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Derbyshire
Ancient Fluorite Mine
I managed to make it about a mile and a half in with no end in site...
This Derbyshire mine was originally driven as a sough to the workings under Longstone Edge, before being modified into a haulage level in 1840-42. A 32ft diameter waterwheel originally powered crushing rollers here, but all traces of it have been destroyed by later workings. In the 20th century, the Mine was used to mine for fluorspar, first from 1926-30, and then from 1965.
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Sports Club
This building was a sports and social club which started life as the Workers Club for the nearby Celanese factory.
The club closed in 2005, but the grounds are still used for football and rugby, etc.
The site made the news in May 2018 where some kids had gotten into the building, when police turned up and the kids fled one of the children fell through the roof but was un-inured after being rescued by his friends.
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Pigment Mine
Sorry for the image quality on this report, shortly after getting into the mine I realised it was too dirty for my camera so had to use my phone for images (apparently mixing sticky clay and concentrated paint pigment makes for a messy time).
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Travelling around half a mile under ground through an 18th century abandoned mine:
This mine was a former lead mine. It was opened up as a Show Cavern between 1825 and 1845.
Mining finished in 1844 when the owner gave up his attempts to drain the workings of water. The red colour on the walls and roof comes from residue from the pigment factory when excess pigment was blown into the mine via ventilation fans.
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Mad Hatter Pub
A once thriving pub complete with large car park and play area, 2 years later it has become a dangerous trashed shell of its former self.
The pub closed near the end of 2017 with little information on why
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Permanite Asphalt
Permanite Asphalt was incorporated in 1989 although the site was previously operational as part of the Cawdor Quarry complex. Permanite Asphalt later transitioned into Ruberoid and then finally taking on the parent companies name “IKO Group”. The site was close around 2009, 7 years before the company was dissolved.
This Derbyshire plant manufactured asphalt flooring blocks which were used as a waterproof flooring of new buildings.
The process included taking powdered limestone from local quarries and mixing it with hot bitumen brought down from Ellesmere port. The bitumen was readily available due to it being a bi-product of the fuel oil-refining processes in the area. The mixed solution was then poured into moulds which were stored on the floor of one of the large sheds to cure before stacking in storage buildings.
The plant saw many developments around the 80’s when a big investment into automated machines was made, replacing many workers. Despite best efforts to keep the plant running autonomously the machines were unreliable and often broke down.
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The 5 Sisters
The Power Station was established in the 1950’s as a coal fired plant. In 1990 it was bought by National Power after the privatization the UK electricity market. By 1998, the Power Station was closed. After the end of National Power in 2001, when the company became de-merged, many of the power plants owned by National Power were demolished. Though defunct and discontinued the Power Station cooling towers still remain but not much else of the site.
Today the site is marked to possibly become a large residential development. Plans for future construction are constantly met with opposition from locals. During the time of its eventual closure in the 1990’s a pair of peregrine falcons nested in one the plants cooling towers and was largely publicized. A bit of the land near the cooling towers that were part of a quarry have become a wetland nature reserve.
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