Nick Carruth and Kelvin Tiltman	Chris Jewson and Kelvin Tiltman

   A group of us started to dig out the Footway Shaft in the summer of 2003. We usually numbered 6 or more as we needed 2 down the shaft filling the 2 Kibbles, one on the digger to haul the bins up and 2 to empty them, and 2 that where resting. We did this most Sundays weather permitting. We timbered the shaft as we went down and laddered it. Also put up a scaffold frame for hauling and for a safety barrier. At about 2 fathoms down on the right hand side was a little off shoot, in which we found pyromorphite and wulfenite plus galena. At 28ft down we hit water and had to stop digging. So now we had to find the adit portal. We had various diggers to try and find the adit but to know avail.

   It is now October 2007 and we had the use of a 20 ton swing shovel, kindly provided for by Geoffrey Crocker, the owner of the Mary Ann site. First I found a timbered structure covering the adit some 25ft or more down ( the whole of the valley floor had been covered with deads.)  After some thought I started to dig further back into the hill and found the adit again, water poured out, luckily I had two large collecting areas to hold the influx of water till it subsided. I then piped it to an existing pipe which I had put in the previous year. We then did some further measuring with a home made level system which made us some 7ft short for us to finish digging out the Footway shaft being water free ( we hope). So it was decided to start digging at the pond which was the lowest point, which would give us hopefully another 10ft of fall to the adit where the water was bubbling up. Two 6in pipes were laid parallel and back filled. It was at this stage part of the trench collapsed on me trapping me up to my chest. The emergency services were called, 4 fire engines, para-medics, police, air ambulance and a Rescue Sea King Helicopter from RAF Chivenor which lifted me out of the trench and then was taken by the Cornwall Air Ambulance to Derriford A/E where it was discovered I had fractured my pelvis in 2 places. So had 3 weeks in Hospital and another 3 weeks at home in bed on my back. We are now up to New Years Eve and back to the Fracture Clinic at Derriford Hospital for a final X-Ray to see if all has mended ok. So now up on crutches for a further 6 weeks.

Men working at the bottom of timbered shaft 29ft down	Blocked Timbered Adit

Sunday 15th June 2008

  I arrived at 9.30 loaded with Mini Digger, ladders, ropes, kibbles, pulley block etc. Got every thing set up before the gang arrives. Bernie and Nick were the first followed by Rob and Nick from Camborne area then coming the rear where Peter, Edgar, Nigel. We managed to drop the shaft by 4ft 6in. A very good days work by all.

Nick, Nigel, Edgar, Peter and Bernie	Gang and the mini digger pulling the kibble

Robbie and Nick	Nick filling the kibble

 Friday 20th June.

   Bernie, Martin and myself arrived at the mine at 10.30ish with the intention of making the shaft safer. We lowered a 12ft steel ladder which Geoffrey Crocker let us have and fixed that onto the existing one which now took us to the current floor level. Then put two lengths of scaffold pipe from the top to the bottom with cross supports etc, so to make it safer when hoisting the kibble up and down. We finished around 4pm after getting pretty wet from rain and sweat. During the following week I levelled out a space for steel shed which G. C. had let us borrow to put all the gear in and lock up safely. Also brought up chairs and table and a 4in plastic pipe for pumping down fresh air to the bottom as it was beginning to get stale at the bottom of the shaft.

Myself and Bernie altering the scaffold	Wooden top section of shaft

Me halfway down fixing the new ladder	New scaffold and ladder

Sunday 29th June

There were 8 of us again for this dig, Bob came along as Nick was away at a mineral show. First thing to do was to put the 4in pipe down the shaft and tie it to the scaffold pipe, this was to be used to blow fresh air down to the bottom. First down were Nigel and Edgar for there stint at the bottom, followed by Robbie and Nick then Bernie and Peter. Bob stayed on the surface emptying the kibbles with one other that was spare while I drove the mini-digger and sorted the generator for the electric fan for fresh air down the shaft. We managed to drop the shaft by 5ft, 6in more than last time.

The gang	Nigel & Edgar having a break
Bob, Bernie, Peter & Edgar looking at rocks	Edgar just up from a digging session
Robbie & Nick about to go down for a session	Bottom of shaft after the dig

Looking up from bottom with new ladder, scaffold and air pipe

Friday 16th July

  Bernie and myself arrived at the mine with the intention of building a scaffold tower to drop in the trench for safety while working, didn't want another accident that happened to me last year. We made it 4ft square and 13ft tall and attached 2 8x4ft sheets of 3/4 plywood for the two sides of the trench.

Sunday 20th July

    The intention was to lay the new 6in pipes(£500) side by side from the existing ones up the adit and bury them. We put scaffold pipe vertically angled in the trench to allow the pipes to slide down on, we had 6 lengths of pipe joined up. It took all 8 of us to do and we managed to finish it by 1pm. We then went up to Footway shaft and had our lunch. We managed to drop the shaft by another couple of feet, down to around 41ft below collar. A far bit of timber came up in the kibbles

The safety cage down in trench	Some of the gang admiring their mornings work

Top end of trench near adit entrance	Trench partly backfilled

New pipes ready for dropping down the trench

Before the above pictures were taken this is how it looked

Trench before	Trench material has all been moved to the right

Floating pipes after my accident

Thursday 25th July

  Bernie and myself arrived around 9am at the mine to finish off laying the last few metres of pipe and putting a steel frame and plates over the water so  we could start building the manhole upwards to hold the water pump and stop any debris falling into the water.

The following week backfilling and building a manhole for water pump extraction

Steel manhole rings	Finished manhole
Looking down manhole	New road to the pond

Sunday 24th August

 Bernie and myself arrived at the mine around 9am. Unloaded the mini digger and set up all the gear for the days digging. The previous Thursday afternoon we put more scaffold pipes down the shaft and lowered the air pipe. Nigel, Peter and Edgar were the next to arrive, then Bob followed by Robbie and Nick. We managed to drop the shaft by 8ft when we hit water. We were 49ft from surface where we have been measuring from. We assume the collar started from where solid rock starts. The measurements don't add up to what was written by the miners reports. The incline should have started 6 fathoms (36ft), but at 39ft we think it has just started when we hit water again, that makes it 3ft out taking the measurement from the start of solid rock which wouldn't have been the shaft collar as it usually is original ground level. We packed up around 4.30 pm, a bit down hearted at hitting water.

Bernie working at the bottom	Looking up from the bottom
Hit water at 49ft	Nick looking at the hole

  Sunday 28th September

Bernie and myself arrived around 9am and unloaded everything. Took the sheets off that covers the shaft to find that the water level was up 6ft. So that was the end of this days dig. So decided to take down some of the scaffold and bring up the air pipe which we wouldn't be using again. When the rest of the gang arrived, we mulled things over and the decision was to take away the bank on the lower side of the shaft and come in on the lower road which is some 20ft below the shaft collar. The idea is to put an air water pump in at this lower level to try and drain the adit.  Peter Trebilcock said he could make up a pump and supply a compressor to do the job. Now all we want is some drier weather for a month or two, in the meantime I will try to dig out the bank. So the rest of the day was spent mineral collecting around the site.

  Thursday 9th, Friday 10th October

After having to replace the two fan belts and swop the boom and dipper arm servos around, I started to remove the bank below Footway Shaft, shed been moved to a temporary spot.

Lower road	Removing the lower bank
You can see how much has got to be removed	Looking up at the scaffold around the shaft

Tuesday 14th October

Material that has been removed	Removing the lower bank
From the higher side	On solid rock

Thursday 23rd October
 

Before	After

Sunday 2nd November

Bernie and myself arrived at the mine, unloaded the mini digger, ladder, scaffold pipes and fittings. First thing was to secure the scaffold around the top of the shaft and take down that was over hanging. Kelvin Tiltman ( KT ) arrived and we set to work. Chris Jewson, Robbie and Nick were next followed by Nigel. Edgar and Peter were otherwise engaged and Bob was unwell. By 12 noon we had finished and made it all safe. Robbie and Nick were the first to go down to start digging. Kelvin and Chris were on the new level a third of the way down emptying the kibble. That stone outcrop will eventually be taken away and that side of the shaft will be open down another 12-15 ft. This is to make pumping the water out more efficient. We finished at 4pm as the kibble got broken when a piece of wood that was in it got caught in the scaffold on the way up.

Old ladder with water showing	Showing water on right hand side
Water and ladder on left side	Bernie and Nigel looking down

KT on the level below	Mini Digger for pulling up the kibble
Chris Jewson & KT on the new level	Hole showing the shaft

Sunday 9th November

Myself and Bernie arrived at around 9am. our first job was to remove the sections of ladders at the bottom and replace with new galvanised which Peter gave us. By 11am the job was finished and the rest of the gang had arrived. Robbie and Nick were the first to go down with full wet weather gear on as they will be working in water. We had put a tarpaulin over the scaffold at the top to keep the rain out as showers were forecast, and didn't it come down at one stage. When all was dug out that could be because of the water level, we decided to put extra scaffold right to the bottom to secure the ladders we had put in earlier. We were now down 54 ft. There were  only 4 of us left by now which was 5pm and getting dark. We had to collect and put away all the gear and load up the mini digger etc and head for home.

Bernie just up from digging	Bob & Bernie covered in muck
Looking down the adit	Looking up the adit

Halfway up looking down the shaft	From the top looking down

Tuesday 18th, Wednesday 19th November

Galvanize and wood covering the shaft to stop muck falling in
Before	After

After	And a bit nearer

Sunday 7th December

Today it was only Bob, Bernie and myself. We wanted to make the open side of the shaft safer and put a couple of acrows and more scaffold pipes in place, and  a false floor in just to stop any debris falling down the shaft when we are not there. Also we punched a hole through at the far end of the pyro/wulfenite tunnel to let some light and air in.

Open side of shaft with new hole	Hole we punched in to the tunnel

Showing new pipe work	General view

Pyro/Wulfenite tunnel with new hole	Looking up the shaft

Looking down shaft from new opening

 Monday 10th March 2009

Decided to remove the rubble that had slid down over the winter months as we are about to start work again in the next couple of weeks. Have bought a 3in Diesel water pump that we are going to place half way down the shaft.

Pile of rubble that had slid down	After

Sunday 22nd March 2009

Nick Carruth, Peter Trebilcock, Bob Bettison and myself arrived at the mine around  9 am. Unloaded the trailer of the 3in water pipes and the pump and more scaffold pipes. The first thing was to drop the 25ft suction pipe down the shaft to give us an idea as to where to put the staging for the water pump. Luckily there was a cut in the wall which Peter dug out, so we could rest two scaffold piped and attach the other ends to the vertical pipes that run the full length of the shaft. Then clamped a wooden board 20x55inches for the pump to sit on. We had to remove a section of scaffold further up to allow the pump to be lowered in to place. Then put 3 ten foot lengths of scaffold pipe for the exhaust to go up. We later found that the joints were leaking fumes, so Peter is going to turn up some joiners. We then joined up the outlet pipes, primed the pump and set it going. Had it running for 1 1-4 hours and it had dropped the water level by 8 inches. The water level being up because of the high winter rainfall.

Water pump in situaction	Suction pipe
Looking up with outlet pipe	Me standing astride the pump

Nick and Peter up to no good	Water outlet

 

Sunday 29th March 2009

 I was at the mine at 5am to start the water pump to give it 5 hours running before everybody arrived. Today there were 8 of us. First we had to reseal the pipes used for the exhaust and then alter the bottom 3 ladders. The platform for the pump to sit on was right in the way of going down the ladders. We didn't remove much material as the water kept rising and we couldn't keep the pump going all the time because of the noise, and still some fumes. We had a fan blowing fresh air down as well. In the end it was decided to call a halt to the proceedings until the Autumn, when hopefully the water level will have dropped. So this coming week I will be removing the pump and pipes and closing the hatches.

Nick,Peter,Bob,Chris,Bernie,Robbie.	Nick,Bob,Bernie,Peter,Chris.

The outlet pipe down the bank

 

Friday 29th October 2010

  Edgar, Peter and myself decided to do some alterations for easier access to the pyro/wulfenite tunnel. We put in a false floor that is level with the outside ground, removing scaffold pipes which where in the way when digging. Also put a acro-bar to keep the timbers above in place as they were being pushed in by the outside material. We decided the next future job to do is to remove all the material above the pyro/wulfenite tunnel as the rock structure is very unstable and it would make it much easier to work there in the future. So that is our next job.

Peter, Edgar, Tony	Peter, Edgar, Tony

 

Sunday 15th April 2012

After a lot of thought we have decided to call a halt to this project due to the amount of water flowing through the adit, if our out flow pipes were another 6ft lower we would had no trouble exploring this level. To day we have decided to dismantle all the scaffold  and wood and ladders from the shaft, those present were Peter, Bernie, Chris, Robbie, Nick, Nigel and myself. Bernie took all the photo's. I would like to thank Peter Trebilcock, Kelvin Tiltman, Edgar Sutton, Bernie Millington, Chris Jewson, Nick Carruth, Rob Selly, Bob Bettison, Nigel Hoppe, Nick Pettett for all there help and hard work on this project which we started in 2003. Also a big thank you to Geoff Crocker and his two sons Lee and Dean for all there help and allowing us on this site.
 

Extension ladder	Scaffold having been removed
Top of  footway shaft	Robbie, myself and Chris

Robbie, myself, Chris and Nigel	Myself and Robbie
Peter and myself	Nigel, Peter, myself and Robbie

Peter, me, Robbie and Nigel	Nick, Nigel and me
Peter eyeing up the next pull	Peter's landrover about to pull

About to pull the  top timber frame	About to pull the remaining timbers
Nick looking at all the timbers	Top of shaft after the removed scaffold

 

Wednesday 24th October 2012

Peter and myself were trying to remove this column of rock to make it easier to collect minerals from this little tunnel, but it was harder than we thought, tried pulling with the digger but kept breaking the chain. We ended up baring it out piece by piece which was bloody hard work at that height. At a later date we will have a go at drilling and popping it.
 

Trying to pull this column out	After removing by bar

Saturday 18th May 2013

Arrived at the mine at 8.50pm as arranged for Tony Lee and his friends to have a day collecting. So asked Peter, Kelvin, Chris, Robby and Nick to come along and tackle the remainder of the column. With the use of the Lead Work's digger ( thank you very much Lee ) we managed to remove most of it. So we spent the remaining time digging for Pyromorphite. We all went home loaded up with the stuff and Tony Lee's lot had the remains.

 

Nick, Rob and Peter looking for pyromorphite	Peter and Nick
Peter and Nick	Peter with Rob looking on