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Author	Bodmin / Wheal Jenkin - Bellinghams Shaft opens up
Scoggan Joined: 03/05/2009 Location: Liskeard Cornwall View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Bodmin / Wheal Jenkin - Bellinghams Shaft opens up Posted: 04/09/2011 20:47:12 Reply \| Quote Bellinghams Shaft has opened up fortunetley during the night Wheal Jenkin is a very popular spot lots of walkers and ramblers visit the Mine. IP: 81.130.97.30 Edited: 23/09/2011 08:58:00 by (moderator)
stuey Joined: 15/08/2007 View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 04/09/2011 21:29:49 Reply \| Quote I've had a go at getting up the adit and there isn't anything interesting up it apart from lots of cold water and a nasty cold crawl. There is another big shaft open (Pink Shaft? ) but it's flooded at a shallowish depth. I gather Bellingham's Chimney disappeared into workings.... old shaft perhaps? I imagine the cap job was classic sollar and fill and I imagine it will open up fully in due course, like the one at Salisbury Shaft. I'll still drop the shaft if it opens up fully though. It might go into something. IP: 84.93.181.253
NewStuff Joined: 26/07/2010 Location: NE Wales View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 04/09/2011 21:52:13 Reply \| Quote stuey wrote: I'll still drop the shaft if it opens up fully though. It might go into something. Looks fairly open from this perspective... http://www.aditnow.co.uk/photo/JENKIN-Mine-User-Album-Image-66441/ -- In your mines, Taking your pictures... IP: 2.220.136.83
stuey Joined: 15/08/2007 View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 04/09/2011 23:19:44 Reply \| Quote Interesting rubbish in the fill. I'm up this end so I'll pop by tomorrow and have a peer. IP: 84.93.181.253
royfellows Joined: 13/06/2007 Location: Great Wyrley near Walsall View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 05/09/2011 10:13:05 Reply \| Quote I have just uploaded a photo taken in the adit in the 1990s. This is at the point where the adit increases in size and there is a bit of timber. Nothing else in there to see but the pic may answer the question of "What is it like in there" (click image to open full size image in new window) -- ''the stopes soared beyond the range of our caplamps' - David Bick...... How times change IP: 78.150.195.20 Edited: 05/09/2011 10:15:10 by royfellows
kroca Joined: 30/03/2011 View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 05/09/2011 19:41:15 Reply \| Quote stuey how deep is that shaft.is it full of water up to adit . IP: 86.1.117.107
stuey Joined: 15/08/2007 View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 05/09/2011 20:02:02 Reply \| Quote Looks about 20ft at the moment, it's well into rock. I suspect there were sollars and a bit of cover, then a load of rubbish, then earth was chucked into the dip, this is clearly visible in the remaining stuff hanging up. It is dangerous to approach the edge of the shaft from all angles apart from the downhill side, which looks the most stable. Opposite this, there is what looks like the top of a level/removed rock. Clearly, people are going to get excited about this and I imagine it will get a concrete plug in due course, but it will need some proper work first. Hopefully, they let it finish dropping first. IP: 94.197.5.156
Alec Joined: 28/10/2008 Location: Evesham, Worcestershire View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 05/09/2011 20:19:52 Reply \| Quote According to my copy of Dines, the shaft in question is 100 fathoms deep, and vertical. -- Regards, Alec IP: 92.6.96.117
kroca Joined: 30/03/2011 View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 05/09/2011 20:37:26 Reply \| Quote thanks stuey and alec for that. IP: 86.1.117.107
NewStuff Joined: 26/07/2010 Location: NE Wales View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 05/09/2011 21:00:12 Reply \| Quote Alec wrote: According to my copy of Dines, the shaft in question is 100 fathoms deep, and vertical. Assuming I'm not going mad, that's 600ft . Not so much a body at the bottom if someone went arse over tit into that, more of a red redecoration at the bottom. -- In your mines, Taking your pictures... IP: 2.220.136.83
kroca Joined: 30/03/2011 View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 05/09/2011 21:36:26 Reply \| Quote omg i dont think ive got that mutch ladder in the old shed. IP: 86.1.117.107
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	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 05/09/2011 21:42:01 Reply \| Quote More likely between 200 and 250 to water, then a long dive through all manner of old rubbish to the bottom.... -- I sold my soul to Satan, but he brought it back and demanded a refund.... IP: 86.129.70.238
Alec Joined: 28/10/2008 Location: Evesham, Worcestershire View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 05/09/2011 22:31:10 Reply \| Quote With the cessation of pumping at the very adjacent Phoenix United on or very shortly after 7 September 1914, I agree that Wheal Jenkin is likely to be a very wet place indeed - it certainly will have been for the last 96 years! Ambitious plans in 1922 to reopen all these adjoining setts (based on a 1913 Duchy-funded assessment and a May 1914 report by Thomas and McClaren) included an extensive deep drainage scheme that would also have unwatered Wheal Jenkin. Funding was sought under a Government unemployment/industrial development scheme but the application was unsuccessful. There had been too many, too optimistic reports on the potential of the orefield here. -- Regards, Alec IP: 92.6.104.192
stuey Joined: 15/08/2007 View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 05/09/2011 23:01:55 Reply \| Quote From what I can remember, the adit isn't actually that deep. I suspect in the order of 90ft odd from surface. There are shallow workings but it's probably not mega extensive with wagons on rails, etc. IP: 94.196.181.34
royfellows Joined: 13/06/2007 Location: Great Wyrley near Walsall View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 06/09/2011 08:41:41 Reply \| Quote I would check out the adit again, I am wondering if the blockage was at that shaft and maybe cleared. I am not familiar the plans etc and may be talking rubbish. Just a thought. -- ''the stopes soared beyond the range of our caplamps' - David Bick...... How times change IP: 78.150.195.20
Alec Joined: 28/10/2008 Location: Evesham, Worcestershire View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 06/09/2011 09:12:31 Reply \| Quote According to Dines: Adit driven 150 fathoms SW to Bellingham's Shaft, which is vertical to the 100-Fathom Level below adit (17 fathoms). Adit, 15-Fathom, and 25-Fathom Levels block out the southern lode for 40 fathoms W and 35 fathoms E of the shaft but all other levels are short. The northern lode has been developed for 30 fathoms W and 10 fathoms E of the shaft at Adit and the 15-Fathom Levels but it is not known to have been productive. Much of the work and stoping above the 25-Fathom Level was done prior to 1881 when the mine was re-opened and the shaft deepened to the 100-Fathom. The southern lode in depth was found to be poor, disordered to the east and split to the west. Between 1881 and 1890, the production was 292 tons of black tin. There are distinct similarities here to the development story of Phoenix United. A search of the Lyde Caunter Collection at CRO may be of benefit to those wishing to have greater detail. -- Regards, Alec IP: 92.6.139.135 Edited: 06/09/2011 09:13:47 by Alec
Alasdair Neill Joined: 10/12/2008 View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 06/09/2011 09:27:59 Reply \| Quote The blockage in the adit was well before the shaft, & it seems likely (we need to do a proper survey to confirm this) that the water level beyond is backed up considerably. However is spite of this there are people around who have seemed determined to dig this blockage - potentially very messy. A few months ago traced the MRO plans, but havn't yet had time to redraw them. For further details see account in old PCG Journal. IP: 46.60.252.78
stuey Joined: 15/08/2007 View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 06/09/2011 14:42:43 Reply \| Quote I'm sure I read somewhere that the water level in the big coned open shaft was just below the base of the cone, which had to be in the order of 60ft. I couldn't get a good "noise" from slinging rocks in. IP: 94.197.171.215
royfellows Joined: 13/06/2007 Location: Great Wyrley near Walsall View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Wheal Jenkin Posted: 06/09/2011 16:01:51 Reply \| Quote stuey wrote: I'm sure I read somewhere that the water level in the big coned open shaft was just below the base of the cone, which had to be in the order of 60ft. I couldn't get a good "noise" from slinging rocks in. I can remember when I first visited the site and this had non of the vegetation in there that we see today. I was easily able to climb down to the water level, rather hoping for a way on into a level, but no chance. After exploring the adit I too came to the conclusion that water was backed up behind the fall. -- ''the stopes soared beyond the range of our caplamps' - David Bick...... How times change IP: 78.150.195.20
Vanoord Joined: 28/11/2005 Location: North Wales View Profile View Posts View Personal Album View Personal Files View all Photos Send Private Message	Bodmin / Wheal Jenkin - Bellinghams Shaft opens up Posted: 22/09/2011 19:07:47 Reply \| Quote BBC report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-15024570 Part of a copper mine on Cornwall's Bodmin Moor has collapsed, leaving a 700ft deep mine shaft. Bellingham shaft at Caradon Hill, which is part of Wheal Jenkin mine which closed in 1892, has been temporarily fenced off. The shaft opened at the surface after heavy rain and is more 20ft wide. Julie Dowton, from the St Cleer and District Commoners' Association, said it could cost "several thousand pounds" to cap the hole. Ms Dowton said: "The hole has actually got a little bit bigger than it was a couple of weeks ago. "We are working with the landowner and the Commoners' Association and looking at the options available." She added: "It is a difficult situation but we will do whatever we can to make it safe. "We are going to need expert advice from mining engineers on how we move forward." I'm a little curious about the comment - 'The hole has actually got a little bit bigger than it was a couple of weeks ago' - was she expecting it to close up all of its own accord?! -- Filling space until a new signature comes along... IP: 81.130.97.30 Edited: 23/09/2011 08:58:11 by Vanoord

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