Swan Mine

The Swan cave complex.

Saturday 21st March 2009

Phoenix of Wessex and Twilight shadows had a very, very exciting invitation that we just could not turn down and that was to investigate a local abandoned underground mine. Of course we said "YES" and so with hard hats and head torches we set off for this very exciting event and was instructed to meet at 7.30pm at a local petrol station quite close to the location.

Once we were all present and correct we then convoyed it to a lane very near the entrance to the mine and got ourselves sorted.

For this investigation we had Dave M who is a very experienced underground explorer and also an expert in this field called Chris to advise us to what parts to avoid and which parts of the mine we could go too.

To get to the mine we had to crawl through an entrance that is almost collapsed. This was not a good start in my eyes as sure footed I certainly am not. My youngest daughter though Erica came along for this evenings investigation and I was very impressed with the way she just got on with it. I thought to myself that if she could do this then so could I. So with that thought I closed my eyes, held my breath and crawled through the space with the instructions from Chris to guide me to my destination. Once through the entrance you were in a tunnel which was quite high and straight away I noticed track marks in the ground from where ponies had been continually pulling carts to and fro from the mine. we travelled through this tunnel and came to another narrow bit which wasn't too bad. Again this led to another tunnel and I started to relax a bit. Big mistake. At the end of this tunnel was the entrance was almost blocked by a roof fall. Here we had to get on our hands and knees to crawl through the gap to the next chamber. This was not a pleasant experience as the floor was very muddy and rocky and you could not lift your head to see where you were going. Once through we were then into a larger tunnel that led to what is called the slab chamber.

The slab chamber gets its name because a 40 tonne slab has fallen from the roof and now dominates the chamber in the middle. Some people took the time to sign the guest book left while Dave M told us a bit about what to expect from the tunnels. Chris pointed out square holes in the roof that he explained where called chug holes. These were where cranes would of been positioned while the mine was in use. I noticed that the humidity of the cavern was quite high and though it was cool it was not unpleasant and so decided to take off my coat. Matt from twilight shadows started to feel a bit short of breath and a bit panicky. We gave him 5 mins to get used to the atmosphere and he soon settled down. We then all set off along the tunnels for an adventure of a life time.

While underground I was amazed at just how much machinery and evidence of the miners are still left behind. This mine has not been in use for near 200 years and there are still artefacts such as golden syrup tins, pipes and lanterns dotted about the place. There are also areas where you can still clearly see hoof marks from the mine ponies and hobnail boot tracks left from the activities from the miners years and years ago. You could see graffiti on the walls from the early 20th century and I had to chuckle to myself that even back then they took pride in their penmanship even when someone was defacing a wall. There was saw blades left and a pony drinking trough. Some members of the team did hear some strange noises during our time down the mine. You are supposedly to hear whistling and banging from the ghostly miners working. Dave told us that some of the miners would of died a slow death from injuries they may of sustained but still carried on working with. Sharon thought a few times she heard horses neighing. Maria also thought she heard a male voice while we were in one of the chambers.

We walked back towards the slab cavern and had a bite to eat. Then we went in another direction to go and visit a wooden crane still in situ that is a very rare sight. These wooden cranes usually were removed after mining was finished but this one was still remaining. We had to be careful though as the top of the crane had started to rot. Looking at it, it was hard to believe that this device was capable of lifting any sort of weight at all. We were then told there was another wooden crane we could see but this one was toppled during a roof fall. To get to this crane you had to climb over a wall that had been built to block off that particular tunnel. Once again just as I was thinking that I would not attempt it I was confronted by the image of my daughter disappearing over the top of this wall. Not to be outdone by my 14 year old daughter I decided to follow suit. Not much of the crane was visible apart from the main crank shaft which was solid metal. Dave W and I stayed here for a bit as this part of the tunnel felt quite oppressive. We then thought it would be best to join the rest of the team which I was not looking forward too as it meant I would have to climb down this wall with everyone looking. Surprisingly i managed it ok albeit with a muddy bottom.

We then went back to the main cavern and decided to have a bit of a vigil. We turned out our head lamps and torches and tried calling out. The smell of tobacco smoke quite quickly started to build. It was not like the smell of cigarette smoke but more like pipe tobacco. We tried calling out for while but apart from this smell of pipe smoke, no noises were heard apart from Sharon says she heard horse whinnying again.

It was here we decided to call it a night and take the team to visit another location quickly at a nearby village and then we headed on home.

I would like to thank Dave and Chris for inviting us to take part in this exciting opportunity and although not much paranormal happened it was still a privilege to of spent the evening in such an amazing location.

J Wicheard ©