thickness of the Millstone Grit
32578791332_dc4d34fc6c_b.jpg


[7]
32578797562_3e076d4c6b_b.jpg


It was close to this end of the mine where @Gudd87 and I were sitting and chatting, I decided to give her her first experience of pitch black darkness. I turned my torch out, asked her to do the same and complete darkness reigned. The type of pitch black stillness you only get underground; no traffic noise, no discernible breeze and no light to see your own hand in front of your eyes.

To geek out for a second, there are thousands of particles from passing the sun passing though you every second while you're down there. They're called neutrinos and are such strange particles (relative to electrons, protons & neutrons). They interact with 'normal matter' so infrequently that according to the Ask an Astronomer segment on the Jodcast astrophysics podcast to experience a flash of light from one interacting with your retina, you'd need to be sitting underground for about 5,000 years!


[8]
32578794802_667689e70b_b.jpg


[9]
32608867441_c5b4f974af_b.jpg


[10]
32732160005_1af4b8c050_b.jpg


[11]
I said that there were some nice features, and I hope this doesn't disappoint
32732158095_6bd1d2927a_b.jpg


[12]
32608859011_9115e3be15_b.jpg



I hope you've enjoyed the photos and I'll leave you with one more....
32732155065_3177d43996_b.jpg

Cheers! :thumb
 

Xan_Asmodi

Cave Monster
28DL Full Member
Seeing as I missed this thread first time around and it's been bumped.... Nice pics mate, I really should make the effort to get down some more mines, I've not done any since 'the one with the mars bar on the prop' :D

Cheers, dude! It's a shame I'm not closer any more, I've got time on my hands again. Get down there, it's quite straight forward.

Re Scout Mine
Hi All.l have just joined this forum to take up with my interest in the Rossendale Valley Mines and quarries.
I have read these posts with great interest . I wondered if " The roumours of Scout Mine being linked underground" is common knowledge!
I have done some investigating over the years. I have a long post on The Rossendale Online Forum which deals with my findings.
I also have a copy of a local "Rossendale Council Survey" done fairly recently of Scouts workings any body interested in exchanging info on Scout. /Chapel Hill quarries .please feel free to contact me

I don't have any further info unfortunately, although I bet those surveys are belters!
 
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