Raddlepits
For information contact John Taylor

Report by Mike Salt - June 2002
It was mid-January 2001 when I had my first trip down Raddlepits. It had captured John and Tony’s interest for quite some time now and I was fortunate enough to get an invite. Only weeks before had I been sat in the pub listening to stories of a 400ft+ mine shaft containing rare artefacts and features left behind by T’owd man, such as: A stone spiral staircase, A miners tipping cart and hobnail boot prints left in the mud etc..

Arriving at the spa washing plant on Bradwell moor I quickly got changed in the rain. It was a foggy, wet and cold mourning which highlighted the bleakness of Bradwell moor. I then walked around in the fog for a while having forgotten the directions which John had given me on the previous night. Luckily, the mine was relatively close to the road and before long I was chatting to Tony looking at the shaft entrance. At first glance, the shaft didn’t look particularly inviting. it is situated on the edge of an open cast spar mine and as a result, the ginging on one side was in an appalling condition (see pic). Railway sleepers covered a third of the shaft and a taught rope ran across them. Wondering what they had belayed from , I followed the rope away from the shaft to find 2 large steel bars which had been driven into the ground on a previous visit, back to the shaft...

John was about 50ft down the shaft placing a bolt for use as a deviation. "Roooope freee" came a distant cry - that hadn’t taken long! The state of the ginging became more apparent as I carefully climbed into the shaft, you could see daylight through it!! The shaft itself wasn’t quite what I had expected. Instead of the 10 foot + dia monster which I had stereotyped this 400ft hauler to be, the shaft had a diameter of approximately 5ft.

At around -170 feet, we touched down on a pre-built scaffold platform, the main shaft continued. Here, we entered a small chamber which contained tailings, what looked like an old lid or draught door and a very impressive man made stone spiral staircase. While John and Tony sorted the gear out and had a quick fag, I took the opportunity to climb the staircase to see where it went. At the top of the staircase was a miners tipping cart. It was the tipping cart which had been described to me in the pub, complete with rail tracks and left in its original tipping position on the edge of an ore chute. It was in good condition and looked as if it could have been left there yesterday. Super keen and enthusiastic, I quickly returned to John and Tony. "Good innit" came a voice with a knowing smile. "Time to explore"...


Some more man made steps left the small chamber and led to a level with a small shaft in the floor. "I think this is where Tpot went" said Tony. I looked again at the shaft, the walls were shite, not good enough for a bolt and we hadn’t brought any pegs, natural belays???? - nope! Johns solution was quick and simple. He rolled a pretty large boulder into a wedge shaped area of the level and tied the caving rope to it, I then assisted by sitting on the boulder while he carefully Abseiled/climbed down the shaft. At approximately -10ft things went a little more solid, so a bolt was placed. The shaft was then descended very carefully for the last 20 feet as it contained rotten stemples which you had to abseil in between. (see pic). At the bottom of the shaft, hand picked marks scarred the walls.

We were back in another chamber, slightly bigger this time. A short climb down revealed that we had rejoined the main shaft. To the right was a back filled level complete with rail tracks and a large steel bucket. Behind was a short hands and knees crawl with levels going off it at right angles. The crawl led us into an impressive cartgate. The cartages roof was entirely constructed of stone stemples. Two thoughts were running through my mind at this point:

A) WOW!
B) erm... is it stable?

Tony pushed on while John and I waited. He moved slowly up to a collapse fully aware of the potential consequence which a careless move could trigger. "Large boulder right hand wall, roof falling to bits, Stay low 13 feet in" came whispers through the now dark level in front of us, and then... "Next". I was the last to pass through the cartgate, and was impressed with the description which Tony had given. Approximately 10 and 5 feet before the first collapse were two square shaped ginged shafts rising through the stone stemples, "don’t think you’ll bother exploring those" stated a little voice in my head.

After the second collapse, we went left into a small chamber on the left hand side, this was stable and we took the opportunity to dump our gear, have a fag and discuss.

Fag break over and we rejoined the main level. After only a few feet it was again time for great caution, not this time because of hazards but due to a series of T’owd mans hobnail boot prints in the mud on the left hand side of the level.

We continued to explore a maze of passageways and found many continuations. Numerous shafts were found in the floor and ceiling, some of which had been bolted by persons unknown. The whole place smelt of cave but on this occasion we were not able to find much actual evidence.

About an hour later, we returned back to the cartgate to pick up the gear and carefully make our way out.

The following couple of months saw numerous return visits to Raddlepits. The scaffold platform was repaired and new boards were installed so that the main shaft could be explored safely. The floor of the main shaft consists of debris, this enters a small chamber in a state of collapse. Numerous levels are yet to be explored and we intend to compile a survey.

However, following a boozy do on the 20th of January 2002, John and I opted to go for a stroll over Bradwell moor. We walked up to Raddlepits only to discover that one side of the ginging had collapsed. Had someone been down, or had years of local quarrying finally taken it’s toll? Who knows!

D.C.A. Have been approached and steps are being taken to try and preserve such a precious mine. In the meantime, please do not attempt to descend the shaft. If you genuinely have an interest in the place, have any information regarding its history or have been down there then please contact J.Taylor.