A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold & Hamps Valley Area A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold and Hamps Valley Area Compiled by Martin Milner - 1 - A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold & Hamps Valley Area - 2 - A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold & Hamps Valley Area A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold and Hamps Valley Area 2nd Edition, August 2007 Compiled and edited by Martin Milner Commissioned by the Derbyshire Caving Association Acknowledgments The production of this plan was a team effort and I am especially grateful for permission to use original material and for help given to me by the following: Dr. John Barnatt - Senior Survey Archaeologist. PDNPA. Conservation Officer. PDMHS. Dr. Martin Critchley - Remote Sensing Manager. ERA-Maptec Ltd., Dublin, Ireland. Prof. John Gunn - Director. Limestone Research Group, University of Huddersfield. John Malley - Formerly Property Manager. The National Trust, South Peak Estate. Peter Mellors - Formerly of DCA Conservation & Access team. Paul Mortimer - Countryside Manager. The National Trust, South Peak Estate. David Wall - Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. David Webb - Conservation Officer. Derbyshire Caving Association. All proceeds from the sale of this publication are to go to the Derbyshire Caving Association for the purposes of funding the production of future audits and conservation plans. All photographs by Martin Milner unless otherwise indicated. Cover photographs Front cover: Main: The Manifold Valley looking south from the ridge above Wetton Mill. Darfar Ridge is in the foreground and Thor's Cave in the background. Top right: The West Window of Thor's Cave. Bottom left: Speleothems in Aussie Chamber, Darfar Ridge Cave. Bottom centre left: The Toboggan Run in Darfar Pot. Bottom centre right: Ossom's Crag from Darfar Ridge. Bottom right: A close-up of Nan Tor Cave at Wetton Mill. Notes References to items in the Bibliography are indicated by their reference number appearing in brackets in the text. For example: (23). All river bank references are made looking downstream. All words in bold other than names of speleological sites are specialist terms which are explained in the glossary of caving, mining and other terms, appendix 2. The O.S. maps in this publication have been used to show the study area and underground river courses and should not be used for any other purpose. The locations of underground sites mentioned in section 2 can be found in figures 9 and 10. (Pages 30 and 31.) - 3 - A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold & Hamps Valley Area - 4 - A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold & Hamps Valley Area Contents Section Subject Page Acknowledgments, etc. 3 Contents 5 1 Introduction to the Manifold & Hamps Valleys 7 2 The Audit 7 2.1 Geographical Context and Relationships 9 2.2 Geology 9 2.2.1 Introduction 9 2.2.2 Stratigraphy 10 2.2.3 Structure 12 2.2.4 Mineralization 12 2.2.5 Geomorphology 14 2.3 Hydrology 15 2.3.1 Introduction 15 2.3.2 Catchment 15 2.3.3 Incised Valleys 15 2.3.4 Karst Features 15 2.3.5 Subterranean Flows 15 2.3.6 Groundwaters 19 2.3.7 A typical flood 19 2.3.8 Flow patterns 20 2.4 Archaeology 21 2.4.1 Introduction 21 2.4.2 Cave Archaeology 21 2.4.3 Mine Archaeology 24 2.5 Biospeleology 26 2.5.1 Introduction 26 2.5.2 Flora 26 2.5.3 Fauna 27 3 The Caves and Mines of the Manifold and Hamps Valleys 29 3.1 Introduction 29 3.2 Categories of site 29 3.3 Some background history 29 3.4 Descriptions and surveys of sites 32 Ecton Hill area 32 Wetton Mill area 35 T-Pot area 40 Thor's Cave area 42 - 5 - A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold & Hamps Valley Area Ladyside Pot to Weag's Bridge 44 Beeston Tor area 45 Bincliff Mines Area 46 Robin's Shaft Mine 47 Ilam Risings 48 The Hamps Valley 50 Related Sites 53 3.5 Safety 54 4 Conservation 55 4.1 Introduction 55 4.2 User groups 55 4.3 Threats 55 4.4 Cave or Mine Conservation Plans 56 4.5 Access 57 4.6 Conservation Measures 57 4.6.1 Individual sites 58 5 Bibliography 60 6 Appendices Appendix 1. Alphabetical list of significant underground sites 63 within the area. Appendix 2. Glossary of caving, mining and other terms used 65 in this document. Appendix 3. List of named caves monitored by the National 66 Trust. Appendix 4. Useful contacts and addresses. 67 Appendix 5. List of RIGS sites in the audit area. 68 Appendix 6. Copy of English Nature 'Do you dig caves?' leaflet. 69 Appendix 7. Copies of the Hamps and Manifold and Ecton 71 Copper Mines SSSI Citations. Appendix 8. Operations likely to damage the special interest 77 of an SSSI. Appendix 9. Site Inspection Report Form. 78 - 6 - A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold & Hamps Valley Area 1. Introduction to the Manifold & Hamps Valleys Similar to the Masson Hill audit, this document started out as an SSSI management plan, but was was renamed an area conservation audit to more accurately reflect its purpose. The study area extends for some 10 km from Warslow and Ecton in the north along the valley of the River Manifold, (originally known as the Manyfold (65) due to it's many twists and turns), to Ilam in the south-east, the valley of the River Hamps to Waterhouses in the south and eastwards towards the northem end of the Dove Valley in Beresford Dale. Situated at the south-west extremity of the Peak District Carboniferous Limestone massif the area is of national importance for a range of features of geological interest including karst landforms, (such as that at Apes Tor near Ecton), limestone rock formations and cave fossil deposits; together with extensive ancient semi-natural woodlands, scrub communities and grasslands. The area also supports an outstanding assemblage of nationally rare and locally uncommon plants together with important invertebrate communities, most notably of ground beetles, butterflies and moths. Much of the area has been designated an SSSI and in addition, the area contains a significant number of scheduled monuments. Some of the area around Ecton Hill has been designated an SSSI in its own right, including the land above Dale Mine. Although not one of the more popular areas for recreational cavers, the Manifold & Hamps Valley area contains a large number of caves and mines of various sizes and character. A good days caving can be had in the area visiting a number of the sites during the day, especially during the summer months when the beds of both rivers are largely dry. The mines are of particular interest to those people with an interest in mining history. The current number of underground sites publically identified and associated with the two SSSI's is about 50. Adding in the caves related by hydrology or similar gives over 60 sites. If the Ecton Mines, Bincliff Mines and Ilam Risings are broken down into individual sites within each group there over 85 individual sites. This does not include numerous less significant sites in the area. Examples of sites not actually within either SSSI, but hydrologically or otherwise associated with caves or mines within it are Gateham and Plantation Swallets near Wetton, Deepdale Shacks near Grindon, Waterways Swallet at Swinscoe and Robin's Shaft Mine near Ilam to name just a few. There are related sites even further away such as Wetstones Swallet on the Weaver Hills. Then there are also numerous old mine shafts scattered about on the surrounding hilltops about which little is known. 2. The Audit Caves and mines are a valuable resource for many reasons, an integral part of our national heritage and we have a moral duty to conserve them for future generations. The purpose of this audit therefore is to:- Improve awareness of the need for cave and mine conservation in the area. List all the more important sites in the area whether natural or man-made. Summarise what is known about them and what speleological or archaeological potential there might be in each one. Consideration is given to any potential threats to individual sites and any conservation measures that might help preserve them. In identifying these sites the audit can facilitate the production of more detailed Conservation Plans for individual sites where it is considered appropriate and also set up a mechanism to ensure that their condition is regularly monitored so that timely and appropriate action can be taken to initiate remedial conservation measures if necessary. The area covered by this audit is shown in figure 1, (see next page), and does not confine itself solely to the area covered by the SSSI Site Notifications, but also includes other associated sites some of which are mentioned above. - 7 - A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold & Hamps Valley Area Fig. 1. Map showing the area covered by this audit. Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey. © Crown copyright and database right 2004. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey licence no. AL100018591. - 8 - A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold & Hamps Valley Area 2.1 Geographical context and relationships A range of features of special geologicaI interest cover almost the whole of this area. The features of water-worn limestone (karst) extend throughout the river valleys and there are classical rock exposures showing the way in which the limestone was formed. There are examples of re-distributed Iimestone scree from the post-glacial period and caves containing important fossil animal remains.