Mine Exploration Forum

Author	360 photo Deep Ecton
toadstone Joined: 10/09/2007 Location: Father's Dwelling, Big Low View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	360 photo Deep Ecton Posted: 21/05/2018 17:51:29 Reply \| Quote Finally dusted off my UG gear and visited Ecton yesterday. Took the opportunity in trying out taking a 360 photo with the Mi Sphere 360. Used long exposure with light painting. Not an easy task trying to keep the light source away from the lenses while trying to remember where you've already been!! http://www.toadstone.com/pdmhs/deepecton/ I'm now making a lighting rig to enable me to take both photo and video. Nothing inventive on my behalf just copying a rig from Canada. Peter. IP: 86.156.65.225
Mr Mike Joined: 09/06/2007 Location: Bury - In The Laboratory View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	360 photo Deep Ecton Posted: 21/05/2018 18:11:03 Reply \| Quote I like that - looks good. -- Mr Mike www.mineexplorer.org.uk IP: 92.4.72.199
RAMPAGE Joined: 01/03/2015 Location: Everywhere View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	360 photo Deep Ecton Posted: 21/05/2018 23:32:13 Reply \| Quote Good that. Not been there, but isn't that shaft in the floor supposed to be bonkers deep? Like 1200 feet or something? -- Beneath my steely exterior beats the heart of a dashing hero IP: 87.224.72.55
toadstone Joined: 10/09/2007 Location: Father's Dwelling, Big Low View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	360 photo Deep Ecton Posted: 22/05/2018 07:48:46 Reply \| Quote Thanks Mike. @RAMPAGE. The shaft you see is I think the pumping shaft, which is over 700 feet deep from this level. Directly behind this shaft is another which is smaller in dimension and is the main Deep Ecton Engine Shaft. It is indeed around 1300 feet deep from the surface. An interesting feature of the gear used to bring up the ore was the use of tapered sisal rope. Apparently the rope would naturally absorb water, so what the miners called 'garlands' or surface channels were hewn into tha shaft to direct any shaft water away from the ropes. Nevertheless the rope did get wet and needed to be occasionally dried out. If you scan the photo to the right where the shaft scaffolding ends you will see the capstan area. The fine operation of lowering heavy pump pipes was left to man to provide inch by inch movement via a capstan gin, just like an anchor winch. The tapered rectangular roof cut out had the head gear with the winch below. Huge long stales were then turned by men walking in the lower section, now filled with stacked deads. If you continue round to the end of the stacked deads, just where they end is where they dried the ropes out. Continue further round and you will see a vertical broad rust stain, at the bottom of it is a passage which once supplied water from Apes Tor to operate the water driven balance beam which in turn pumped water from the lower workings. The resultant waters being sent out along the access adit but not before it had floated ore carrying boats to the dressing floor shaft. As the main shaft went deeper the pump could no longer cope so by enlarging the balance pump cavity it enabled them to fit a waterwheel. As undershot water wheels are not as powerful as overshot water wheels they drove a vertical shaft a little way before the existing Apes Tor passage ended and brought it out above where you see the rust stain. They then walled up the lower entrance using stone blocks which you can see scattered around. This provided a giant sized u bend and sending in water higher up pushed out water onto the wheel. They certainly knew how and what to do, further more the attention to detail is incredible, the stones from the retaining wall have channels on the edges where grout would be poured thus keying each stone for strength. Peter IP: 86.156.65.225 Edited: 23/05/2018 08:50:10 by toadstone
ttxela Joined: 04/09/2007 Location: Cambs View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	360 photo Deep Ecton Posted: 22/05/2018 09:19:33 Reply \| Quote Excellent work Now go and do the shaft chamber in Clayton IP: 188.39.178.242
toadstone Joined: 10/09/2007 Location: Father's Dwelling, Big Low View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	360 photo Deep Ecton Posted: 22/05/2018 10:49:21 Reply \| Quote ttxela wrote: Excellent work Now go and do the shaft chamber in Clayton Thanks and I will be along with some others too I hope. IP: 86.156.65.225 Edited: 22/05/2018 10:50:02 by toadstone
RAMPAGE Joined: 01/03/2015 Location: Everywhere View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	360 photo Deep Ecton Posted: 23/05/2018 08:40:28 Reply \| Quote Peter Thanks for such a detailed reply. What a fascinating place! Would love to see it some day. Wouldn't it be excellent to pump it out as a special occasion, just to go and see all that mine which must be down below the water! Would get through a lot of cherry doing it though. Thanks again -- Beneath my steely exterior beats the heart of a dashing hero IP: 87.224.72.55
Horsemaddad Joined: 20/09/2013 Location: Bishop Auckland, County Durham View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	360 photo Deep Ecton Posted: 23/05/2018 08:53:12 Reply \| Quote i was lucky enough to spend a week u/g and on the surface at Ecton back in 1981 as part of my Mine Surveying HND Course based at Doncaster. Still got the plan I drew from all the data we recorded. Nothing hi-tech back then, just optical levels, measuring chains, plumb bobs and manual theodolites made by the likes of Kern, Wild and Zeiss Jena. We surveyed the whole valley and then extended the survey underground using one of the levels and a weighted piano wire suspended in one of the hill top shafts. Whilst working on the hill during a thunder and lighting storm, one of my mates was forced to drop the 4.5m aluminium levelling staff he was holding upright when it started buzzing!! -- Colin IP: 157.203.255.2
AR Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: Knot far from Knotlow in the middle of the Peak District View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	360 photo Deep Ecton Posted: 23/05/2018 13:07:13 Reply \| Quote RAMPAGE wrote: Peter Thanks for such a detailed reply. What a fascinating place! Would love to see it some day. Wouldn't it be excellent to pump it out as a special occasion, just to go and see all that mine which must be down below the water! Would get through a lot of cherry doing it though. Pumping it was tried by its former owner, Geoff Cox, but I'm told it stirred a lot of silt up which started discharging into the river Manifold so they knocked it on the head. However, the EU-funded submersible drone swarm project is going to have its final test in there next year so that may produce some interesting footage, if the drones don't muddy the water. If you do ever want to see Deep Ecton or Clayton,let me know - I can arrange visits, being one of the Ecton Mines Education Trust's approved leaders. -- Oh God of Sarcasm, thanks for everything... IP: 165.225.80.80

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